Hurricane Harvey

deepcreek

deepcreek

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Apr 20, 2009
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I'm requesting prayers and positive thoughts for the well being of all those experiencing the effects of Hurricane Harvey on the Gulf Coast.

The wind damage from a Category 4 hurricane absolutely decimated Rockport and surrounding communities.

Strong thunderstorms are still relentlessly pounding the Houston metro area with occasional tornadoes adding to the havoc.  It is already an epic flood event and heavy rain is expected to continue for four more days.

My house is surrounded by rising water and some of my closest neighbors have already flooded.  We live in one of the highest points in the county and are outside the 500-year floodplain.  No one saw this coming.

The roads and highways are all impassable.  There is no way to evacuate.  We are stuck here.

Thankfully, we have power for now.  Tens of thousands do not.

I was born and raised in Houston and have never seen anything like this.

I have to admit it's very scary.

Please pray.

Thanks!

Joe
 
My thoughts are with you and all the others affected.  If there is anything that can be done to help, please ask.  The sheer volume of water predicted is beyond comprehension. 
 
Hi Joe

I wish you the very best. I know that the worst may not yet be over - the winds will have died down but the rain will be there for a while yet.

Every year in the UK we are told that this or that weather event is a new record high, low or whatever since records began several hundred years ago. There is only one cause as far as I can see and that is climate change. I do not think that we can deny its effects any more.

Good luck to you, your family and everyone living in the path of this terrible storm.

Peter
 
Climate is constantly changing Peter. 

It also changed in the centuries before the Greeks and Romans brought us civilization as we know it.  It is was what caused the extinction of the dinosaurs - and not because of anything the inhabitants caused.  The universe is cyclical and random all at the same time.

There were Giant Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico back in the 60's too.  Camille was one of the most powerful on record.  The 2000-2010 decade saw a lot of powerful storm here.  But, this decade has been relatively quiet. Except for Sandy which pummeled the Northeastern Seaboard.  Coincidentally the place a lot of the talking head crowd lives. The one which loves to rile up people with stories of our impending doom yet gets in their cars to go to work and play AND consumes electricity nonstop.  Which is powered predominately by coal fired plants.  And one of the largest storms on record was waaaay back in the 30's !  Long before the global warming melting icecap we're all going to heck in a hand basket talk started.
 
My sympathies to those in the storm path.  Saw  the morning news reports.  Wow.  [sad]

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Lets not make this topic a climate change / global warning debate.

Seth
 
Joe,  my thoughts and prayers are with you.  You have had so many challenges this year and I hope that others here will think a thought or say a word or ask a favor if they believe in those sorts of things.

God speed!

Peter
 
My brothers and sisters in Harvey's path:
I pray that you are kept safe, I pray that whatever the outcome you find strength to move forward, I pray that the unaffected will give generously in the names of the affected and that whatever help we give will reach you timely.

This and so much more do I pray for you.

Chris
 
The rain stopped for a few hours this afternoon and the water receded maybe three inches.  It's still way too close to the house for comfort.  The weathermen say these tropical systems actually produce more rain during the overnight hours than during the daytime.

My shop is adjacent to my house and I went out to survey what to save from the flood waters if it comes to that.  The answer was easy.  All my Festool systainers went up on tables and sawhorses.

I deeply and genuinely appreciate everyone's support.

Thank you all.

Joe
 
This is my elderly Mom's house that I built for her across the street from me.

Her 2+ acre property backs up to a bayou that is out of its banks.

The house is literally sitting on an island surrounded by water.  You can't even see the driveway.

Thankfully, we brought in 120 dump trucks of stabilized fill before we poured the foundation.

Now I wish we had brought in more.

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I grew up three miles from the Atlantic coast of Florida and went through several hurricanes - none with flooding this bad, but several with severe damage and loss of life.  My mother called me Hurricane Harvey on occasion.

Prayers and best wishes to all those who are going through the hurricane.  For all of us, a sense of community during the recovery and rebuilding process.  Lots of people will be using lots of tools in the area hit by Harvey over the next couple of years.  Seems like FOG could be used to good advantage in the process.

[member=6237]deepcreek[/member], keep people up-to-date on the rebuilding process if possible.
 
My thoughts and prayers go out to you and yours Joe! (And of course to all affected by this!)

Can't begin to imagine what this must be like...

All the best!

Kind regards,
Oliver
 
Yesterday and last night were terrifying as the flood water inched closer to our house.  It seeped onto the floor of the shop which sits a few inches lower but we were able to squeegee that out with no damage.  Watching television coverage of thousands of people being rescued by boat, army trucks, and helicopter only added to the anxiety as the wind howled and the rain poured down.

It stopped raining for a few hours at dawn and the water actually receded two or three inches.  It has started raining again but I think the worst is over.  Our biggest risk now is the neighborhood bayou rising farther out of its banks due to runoff from upstream.  This can happen up to 24 hours after rain events are over.

We have had over 40 inches of rain in the past few days.  That's close to our annual rainfall amount (49") and another 6 to 8 inches is predicted today.  The national weather service has reported this as the new all time "Lower 48" record for rainfall from a tropical event.  This storm has been epic.

The Houston metro area is 10,000 square miles with close to 7 million people.  That's bigger than Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, or Rhode Island.  This has been described as a 1,000 year event with upwards of 10 trillion gallons of water dumped.  Authorities reported yesterday that 90% of the roads were impassable.  It's just mind boggling.

