Hurricane Harvey

[LOL!]

This may have more science than people want to read, but also has no hype and real, non-exaggerated rainfall amounts of this week:

https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/harvey-moves-back-over-water-historic-rainfall-will-continue

 

[socca]

.... also, we do not have water in our streets as we are probably 15 or so feet higher than surrounding neighborhoods.... it pays to buy in the correct location....

Some people are seeing floating 'islands' of fire ants in the flooded areas. The little buggers have a hail-Mary survival mechanism where they use the clumped dead bodies of their companions as a raft. I suspect that the fire ants are heading for high ground (e.g. Texas Proud's place)

 

[Texas Proud]

Just an FYI.... it is not hard to see if you are in a flood plain....

Almost every spot you see on TV is located as a flood spot on the map... the only difference is that it is spread out a bit more since I have heard this is either and 800 year flood or a 1000 year flood and the map show to 500...


Harris County Flood Education Mapping Tool

 

[Katsmeow]

We live in Montgomery County a few miles south of the lake. It has been, of course, almost constant rain. We have no flooding problem in our subdivision - we are on high ground and it is hilly anyway and the water flows downhill from our house.

We have a relative near the Woodlands and the water in her house really increased today. So she and husband pets (2 cats, 3 dogs) evacuated. The dogs in a kennel. They were going by kayak. The kayak tipped over the kennel sank into 10' deep water, killing the dogs. This was just in a regular subdivision. So sad.

DH and I ventured out for the first time today to do some shopping and went up by the Lake. The water had been lapping over the edges and onto the main road and into the houses by the lake. But the authority began controlled releases from the dam. I understand why. Controlled releases are better than uncontrolled releases which can also damage the dam. But, the releases contributed to to extra flooding for some subdivisions leading to some evacuations which can at times not end well (see above). But, many are critical that the authority didn't start with the controlled releases before the rain got here since they knew it was coming. I don't know enough to know if that is a valid criticism or not.

By the time we were out this afternoon, the lake was down a bit and there wasn't much water on the road. However, almost nothing was open even though the roads were clear. The Walmart and Kroger were open and a few gas stations or fast food places. Most everywhere else was closed.

DS started grad school last week at SHSU in Huntsville (even farther north). They have cancelled classes until after Labor Day.

 

[Car-Guy]

I know several people who live in Houston but only know one who evacuated before the storm. I've been able to talk to several who stayed. Cell phones seem to be working great. Several have "some" water in their homes and said they will not move to a shelter. Another amazing fact to me is that even some with water in their home, still have AC power. One friend told me they had lost power a couple of times but it came back on pretty quick even while they still had several inches of water in the house. Seems very unsafe to me.

edit: I just checked the local power companies website and they say over 95% of their customers have power at this time.

 

[Big_Hitter]

edit: I just checked the local power companies website and they say over 95% of their customers have power at this time.

parents and sister are out of power as of last night around 2 am.

Dad's generator came on and they are fine; I had to tell my sister to put fresh fuel in the portable and she was able to find some so they have some power.

Lots of peeps in my old car club and from HS are flooded out. The parents of one of my golf buddies lost their house in memorial and are staying with him. His dad has dementia so this isn't good.

We feel a little guilty about moving away 6 years ago but hurricanes (Ike) were one of the reasons why. I still remember my Dad telling me "we just had a big one, we won't have another one like that for a while"

 

[KB]

Katsmeow, that is heartbreaking to lose ones pets while trying to save them. I feel for your relatives.

 

[Texas Proud]

Well, one of the dams is at the spillway level and is starting to overflow... this is the uncontrolled release they were warning about...

Curious how close the other is to the spillway, but....

I tried to take a look on their website but get a connection failure... so maybe they are down...

 

[Big_Hitter]

barker and addicks have uncontrolled releases - all those neighborhoods south of my old golf club (hearthstone) are in danger

i heard a levy breached in brazoria by columbia lakes?

co-worker had to be evaced by kayak, and a few had mandatory evac, just found out

 

[Texas Proud]

Forgot to mention.... both levees lost their depth instruments as the water rose to a higher level than ever before..... they are working on getting a temporary fix...


Looks like they got Addicks with the temp and it is showing over the spillway by .36 feet... height at 108.36 above sea level which is about 6 feet higher than any previous flood...



The good news is!!! They are predicting rain to stop sometime late tonight....

 

[Rustic23]

We live on Lake Livingston. All is good here. We have had between 18 and 24 inches, depends on who's rain gauge you check. None of the streets are flooded. Most of the homes slope to the lake. i.e. while the lake is up about 2.5 feet, we are still 15 to 20 feet above the lake. I heard the lake is releasing water at a rate of 105,000 cubic feet per second. Normal release rate is 8,000. I feel sorry for the folks down stream.

