Houston Flood

i remember the clusterfuck of the Rita evacuation & it seems like a damned if you do/damned if you don't situation - it really is picking one disaster over another.

― flappy bird, Sunday, August 27, 2017 6:01 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the great sigh of limited government

maybe after this is all settled down we can have a week where we just talk about infrastructure

Bush during Rita:

[Removed Illegal Image]

My friend's aunt just got rescued by relatives who inflated a raft to get across the entrance to her house

really gonna put a damper on Astros playoff run

(sorry, gallows humor)

A couple of reservoir are getting released slowly tomorrow...Mandatory evacuations and estimed two months of water going into neighboring homes.

http://m.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Harvey-flooding-forces-release-from-Addicks-and-12035928.php?cmpid=fb-desktop

VITAL LINE OF DEFENSE: Addicks and Barker were built to protect the heart of the city by controlling the flow of water along Buffalo Bayou. Things haven't gone as planned. What's at stake is the safety of the nation's fourth-largest city. If the dams failed, half of Houston would be underwater. Under the worst scenario at Addicks, property damages could reach $22.7 billion and 6,928 people could die.

Trash pandas know the drill:

https://i.redditmedia.com/JY_h8axeL_Tndw4VJjodd59saUsX0m-Q1ddBvQOtpgE.jpg

https://i.redd.it/e1ju7ioylciz.jpg

The Barker Dam used to be right outside the city limits on the west side, we went there to buy fireworks from the stands on Highway 6 and set them off on top of the dam. Need to talk to my dad and see if he'll need to evacuate before they release water from it and the bayou floods. Was expecting it with this kind of rainfall.

The dams seem safe. The Corps of Engineers has done a lot in the past decade to stabilize the levees and culverts.

The problem is well downstream. The Addicks and Barker Dams did their job in delaying watershed rainfall from flowing downstream, but they're nearly full. Addicks water levels, Barker water levels. They must release tonight to ensure they have some reserve capacity for projected rainfall. This means an increment to tonight's rainfall driven flooding downstream, but its more a matter of elevation than proximity to the dams.

On those links: seems Harris County Flood Control District's website has gone down, for the moment at least.

if yall havent donated yet:

http://www.portlight.org/home.html

Portlight works with people with disabilities and the elderly during disasters

Off shift to camp at office but as you see the fire hose is back on. Easily 2-4" an hour rain rates setting up. Stay put stay safe Houston. pic.twitter.com/CZMCUi74xC

— Scott Overpeck (@scottao11) August 28, 2017

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/326112492608815105/351548878593589258/unknown.png

This is what concerns me... my father's house is in that dark orange area just south of Buffalo Bayou.

Big bunch of dry air is eating up some of the feeders heading up into Houston.

Had no idea until reading this that Houston freeways are designed to flood and become temporary rivers during heavy rains, to save homes.

A Houston floodsplainer:
(caveat, I'm not a pro, just someone interested in how my city works. If a real pro finds an error, please LMK)

— Matt Corbett (@CorbettMatt) August 28, 2017

Would make late evacuations more difficult.

Loads of suburban evac orders (both mandatory and voluntary) coming down today.

The Corps of Engineers has done a lot in the past decade to stabilize the levees and culverts.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/27/hurricane-harvey-katrina-lessons-louisiana-215543

The Army Corps has a study of the problem underway, including a controversial proposal to build a 55-mile-long “coastal spine” of dune barriers and gates at the mouth of the Houston shipping channel. The soonest construction could possibly begin, according to the Corps: 2024

2015 article -- http://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/the-problems-with-100-year-floods/

Since 2001, the region has been working fitfully on large-scale flood control projects, but those are now running seven years behind schedule

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/08/houston-needs-you-social-media-rains-scorn-on-joel-osteen-for-closing-megachurch-after-hurricane/#.WaREAIKY8Io.facebook

Joel Olsteen and his ilk preaching "prosperity gospel" are one of the reasons evangelicals supported Trump. "If you're rich, you must be virtuous". Though I'm undecided whether he or his congregation deserves more contempt.

well he does obv. might be a smart conman but he's still taking advantage of vulnerable/stupid people

Meantime, Joel Osteen has been hammered for the past two days for not opening his megachurch as a shelter. So of course he posts this instead.

Our hearts break as we see the damage and destruction in our city. Please join us in helping Houston recover. Visit https://t.co/jXMX5VB3qS pic.twitter.com/00HtzOmeQL

— Joel Osteen (@JoelOsteen) August 28, 2017

Crisp colors!

