Hurricane Harvey

[Fijimn]

They don't know. Maybe up to 50" in the area. Basically, Houston is underwater. I'm praying Bobcat is alright cause I know he lives inner loop.

Our county judge asked for private assistance from people with flat bottom boats. Having to cover an area for search and rescue from Corpus to Beaumont has really taxed their services.

 

[noleclone2]

They don't know. Maybe up to 50" in the area. Basically, Houston is underwater. I'm praying Bobcat is alright cause I know he lives inner loop.

Jeff Masters blog says 1-2 more FEET possible in Houston. Moving east. Also 6 deaths reported Sunday so far in area from floods.

 

[Bobcat07]

We've received 20" of rain so far, the majority from about 8 PM last night until noon today. Numerous Tornado warnings and time spent in my downstairs closet, but fortunately nothing bad happened and haven't lost my power yet. Buffalo Bayou by me is over top of bank and at a 500-year flood level. No water made it into my Townhome thankfully, but watching the local news coverage and seeing all the devastation is very surreal.

I'm hoping the forecasts are wrong, but it looks like the storm may go back out into the water and dump another 18-24" of rain on us. That would just crush this city at this point.

 

[Bill From Tampa]

How much more is being forecasted?

Weather Channel is saying at least 20 more inches.

 

[GoNolesTX]

News reports out this way keep reporting "historical" and "unprecedented" damage/rainfall/etc. levels. Is this just as it relates to Texas hurricanes or hurricanes on the national level?

 

[DFSNOLE]

News reports out this way keep reporting "historical" and "unprecedented" damage/rainfall/etc. levels. Is this just as it relates to Texas hurricanes or hurricanes on the national level?

I would think hurricanes in general. I've been through a lot of them and have never come close to the rainfall y'all are experiencing.

 

[noleclone2]

I would think hurricanes in general. I've been through a lot of them and have never come close to the rainfall y'all are experiencing.

Yeah and I think for any rain event period. One of the largest US cities is having 2-4 feet of rainfall dumped on it. It will be an unprecedented disaster and I predict the most costly one to date.

 

[JohnnieHolmesNole]

Yeah and I think for any rain event period. One of the largest US cities is having 2-4 feet of rainfall dumped on it. It will be an unprecedented disaster and I predict the most costly one to date.

4th largest city in the U.S......can't be good. Wishing everyone there the best.

 

[F4Gary]

Love the media up here, Breaking news...Houston is flooding!

No crap Sherlock.

Will be donating to the Red Cross "Harvey" fund tomorrow.

 

[dmm5157]

Not that this particular event could have been avoided, but this has to be at least the 5th major flood in Houston area since 2000. I cannot think of another city that has had that many major floods, let alone a city as large as Houston.

 

[DFSNOLE]

Not that this particular event could have been avoided, but this has to be at least the 5th major flood in Houston area since 2000. I cannot think of another city that has had that many major floods, let alone a city as large as Houston.

What do they have for public stormwater management? With this much rain, it doesn't matter since you don't plan or build for a storm of this magnitude but it might help get the water out once the rain stops.

 

[GoNolesTX]

Not that this particular event could have been avoided, but this has to be at least the 5th major flood in Houston area since 2000. I cannot think of another city that has had that many major floods, let alone a city as large as Houston.

You know... when those magicians built the flat earth, they really should have made all of the land areas higher than the water areas. That's the only way to counter this whole "gravity" and "moon" theory.

Hope that gave you 713 dwellers a little laugh- Fiji and Bobcat.

 

[F4Gary]

You know... when those magicians built the flat earth, they really should have made all of the land areas higher than the water areas. That's the only way to counter this whole "gravity" and "moon" theory.

Hope that gave you 713 dwellers a little laugh- Fiji and Bobcat.

Shouldn't it just drain out the bottom?

Doh.

 

[NDallasRuss]

We've received 20" of rain so far, the majority from about 8 PM last night until noon today. Numerous Tornado warnings and time spent in my downstairs closet, but fortunately nothing bad happened and haven't lost my power yet. Buffalo Bayou by me is over top of bank and at a 500-year flood level. No water made it into my Townhome thankfully, but watching the local news coverage and seeing all the devastation is very surreal.

I'm hoping the forecasts are wrong, but it looks like the storm may go back out into the water and dump another 18-24" of rain on us. That would just crush this city at this point.

Just saw on the news that they're going to release water from the dam into buffalo bayou tonight.

 

[GoNolesTX]

Shouldn't it just drain out the bottom?

Doh.

Valid. Someone needs to pull out the stopper.

 

[Fijimn]

What do they have for public stormwater management? With this much rain, it doesn't matter since you don't plan or build for a storm of this magnitude but it might help get the water out once the rain stops.

We basically have a system of water sheds that feed bayous that empty into the Gulf. But like most, if not all cities, the infrastructure cannot keep up with urban sprawl.

 

[coloradonoles]

Just saw on the news that they're going to release water from the dam into buffalo bayou tonight.