 

[LOL!]

I live closer than you think.

Chances are 100% you will be safe leaving and less than 100% by staying.

Do you think the folks under mandatory evacuation were told they must drive through high water? I wouldn't drive through high water.

From the Houston Chronicle about 20 min ago, Levee breached:
Breaking: The levee at Columbia Lakes has been breached - Houston Chronicle

Brazoria County officials said the levee at Columbia Lakes has been breached. Residents are being told evacuate.

This is downstream/south of Sugarland.

 

[LOL!]

Having a flat boat in your garage may become a new requirement for Houstonians.

 

[MBAustin]

Heard yesterday evening that the rain that had fallen to that point in the Houston area would provide the drinking water needed for Harris County (population 4+ million) for 5 years! Just hard to believe.

 

[Brat]

This will have huge economic impact on individuals and the community. I see no option for many than to file for bankruptcy after the sky clears.

Although I doubt that communities will look at this event strategically were I a business owner not dependent on a presence in the flooded area I would move. With the warming of the Gulf this will not be the last storm of this nature.

 

[aja8888]

This will have huge economic impact on individuals and the community. I see no option for many than to file for bankruptcy after the sky clears.

Although I doubt that communities will look at this event strategically were I a business owner not dependent on a presence in the flooded area I would move. With the warming of the Gulf this will not be the last storm of this nature.

At least we have no history of earthquakes of asteroid strikes.

 

[Ian S]

This will have huge economic impact on individuals and the community. I see no option for many than to file for bankruptcy after the sky clears.

Although I doubt that communities will look at this event strategically were I a business owner not dependent on a presence in the flooded area I would move. With the warming of the Gulf this will not be the last storm of this nature.

You have to wonder what the meaning of 100 or 500 year floods are if they're occurring every decade or two. Clearly, these terms have to be re-evaluated.

 

[aja8888]

You have to wonder what the meaning of 100 or 500 year floods are if they're occurring every decade or two. Clearly, these terms have to be re-evaluated.

I think they need to also have a look at 800 year flood maps also.

 

[aja8888]

Fox26 news reported that about one trillion gallons of water has fallen in the Houston area in the last four days.

That's a lot of water.

 

[W2R]

Just thought I'd provide an "on the ground" report from New Orleans. Some people have expressed concern since apparently a few models have Harvey heading towards us so I thought some might be interested.

New Orleans had minor flooding yesterday due to rain bands from Harvey, and this occurred at 60+ streets or intersections that were listed by the news media. The mayor told everyone to stay at home all day today. Schools, government offices, and so on are closed.

We were supposed to get up to 10" overnight, starting as 12-1 AM, so I stayed up until 3 waiting for that. It mostly just drizzled, so I went to bed.

Then at 8:38 this morning my phone awakened me from a sound sleep with a loud flash flood warning alert. I stumbled out to listen to the TV, and it said this was just a pre-emptive warning since the rain had become intense. There is no flooding visible from my front door, but for the first time ever, I could hear water whooshing through the storm drainage system below the street.

The TV weather guy says that we will get a break now for a little while, between bands of thunderstorms, and indeed that intense rain has backed off for now. But there is a very bad looking band that is all red on the radar, that will be the next to arrive and that should be here pretty soon. He says that there is no major flooding here today, so far. He says to stay put so we will. We might be getting 10+ inches of rain and he says that "by Thursday morning we will be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel".

Nothing like what Houston has had, thankfully.

 

[Katsmeow]

barker and addicks have uncontrolled releases - all those neighborhoods south of my old golf club (hearthstone) are in danger

We used to live in the subdivision Twin Lakes which is now threatened by the Addicks Reservior. That is simply amazing to me. Could never really have expected that.

Also, we used to live Fort Bend County and while our subdivision there is not subject to evacuation literally everything around it is. I liked at that house during Ike.

On the other hand with our current house we've had tons of rain but no problem with water at all. One road out of the subdivision is totally shut down but there is a back way out. It is hard to get to some places though.

 

[NW-Bound]

You have to wonder what the meaning of 100 or 500 year floods are if they're occurring every decade or two. Clearly, these terms have to be re-evaluated.

I wonder how many thousands of years they have in their record in order to establish the 500-year flood level.

 

[Capwest28]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-how-is-that-possible/?utm_term=.ee071dfd40b0

 

[MichaelB]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-how-is-that-possible/?utm_term=.ee071dfd40b0

How about a short description of what's on the other end of that link?

 

[aja8888]

How about a short description of what's on the other end of that link?

It's a paywall article anyway.