I thank God we were spared but there are hundreds of thousand of people who did not fare as well.  I donated to the American Red Cross this morning and will be actively looking for ways to be a blessing for others.  Please do what you can to help our community recover by donating to this or any charity of your choice.

https://www.redcross.org/donate/hurricane-harvey

This song is a local favorite and seems appropriate.  Stevie Ray Vaughan - Texas Flood
 
My sympathies are with you.  I'll pray for ypour welfare and all who are suffering.  I have a cousin in the Huston area. I have not heard from her. She does have other family near by, but if she's flooded, they are also.

For now, I guess the best I can do is relate  a funny story that happened to me back, even before, I turned 39.  In Connecticut we had suffered two very strong huricanes within a week or two of each other.  One was in my area and a neighoring town, Norwalk, had one of its main streets, along with a whole row of buildings just wash out. Further north, the  second storm wiped out the main street in two of the towns close to where I had grown up.  In both cases, I knew several people who had been hit  with damage.  After the second storm, I loaded my truck with masonry materials  and equipment to go to my cousin's farm to do some repairs for the family home. Along my route, i was forced to take several detours as bridges and/or whole sections of roads had disappeared.  There was a lot of devestation to a lot of cities, towns and villages.

I was approaching  Torrington after having taken several detours.  I saw  a soldier hitch hiking.  I stopped and asked where he was headed.  "I'm going to Lennox, Massachusetts"

"I know where it is. Hop in.  I won't take you all the way to Lennox, but I will get you to the other side of Bt. Barrington. North of there, the roads are mostly ok.  Between here and  Canaan, we might need to take  a few short cuts."  The lad climbed aboard and we headed north. The main streets in boh Torringon and Winstead were GONE.  We did find our way around and I headed towards Norfolk.  As we rolled into that town, there was a raod block with a sign that Rt 44 was closed this side of East Canaan.  I just took a right turn north and headed into the  hills north of Norfolk.  I knew the road was not paved and it was no surprise to me that we had to skirt a few washouts.  My soldier friend had been chatting amiably the entire trip.  That is, until we had to skirt a couple of washouts.  We had to ford the stream at one point. I knew  that section of the journey like my own yard.  I grew up just about ten miles away and those hills were my playground.  I was not worried in the least.

All of a sudden, I realized my companian had gotten real quiet.  Worse, he started smoking, not one cigarette, but chain smoking.  He would lite the next as he was close to finishing the previous. My cab was getting to be like a smoke house. I hate cigarette smoke, but i was chuckling to my self.  Finally, my friend spoke up, "While in the service, I am a joo jitsoo instructor.  I teach self defense for combat.." I said nothing.  The soldier continued with his tale telling me he taught Ranger skills to kill with bare hands.  I still said nothing. I was actually having a difficult time keeping myself from laughing. The poor guy was actually frieghened of his scraggly looking driver. The narrower the road, the more the scare.

Finally, after the last washout where I sort of took a track into the woods and returned to my intended route, we came upon a paved road. We were coming into the  village of Southfield. My passenger gave a huge sigh of relief.  I told him it was a good thing that we were approaching civilization, because, "... I notice you are out of cigarettes."  A few minutes and 20 miles further, I was able to deposit him onto Rt 7 a little north of Gt. Barrington.  He thanked me for a great adventure.  Before I was out of sight, he had another ride.  Hopefully, it was not quite so scary to him.
Tinker
 
My prayers are with everyone in that area.  The Sam Houston Tollway running below ground in front of my sister's residence has just overflowed and headed for her house in the front and a bayou in the back of Memorial bend is out and headed her way from that direction.  It is so hard to believe the amount of water it would take to fill that tollway!  Be safe everyone!
 
I live in NW Houston.  We have been spared any flood waters.  We have found a couple of leaky windows/frames that will have to be fixed and sheetrock repaired.

One of my co-workers just finished the repair/remodel from the tax day, 2016 flood, had just received a contract to sell their house.  It now has 4 ft of water in it again.

The amount of cooperation to rescue folks from their flooded neighborhoods is unbelievable.  The Cajun Navy is tremendous.

Deepcreek, you need to change your handle to Deepenoughcreek!  Happy you are in good shape, but with releases from the reservoirs, some are not out of the woods yet.

 
I used to be a Katy boy (Katy is a community on the West side of Houston) and I've been talking a good friend who lives out there off Mason Rd.  His neighborhood hasn't flooded either.  He used to be a rice farmer until the imports made it unprofitable and he moved into "town".  His dad had been a rice farmer before him and he said his dad used to farm in the area where he lives now back in the 40's and 50's before it was developed and told my friend he remembered it to be high ground.  Good thing he listened to his father.
 
My wife read last night that an estimated 9,000,000,000,000 gallons of water had fallen with more to come. I had a difficult time resolving this quantity in my head, so I did some conversions.  This volume equals one foot of water over an area 207 miles squared.

This conversion made more sense, but I then went to a list of land areas of US states.  This volume is essentially equal to one foot of water covering Virginia or Tennessee.

This is still incomprehensible to me.

I continue to pray for those affected by Harvey.

Chris
 
Wait a minute both Tennessee and Vriginia are over 41,000 sq miles in size, far larger than  207 sq miles.

No state is only 207 Sq miles, even Rhode Island is more than 7 times that at about 1500 sq miles..

Did I read your post wrong? I think your number of 207 sq miles is wrong. If it is correct than your figures for states size are incorrect or I read it wrong.

9,000,000,000,000 gallons of water, 7.48 gallon covers 1 cubic foot
http://www.montecitowater.com/how_many_gallons_of_water_in_a_c.htm
http://www.ipl.org/div/stateknow/popchart.html

Yeah it's a lot of water in a short Period of time no matter the exact figures.
 
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