Yes the are opening the reservoirs at Barker/Cypress and Addicks... that is not going to be good for Buffalo Bayou.

 

[coloradonoles]

We basically have a system of water sheds that feed bayous that empty into the Gulf. But like most, if not all cities, the infrastructure cannot keep up with urban sprawl.

They call them bayous, but basically they are big ditches close to the remnants of old river beds when Houston first was founded.

 

[Bill From Tampa]

Yeah and I think for any rain event period. One of the largest US cities is having 2-4 feet of rainfall dumped on it. It will be an unprecedented disaster and I predict the most costly one to date.

One report estimated $40 billion.

I can see a very similar scenario for this area if a rain event like this one hit here. A deluge happened a couple of summers ago and the roads in the area became lakes. And that rain lasted just 90 minutes.

 

[Bobcat07]

Not that this particular event could have been avoided, but this has to be at least the 5th major flood in Houston area since 2000. I cannot think of another city that has had that many major floods, let alone a city as large as Houston.

It's the 3rd 500-year flooding event (.2% chance of happening) in just the last 3 years. Memorial Day 2015, Tax Day 2016, and now Harvey 2017. This has already surpassed Allison in 2001 as the heaviest rain event in Houston and we are only potentially halfway through it.

 

[Bobcat07]

Yes the are opening the reservoirs at Barker/Cypress and Addicks... that is not going to be good for Buffalo Bayou.

Especially coupled with another 16-24 inches of rain predicted in the next few days. All the rivers are going to be in major flood stage for weeks as well. This isn't going to be a short-term problem.

 

[DFSNOLE]

Especially coupled with another 16-24 inches of rain predicted in the next few days. All the rivers are going to be in major flood stage for weeks as well. This isn't going to be a short-term problem.

Are all the businesses shut down for the near future? Folks who are paycheck to paycheck will be struggling.

 

[DFSNOLE]

Much more rain still to come
Harvey’s circulation is located in a near-ideal spot for funneling vast amounts of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico toward the upper Texas coast. Here, converging winds at low levels have been concentrating the moisture into north-south-oriented bands of intense thunderstorms with torrential rain. Since Harvey is barely moving, these bands are creeping only slowly eastward as individual cells race north along them—a “training” set-up that is common in major flood events.

Mesoscale models, our best guidance for short-term, small-scale behavior of thunderstorms, show little sign of relief for southeast Texas anytime soon. Convection-resolving mesoscale models, which have a tight enough resolution to depict individual thunderstorms, are an invaluable tool in situations like this. The mesoscale nested NAM model predicts that 20” – 30” of additional rainfall is likely through Tuesday across the Houston metro area, with even larger totals at some points

Rainfall reports to date
As of 10 am CDT Sunday, the National Weather Service Storm Summary (updated every 6 hours) listed four locations near Houston that had received over 24” of rain since the storm began on Thursday:

DAYTON 0.2 E 27.45
SANTA FE 0.7 S 27.42
SOUTH HOUSTON 4.0 SSW 24.54
LA MARQUE 1.8 E 24.53
LEAGUE CITY 2 W 22.08
BACLIFF 21.62
PEARLAND 3 NNE 20.84
BERRY BAYOU AT NEVADA AVENUE 19.52
BEAMER DITCH AT HUGHES ROAD 19.28
LA GRANGE 10.2 NW 18.89
HORSEPEN CREEK AT BAY AREA BOULEVAR 18.56
CIRCLE D-KC ESTATES 3.6 ESE 18.02
SUGAR LAND 1.0 W 17.97
CLEAR CREEK AT BAY AREA BLVD 17.84
MAGNOLIA 2.8 S 17.80
PASADENA 2 NW 17.72
WALLER 3.0 WSW 17.57
HOUSTON 1.4 NE 17.22
GOOSE CREEK AT BAKER ROAD 16.56
CLEVELAND 3.6 S 16.43
NEW ULM 5.1 S 16.14
PECAN GROVE 1 NNW 15.80
SMITHVILLE 15.77
ALVIN 3 SW 15.16
AUSTWELL 6 SSE 15.10
VICTORIA 2 SW 9.37
HOUSTON/HULL FIELD 7.33
CORPUS CHRISTI INTL ARPT 2.70

https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/mammoth-flood-disaster-houston-more-rain-yet-come

 

[Bobcat07]

Are all the businesses shut down for the near future? Folks who are paycheck to paycheck will be struggling.

I can't see many businesses being open the next three days around here. Going to be a huge hit to the local and state economy including Rockport, Victoria and other areas hit. Not to mention I've also heard that the Exxon refinery in Baytown was shut down so gas prices will probably rise too.

 

[coloradonoles]

Are all the businesses shut down for the near future? Folks who are paycheck to paycheck will be struggling.

I live in Kingwood, some 25 miles Northeast of Houston, and we have seen minimal flooding other than some local streets. The San Jacinto River runs about 3 miles away from my house and there is virtually no chance I will be flooded... that said EVERYTHING is closed down, outside of 1 or 2 gas stations/convenience stores.

