Hurricane Harvey

[Tacenda]

24 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

Going to bed. Even if the rain stops the reservoir is going to keep filling for some time faster then it is being drained. Some leakage is pretty certain before morning. Just praying the whole thing holds. Good night Houston and good luck.

"Houston we have a problem".....

[RevTestament]

11 hours ago, Tacenda said:

Sad that Pres. Trump voided proper infrastructures to prevent disasters like this.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-rolled-back-flood-protections_us_59a42d78e4b05710aa5dbeb0

I believe that measure was only to protect federal buildings by raising them up - it wouldn't stop the flooding of everyone else.

Despite all the hype there really is little evidence for sea rise outside of the equator. Nevertheless, if the government is insistent on spending some money to stop it, I vote that they spend it on developing thorium nuclear plants so that we can get off coal and gasoline asap. That would be a much wiser use for the money.

[bsjkki]

Looks like the reservoirs have uncontrolled releases. One comment said the houses upstream are flooding and busses are evacuating those below. http://www.khou.com/mobile/article/weather/hurricanes/hurricane-harvey/live-blog-uncontrolled-releases-of-water-at-barker-and-ad****s-spillways/285-467436849

Edited August 29, 2017 by bsjkki

[Tacenda]

Does anyone know if any LDS church or stakehouses are opened up to shelter folks? On FB there are a lot of posts mentioning that Joel Olsteen's church was closed compared to many Mosques for shelter. And it made me wonder about the LDS buildings. Of course after visiting Texas recently I noticed there were very few LDS church houses, unlike Utah, so this question is probably not a good one. 

[jkwilliams]

1 hour ago, Tacenda said:

Does anyone know if any LDS church or stakehouses are opened up to shelter folks? On FB there are a lot of posts mentioning that Joel Olsteen's church was closed compared to many Mosques for shelter. And it made me wonder about the LDS buildings. Of course after visiting Texas recently I noticed there were very few LDS church houses, unlike Utah, so this question is probably not a good one. 

It depends on whether they are underwater or not. I'm almost certain that, based on location, my daughter's meetinghouse (their stake center) is underwater. When Rita came through when we lived in College Station, our ward housed about 80 people evacuated from Houston, all of them nonmembers.

[bsjkki]

Guidelines for using meetinghouses for emergency shelter. https://www.lds.org/topics/emergency-preparedness/guidelines-for-use-of-meetinghouses-as-emergency-shelters?lang=eng&old=true

 

[The Nehor]

Okay, got off work and was following when I could.

The lake Columbia levee breached SE of Houston causing further flooding this morning. Some idiot took stolen building supplies tried to shove them into the breach insisting it would be fine now on television.

The Ad****s reservoir is overflowing on the northern end (this is what they are calling an uncontrolled release) but while more water is bad there has been no catastrophe.

Good news: Projections are hopeful that the storm will go terrorize other areas soon.

Bad News: The storm may stick around and even if it does not it is going to take a long time to get water levels down and the reservoirs could still breach.

Mid-term outlook: The area is still in danger. If the area does not experience heavy rain the optimistic projection is that the flooding will be cleared out in late November. There are unconfirmed reports that the Ad****s release is jammed and they will not be able to close it so it may keep draining. It is unlikely it will be able to be repaired. Any storm coming to Houston could restart the nightmare. There is a tropical depression on the way to the area but there is no way of knowing where it will hit or how strong it will be or whether it will die out and do nothing. The crisis on the ground will be food and water distribution. Even when homes do dry out most will need anything underwater to be stripped to the studs and rebuilt and eventually the smell will fade. Insurance company battles will be hard fought in the coming weeks and months. I have heard everything from 1 in 2 to 1 in 10 of the damaged houses have flood insurance so this could impoverish many. Health problems may also result from people spending time in that water. Tetanus shots are recommended and maybe even a full checkup.