Joel's Ark

My friend and his wife who live in the Heights still have power (and will likely not lose it at this point unless the power station floods) and the rains are blinding but not terrible -- no major flooding. I'm amazied. Maybe Osteen's prayers are working!

one of my residents is from houston and says her family (who live "in the suburbs") is doing fine

have a handful of co-workers and friends there, so far all accounted for. one of them took live video of water from a creek that was located nowhere near them and made it into their neighborhood (fortunately their home is very high up).

interestingly the FB "mark as safe" app also allows you now to either offer help or request help, so you have people offering to take their boats out and find people and people asking to be rescued out there.

Useful thread

Houston prosperity gospel preacher Joel Osteen is under fire today for staying closed during Hurricane Harvey. https://t.co/ohuPLPiyEE

— Ruth Graham (@publicroad) August 28, 2017

fuck that guy for desecrating a venue the Cure played at once by turning it into a church

pretty impressive the efforts he's made, by basically doing the same thing as a kid putting a donate button on FB.

Pretty sure it's a felony to do this. https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/378800000065869770/8d057a47e79bbbf3d75a57281c8b597d_normal.jpeg

Residents in Baytown stand on mailboxes above the high water as they look at their flooded street in https://t.co/fHHloUJGVr pic.twitter.com/MyhStimkVu

— ABC13 Houston (@abc13houston) August 28, 2017

Only Osteen defenders I'm seeing on FB are also staunch Red Hatters who clutch pearls at the most minimal criticism of Comrade Combover.

dang I thought mailbox guy was a log rolling world champion

let me guess "he has the right to use his property as he sees fit, I don't see any of YOU offering up YOUR homes, besides it might be unsafe soon", etc etc?

xpost

New bad news in the form of a levee way up on the north side that is highly likely to have pump failure so the neighborhood near it is having a forced evacuation right now. Like 'Get up and go now or DIE.'

Christ

do you know which levee and where it is in proximity to Spring, TX? friend there said she hadn't been evacuated yet but the neighborhood next to hers had....

Cool story, Bill

Visited Houston first time on on most recent tour. Remembering local people at the signing, how postmodern/terraformed the city felt to me

— William Gibson (@GreatDismal) August 29, 2017

let me guess "he has the right to use his property as he sees fit, I don't see any of YOU offering up YOUR homes, besides it might be unsafe soon", etc etc?

Pretty much. Also: "You demand too much of people!" and "He doesn't need the responsibility of looking after 16,000 people" (like they don't do that several fucking times a week).

I really think his general silence is due to him and his family probably ducking out to Aspen or somewhere last week.

do you know which levee and where it is in proximity to Spring, TX? friend there said she hadn't been evacuated yet but the neighborhood next to hers had....

I think you could call it Spring. It's situated north of FM 1960 between I-45 & Hardy Toll Road. Inverness Forest is the name.

fuuuuuuuck

This is all so awful and still getting worse that it's so hard to keep up with. Is there at least an indication the people in charge are doing the best they can right now, given the circumstances?

In the meantime, check out this horror:

Pro tip: Don't touch the floating fire ant colonies. They will ruin your day. #Harvey pic.twitter.com/uwJd0rA7qB

— Mike Hixenbaugh (@Mike_Hixenbaugh) August 27, 2017

Saw it in this epic litany of animals seeking shelter:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2017/08/28/harvey-is-also-displacing-snakes-fire-ants-and-gators/?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.2371becae282

Which includes not just alligators but this keeper:

https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/21150440_10156125601700348_1624938518966458004_n.jpg?oh=fc88a9ddca993d6eb4f00a9af34b5246&oe=5A23BFFF

This is all so awful and still getting worse that it's so hard to keep up with. Is there at least an indication the people in charge are doing the best they can right now, given the circumstances?

I could go on and on, but basically given how unprecedented a disaster this has been, things have been handled as well as possible.

that is very good to hear.

they had time to do orderly evacuations too this was predicted days out

― lag∞n, Sunday, August 27, 2017 2:24 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

btw, this is insane. The storm had dissipated on 8/23 and advisories had stopped, until it re-strengthened that day, and the initial rain forecasts were "10 to 15 inches with isolated maximums of 20 inches over the middle and upper Texas coast and southwest Louisiana", which has been far exceeded thus far. by the time the storm took a turn and the rain forecasts ramped up, it was literally a few days before the storm.

after Rita I can't blame them for not wanting to put people at risk of dying on the road.