 

[RangerNole]

Man just catching up on a little news and this looks really bad. I can't even imagine. We have people still recovering from our little CAT1 storm last October; looks like it will take many years for things to get back to "normal in this area.

 

[DFSNOLE]

Harvey by the numbers:
11 trillion gallons of rain water to this point. The final prediction is nearly 25 trillion gallons.
2000 water rescues in Houston as of Sunday night
316,000 power outages
56,000 calls to Houston 911 in 15 hours
62 Texas counties under disaster declaration.
132mph wind gust reported at impact with land.

 

[JohnnieHolmesNole]

Harvey by the numbers:
11 trillion gallons of rain water to this point. The final prediction is nearly 25 trillion gallons.
2000 water rescues in Houston as of Sunday night
316,000 power outages
56,000 calls to Houston 911 in 15 hours
62 Texas counties under disaster declaration.
132mph wind gust reported at impact with land.

It's a horrible deal. Seems like power will be out a LONG time. I fear the nightmare is really just beginning for those folks. Godspeed to all of them.

 

[Bill From Tampa]

It's a horrible deal. Seems like power will be out a LONG time. I fear the nightmare is really just beginning for those folks. Godspeed to all of them.

A lot of people never returned to New Orleans. I wonder if that will be the case for Houston as well.

 

[Finance85]

Best wishes Fij, Bobcat, and all other Houston peeps.

 

[PoopandBoogers]

A lot of people never returned to New Orleans. I wonder if that will be the case for Houston as well.

Ironically, many of them transplanted down I-10 from NOLA to Houston.

 

[GoNolesTX]

It'll be a LONG time before that area gets any sense of normalcy. Went to turn on local news before bed last night and they were simulcasting KHOU since their studio was under water. The KHOU folks had relocated to the local PBS affiliate near the UH campus and they were getting rain interference, so it was somewhat useless.

We're opening up our convention center in Dallas for shelter, but it's a 5k cap. Gotta think a metro area of over 6.5 million will need refuge in multiple large cities.

Heard driving in today that Houston proper actually made it out okay (relative) and that there might actually only be another 5"-10" of rain to come down daily as opposed to the 15"-24" they had feared. They announced last night at roughly 10:15p that they would begin releasing water from the reservoirs given they were at flood stages, sorry... 7.5' above flood stages. This water really has nowhere to go, in general. Houston, by and large, is just a giant bayou. This could, quite possibly, change the way maps are illustrated moving forward.

@dmm5157 have you been sent out as part of the FEMA protocol?

 

[seminole97]

A lot of people never returned to New Orleans. I wonder if that will be the case for Houston as well.

I thought, no joke, that many of the Nawlins Diaspora had stayed in Houston.

 

[dmm5157]

@dmm5157 have you been sent out as part of the FEMA protocol?

Negative. Since we'll be doing inspections inside homes (if I get sent), they won't send us out until the storm stops and the electricity is assured to be cut off at the homes we're inspecting. I'm guessing we'll start in Rockport, so it could be another week before I get tapped.

 

[seminole97]

Harvey by the numbers:
11 trillion gallons of rain water to this point. The final prediction is nearly 25 trillion gallons.
2000 water rescues in Houston as of Sunday night
316,000 power outages
56,000 calls to Houston 911 in 15 hours
62 Texas counties under disaster declaration.
132mph wind gust reported at impact with land.

"The 9 trillion gallons of water dispensed so far is enough to fill the entire Great Salt Lake in Salt Lake City — twice! It would take nine days straight for the Mississippi River to drain into Houston and equal the amount of water already there."

 

[littleitch1]

It looks like the thing is regenerating the pressures dropping

 

[littleitch1]

Dmm
Do you work for insurance companies?

I'm a GC here in Florida thinking about heading out there

Man
I noticed that there's no GC license requirements in Texas
So anyone can build there

 

[Fijimn]

Good morning from the bayou city. Hopefully we'll get less rain today. The center of TS Harvey is over Matagorda and it's bringing dry air into the system. Seems like there is a new narrative from outside media that the mayor should have ordered an evacuation of the entire city. As a person that sat on the beltway for 12 hours trying to escape before Rita, that's just freaking nuts.

Here is a drone view of downtown yesterday.

 

[GoNolesTX]

Good morning from the bayou city. Hopefully we'll get less rain today. The center of TS Harvey is over Matagorda and it's bringing dry air into the system. Seems like there is a new narrative from outside media that the mayor should have ordered an evacuation of the entire city. As a person that sat on the beltway for 12 hours trying to escape before Rita, that's just freaking nuts.

Here is a drone view of downtown yesterday.

View embedded media

Damn corporate comp firewalling FB pictures.

Heard the same coming in to work this morning that Abbott and Turner were at odds over the evac call. I def side with the mayor in this case. Seeing pictures of 610 being 100% impassible, I can't imagine what the highways would look like with 6+ million folks on them. I'm sure it'd look a scene from Walking Dead.

 

[RTM58]

Same spot