Long-Term Outlook: Many jobs are gone temporarily or permanently. Those living paycheck to paycheck are probably already in financial distress. The area is going to need a tremendous amount of clean up once the water is gone. It is basically raw sewage that will eventually drain out and leave gunk behind with all that implies. The smell will be bad. Mosquitos are going to multiply to hideous numbers and we can only hope Zika or other diseases do not show up. Plant life will be significantly decreased. Demand for repairs to cars and houses is going to exceed supply so rebuilding will take a lot of time and prices will inflate. If you can strip and rebuild a house there is going to be a lot of money to be made. A lot of people with mortgages will abandon their property. We can expect property values in the area to fall generally for several years. Some people will have lost everything financially when they find their home is worthless and cannot repair or rebuild. Homeless population will rise. The loss of Houston as as an energy hub temporarily combined with damage to Gulf oil platforms means we will probably see a rise in gas and energy prices (and energy prices can effect almost anything). There will be political battles over aid. They have already started. Scapegoats will be found who are rightly or wrongly blamed. Many of those negligently guilty will slide away unscathed. Houston will reconsider its lax zoning policy which contributed to the damage but the result could be changes or maintaining the status quo. A lot of cars will be written off. If Katrina is any indication many will be shipped out of state and sold. If you buy a used car in the next few years you may want to pull a carfax report or something of that nature. Many people will leave Houston to live elsewhere. Population will fall for years.

 

Again, I am just an amateur so take what I say with a grain of salt. Stay safe everyone.

[bsjkki]

7 hours ago, Tacenda said:

Does anyone know if any LDS church or stakehouses are opened up to shelter folks? On FB there are a lot of posts mentioning that Joel Olsteen's church was closed compared to many Mosques for shelter. And it made me wonder about the LDS buildings. Of course after visiting Texas recently I noticed there were very few LDS church houses, unlike Utah, so this question is probably not a good one. 

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865687694/Texas-LDS-meetinghouse-becomes-shelter-boat-command-center.html "The Cypress LDS Stake Center has become a shelter for dozens of people displaced by the unrelenting wind and rain from Tropical Storm Harvey. About 50 spent Monday night in rooms throughout the building."

...

Pack said he was initially told that local church members would bring displaced people to meetinghouses to feed them and get them to Red Cross shelters.

“There are no Red Cross shelters — none,” he said.

Water-covered roads have made it difficult for rescuers to get into Houston from Dallas and other areas.

“What we’ve seen is a collapse of the infrastructure in the city, and I say that not disparagingly, but it has overwhelmed everyone.”

Edited August 29, 2017 by bsjkki

[Tacenda]

43 minutes ago, bsjkki said:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865687694/Texas-LDS-meetinghouse-becomes-shelter-boat-command-center.html "The Cypress LDS Stake Center has become a shelter for dozens of people displaced by the unrelenting wind and rain from Tropical Storm Harvey. About 50 spent Monday night in rooms throughout the building."

...

Pack said he was initially told that local church members would bring displaced people to meetinghouses to feed them and get them to Red Cross shelters.

“There are no Red Cross shelters — none,” he said.

Water-covered roads have made it difficult for rescuers to get into Houston from Dallas and other areas.

“What we’ve seen is a collapse of the infrastructure in the city, and I say that not disparagingly, but it has overwhelmed everyone.”

Thanks, I thought for sure they would if they could.

Here's a link that mentions Olsteen opened their church, I guess they had been getting it ready. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/29/us/joel-osteen-backlash-church.html

[bsjkki]

1 minute ago, Tacenda said:

Thanks, I thought for sure they would if they could.

Here's a link that mentions Olsteen opened their church, I guess they had been getting it ready. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/29/us/joel-osteen-backlash-church.html

I thought it was sad how much people were hating on the Osteens. It takes some time and staff to get things together and some articles discussed his staff had to be rescued from their own homes. Even FEMA warns to be prepared for 3 days after a disaster because it takes that long to get their teams and supplies in place. 

[The Nehor]

2 hours ago, bsjkki said:

I thought it was sad how much people were hating on the Osteens. It takes some time and staff to get things together and some articles discussed his staff had to be rescued from their own homes. Even FEMA warns to be prepared for 3 days after a disaster because it takes that long to get their teams and supplies in place. 

