I
wouldn't have thought that there were more tree branches medium and
small that would drop after Friday night but we had more torrential
rain last night (Saturday night) and it looks like the amount of
debris has doubled or at least half again as much. Still no big
limbs though so that's good. We got 3 1/2” last night but parts of
Houston got 14” in just about 3 hours. All the bayous are out of
their banks and it looks like the whole city is flooded to more or
less degree. Having lived there for 64 of my 67 years, I've seen it
flood many times and more flooding more frequently as the city has
grown but this is the worst and most extensive. Unrestrained
building and concrete coupled with the anti-regulation attitude
around here has done Houston no favors. Houston spreads with no
thought to the loss of the crucial wetlands that help drain and
absorb the 5 or so main bayous and all the smaller branches.
Have
I mentioned how glad I am I don't live in Houston anymore?
Monday
- I wrote the above yesterday. Sometime last night it started
raining again and was still raining this morning and has been raining
the entire day with varying intensities. I checked the rain gauge
after I got up...an additional 2 1/2” from yesterday so that's 14”
in the last 72 hours as of this morning. Now since it hasn't stopped
raining since sometime last night all the low spots around the house
have standing water. We're on pier and beam so the whole area has to
flood before we are affected and the ditches are higher than the previous post's picture but
still flowing.
We
are probably experiencing our worst day because along with the
constant rain, we are having high winds. We've had these gusts on
and off but today it's pretty much sustained. We're mostly worried
about the oak tree next to the house. It's an island surrounded
pretty much by water.
A
couple of hours later it is still raining but the wind has died down
some, still getting gusts.
You
want to see what 9 trillion gallons of water looks like?
Just
one of the many in Houston...
OK,
it can stop raining now.
And
re my opening sentence? Hahahahahahahahaha. You should see it now.
I have been right here, real near where my feet are planted now, after a tornado ripped through the area. If you are not killed or injured, all that's left is cleanup. You are still in for IT. I am so sorry.
ReplyDeleteAnd, IYHO, would an evacuation of Houston helped? Or an evacuation of the helpless, like nursing home patients. I'm not an emergency planner, but IMHO, this disaster was badly planned and handled.
re evacuation, in a word, no. here is what I have been posting on FB when people start in on evacuation...you can't evacuate 6 million people. You can't evacuate 6 million people when the freeways and highways out are the first things to flood. You can't evacuate the coastal communities if the roads are choked with 6 million city folk. And if you could evacuate 6 million people where the hell would/could they go (east, south, and west are all affected)? The last time the city told people to evacuate for a hurricane, Rita, people ran out of gas on the choked highways and were trapped in their cars when the hurricane hit. 3 times more people died because of that than did those who stayed...
Deletegranted, old people in a nursing home shouldn't have been sitting there up to their waists in water but I haven't read anything about what happened so I can't offer an opinion there except that not all human beings look out for their fellows. and yes, the anti-regulation attitude in this city and state doesn't help with planning but this is a 500 year flood event. no one can plan for that. and all that rain fell in basically 48 hours and now they are getting the downriver water as the storm rains up country.
I'm in League City, right in the middle of the flooding, and about ten miles from that Dickinson nursing home. I agree with Ellen that evacuation would have been an absolute horror. For one thing, escape to the southwest was impossible. The center of Harvey wiped towns down the coast off the map. If people had gone east, they would have ended up in the Golden Triangle, which got the same amount of rain as Houston a day after the storm cleared out of here, and has lost everything from power to water systems. You can't evacuate to the Gulf, which only leaves I-10 west, or north. Unfortunately, all the evacuees from Corpus, Rockport, and so on were heading to Austin and San Antonio.
DeleteYou simply can't evacuate everyone from a three hundred mile stretch of coastline. And in Houston, you would have had to go at least 75 miles inland to move everyone who was about to be affected. Staying in place and hunkering down was the best plan of action, particularly since we had no wind here.
Part of the problem is that we're used to storms making landfall, and then moving inland and dissipating. This one got trapped between two high pressure systems, and did a lateral move up the coast at about 2 mph -- when it was moving. Because it stayed so close to the Gulf, it kept sucking up water and dumping it as rain. It was a recipe for disaster. But watching the unbelievable efforts of the city and county officials, the National Weather Service, the Flood Control District and etc, I just can't say a bad thing about them. Of course there will be lessons to be learned, but all things considered, it could have been much, much worse.
Honestly, I don't mean to be snarky or disagreeable. But I've been through Hurricane Alicia, TS Allison, Rita, and Ike, along with a couple of dozen lesser storms, and I've never seen such competent handling of a true disaster.
Oh Lord. I keep thinking about my friend Lynn who lived in Sugarland at one time and how she and her husband kept a sailboat at a local marina. Lynn was the breadwinner, worked for Tenneco? I think. How ironic, all of it.
ReplyDeleteAre we doomed, Ellen? It's just all so scary. I hope that the ditches continue to do their job. I hope that the oak tree continues to stay rooted. Branches- aw, a lot of work but you have grandsons and are strong yourself.
Trillions of gallons. Unfathomable.
It's a whole new ball game out there that's for sure. the poor farmer at the end of my street, all the cotton farmers who hadn't got their crop in yet. he won't have much a crop left by the time this is all over. it'll all be on the ground.
DeleteI'm a regular reader of Joanne blog. With all the news of Harvey and flooding I thought browsing over here to read a first hand account would be worthwhile. The before and after pic of the expressway is very dramatic. Wish you the best and thanks for taking the time to share.
ReplyDeletethanks Bill, and thanks for visiting.
DeleteI'm so glad you're a distance from this catastrophe. Please stay safe and dry. Tale care.
ReplyDeleteThanks for keeping us informed about your situation, Ellen. I DO HOPE it stops raining before you are in real trouble! At least it isn't in your house. Also, I hope the tree doesn't give up.
ReplyDeleteThe pictures are chilling. I watch the news and cannot believe what I'm seeing. I am glad to read that you are okay and pray that the rain soon stops.
ReplyDeleteI have had some close calls with flooding, in 08 I was evacuated for 2 weeks.It is hard to believe with all the drought we have had here.I think monthly totals are 4.5 inches.hope all fairs well for you.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see you online each day because I then I know you're doing OK!
ReplyDeleteWith regard to those branches, I think you need the grabber they gave me at the hospital. Unless you need a workout that involves a LOT of bending. What a mess. I can't even imagine being in Houston right now - as my friend Scott said, what will happen when the crisis is over? Will people have jobs, or will their employers have given up & shut down? I feel bad because we're kind of in a financial bind with this surgery, but I really want to give to the Red Cross or to my church's disaster relief fund...
ReplyDeleteright? guess I'll be doing extra yoga for the back.
DeleteExcellent suggestion to use the grabber( I have two from knee replacements) and have used them frequently for oak twigs.
DeleteI feel so sad about every hardship in Houston and surrounding towns. It must be so dispiriting even more perhaps for all the people who relocated to Houston after Katrina.
When I lived in Texas there were few if any regulations on building anything, anywhere. Trailer house next to MacMansion or church next to gas station or school next to freeway.
ReplyDeleteWe are hearing and seeing horrors on the news - it begins to get really frightening, nature reminding us of something. I'm hoping you're staying safe.
ReplyDeleteit's moved past us now. no rain at all yesterday and clear sky by night and clear today.
Delete