Yeah, but I do not like the guy. Does that make it okay?  

[The Nehor]

Harvey is not done yet. An MCV is forming. Beaumont is in trouble. They are expecting disastrous flooding. The storm may also put more rain on Houston tonight.

The good news for Houston is that the storm is probably about to leave and run through Louisiana on a NE heading and start petering out. Harvey is capable of spawning tornados in Louisiana too. We may see more flooding events in Louisiana as well. This does mean the storm will stop sitting over water and thus stop recharging.

Prayers for Beaumont. They are in for a rough night.

[The Nehor]

Oh great. Now the Navy screwed up and made the situation worse.

https://www.duffelblog.com/2017/08/navy-destroyer-collides-with-building-in-downtown-houston/

[The Nehor]

Also, the Houston relief effort is saying there is a dire need for XL and 2XL clothing.

Remember we are not here to judge.

[strappinglad]

28 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

Oh great. Now the Navy screwed up and made the situation worse.

https://www.duffelblog.com/2017/08/navy-destroyer-collides-with-building-in-downtown-houston/

First they hit a container ship, then a tanker and now they wreck stuff on land?

[Duncan]

5 minutes ago, strappinglad said:

First they hit a container ship, then a tanker and now they wreck stuff on land?

you wonder, with all that technology why they are hitting stuff? isn't there an alarm that says, "rocks, rocks, rocks, rocks!!!!!"? 

[Calm]

1 hour ago, The Nehor said:

Also, the Houston relief effort is saying there is a dire need for XL and 2XL clothing.

Remember we are not here to judge.

My husband is a 2xl even when no excess weight.

New only or lightly used?  Both male and female I am thinking....

[jkwilliams]

6 hours ago, The Nehor said:

Oh great. Now the Navy screwed up and made the situation worse.

https://www.duffelblog.com/2017/08/navy-destroyer-collides-with-building-in-downtown-houston/

Thanks for posting that. I needed a good laugh.

[The Nehor]

7 hours ago, strappinglad said:

First they hit a container ship, then a tanker and now they wreck stuff on land?

It is a fake article.  

[The Nehor]

Update from overnight. Beaumont and sport Arthur were hit hard. Port Arthur especially. Almost every home flooded. The night was filled with social media requests for help as 911 was glutted. A few boats were lost due to high winds and currents and the government ordered all civilian boats to stand down and only allowed larger rescue boats in. The orders to people in the area was that help was unlikely to arrive until morning.

Looting has been sporadic in Houston but real. Creeps have crawled out of the woodworks on Craigslist and other sites. Lots of guys willing to House hot single women at their place. A few looking for single moms. 

Unconfirmed reports of gas station companies planning for gasoline shortages in the near future.

Several chemical plants are in danger of releasing noxious chemicals or even exploding due to damage and flooding. Largest refinery in the US forced to shut down. There is a nuclear plant in the area but that thing is almost impervious to anything outside of it and there is no indication of danger there.

Harvey is not expected to return to the ocean. It will hit the Mississippi valley and the Tennessee valley as it weakens. There will still be heavy rain in its path. Texas is expected to have a dry (at least in the air) Thursday.

[The Nehor]

7 hours ago, Calm said:

My husband is a 2xl even when no excess weight.

New only or lightly used?  Both male and female I am thinking....

Either and yeah, both.

[The Nehor]

There are now reports that the Arkema chemical plant is about to experience an explosion or explosions in the near future due to damage sustained. The area around the plant has been under evacuation orders for some time. If anyone is still near there get away.

[The Nehor]

Update on chemical plant. It is still expected to explode but it could be any time in next week. Understandably no one wants to go in there.  Cannot get solid information on what is in there so no idea how big the boom will be.

 

[The Nehor]

There is also a biological research center in Galveston that does experiments with the dangerous bioweapons (mostly to find counters). It was evacuated and the chances of anything getting out are low but it is higher then zero.

[strappinglad]

Don't you just love modern society , with all its good bad stuff and all its bad good stuff.