The Houston Gang

[Leon]

I has not rained in the Houston are in the past 24 hours. In our immediate area it is almost like it did not happen. Streets in adjacent neighborhoods, south of the Barker reservoir are seeing the water empty from their streets quickly.

We are 1 mile south of the reservoir.

This morning I walked up to and over the reservoir and down the other side. It is still flooded but, thank GOD, the water is receding. I went there to specifically look for a high water mark. And fortunately it was there indicating that the high point has been reached, probably

3~4 feet from spilling over the spillway. The limit is 104.4', I think it crested at around 110.5'

And this picture, taken this morning, looks great compared to thousands of other places in the Houston area. This is the top of the Barker Reservoir on the SW end of the levee/spillway at Peek Road, for those that are familiar.

This is the shallow end of the reservoir it goes about 5~8 miles east and north from here and only gets deeper.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Post an update when someone tried to drive across the road.

[Leon]

If you watch TV and see the stranded cars, that was the drivers trying to cross the road. The water came up that quickly. If you are driving in 6~10 water and you engine stalls, you are toast.

[Steve]

Not sure what to say here guys, but best wishes to all of you. I'm very glad to hear that many of you are still doing OK. The entire country is pulling for you.

Slainte, from Boston.

[Leon]

Thank you Steve

[Leon]

About 1 mile east of our neighborhood.

This was probably taken yesterday or on Monday. I drove most of this area this morning on dry streets. This neighborhood was lucky compared to most of the bad areas.

Drone video.

And the Cajun Navy, volunteers from Louisiana, which helped rescue residents out of this same neighborhood. We listened to these air boats most of Sunday and Monday. The water did not rise as high as expected so this neighborhood dodged the bullet.

This was taken probably 2 days before the drone video above.

This video ends approximately 1/2 mile east of our house. The water in our street came up over our curb but not quite to the sidewalk that runs parallel to the street. We were exceptionally lucky.

[Jack]

What amazes me is how little water is around after 5 FEET of rain. If Pgh got 5 feet of rain, everything not on a mountain top would be under

100 feet of water. We got 4 INCHES of rain in an hour once, and the valley between my house and the next mountain got a 20 foot wall of water that killed a bunch of people, including my uncle, when their vehicles got washed away.

[Leon]

The link above is a shallow point. East of here they expect water to be around for weeks.

[nailshooter41]

Got an email from my sister. Still no electricity in her neighborhood, but "all of the sudden", the water is receding in their house. They are drivi ng around now, but mostly looking for other places to live. Apartments are lasting (literally) just several minutes when put on the apartment finder pages or on someone's facebook page. She responded within 15 minutes of a posting on a facebook page, and she was already aced out of the unit.

FEMA assessors still haven't made it to their neighborhood as they were con sidered "moderate" flooding with only 4-7 feet of water in the neighborhood , and only 2' in their house. No word on when they will have a meeting, bu t she said the govt folks are pouring into the city.

This is going to be a long, long process of recovery that won't really have a direction for another several months.

Robert

[dpb]

On 01-Sep-17 10:25 AM, Jack wrote: ...

Terrain makes all the difference, indeed--we were in Lynchburg, VA, when Camille dumped 24-30+" in 8 hours overnight in 1969 in the heart of Nelson County in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It killed some 150-160, liquified and washed away whole small mountains and massively changed the landscape...but, because it's all mountainous, when the surge passed, except in the bottoms there was virtually no standing water, just mud and debris.

Most horrible experience of my life doing recovery work in the aftermath...

[Sonny]

Glad to hear all's well. I have lots of relatives in & about Houston. O nly one cousin's daughter's home was flooded. All others are doing okay, damage-wise. A few are without power, but are staying with family.

I had kept some tabs with the goings-on, mainly with the Lafayette area. Only about 5" of rain, here. Seems Lafayette was between the severe rain bands. Not until I got home did I discover I-10 was closed past the state line to Houston. I was told most of Beaumont is under water. That's ser ious flooding. Driving through town, I noticed more/congested traffic, th an normal, lots of Texas plates on vehicles.

Sonny

[Sonny]

You walked?

That your Tundra ruts? Is that why you were walking? Kinna like at the farm, at times, when certain nephews are driving.

Sonny

[Leon]

LOL, yeah, I walk a lot for health reasons.

[Jack]

For sure. My wife's uncle lived in a valley, the same valley where my uncle drowned when his car washed away in a flash flood. The water filled his basement, and 3 feet in his first floor. A chest of drawers in his basement had all the drawers filled perfectly smooth to the top with mud. All the electric outlets which looked fine, were packed perfectly smooth with the mud when you took off the cover plates. His yard had at least 2 feet of mud and debris covering his grass and garden. It was a real mess, everything stunk to high heaven, and took an incredible amount of work to get back to normal.

My uncle, who was 84 years old, had stopped to get gas. He lived on top of a mountain, but was getting gas at the bottom of the valley. An eye witness said he was pumping gas when suddenly the water started pouring over the creek next to him. He jumped in his car to drive out of it, and a huge wall of water washed him and his car 5 miles down the valley. Took them 4 days to find him in his car, covered in mud and debris. All from 4 lousy inches of rain.

[woodchucker]

I would go up north and buy an RV, and put that on my property so I could be there to restore. The RV would then be a weekend user, or sell it. Much better than being away from the house.

[DerbyDad03]

but "all of the sudden", the water is receding in their house. They are d riving around now, but mostly looking for other places to live. Apartments are lasting (literally) just several minutes when put on the apartment fin der pages or on someone's facebook page. She responded within 15 minutes o f a posting on a facebook page, and she was already aced out of the unit.

considered "moderate" flooding with only 4-7 feet of water in the neighbor hood, and only 2' in their house. No word on when they will have a meeting , but she said the govt folks are pouring into the city.

have a direction for another several months.

From what I understand, many of the worst damage was done in areas where many of the people can't afford to rebuild, never mind buy a "spare house".

If I extrapolated what I heard correctly, the poorest neighborhoods are in areas most likely to flood because those that could afford to built/bought on the higher ground. In addition, many of the people (rich and poor) don't have flood insurance (or enough insurance) to cover the damage.

Being able to stay on your property and rebuild at the same time is probabl y a luxury few can afford.

[Leon]

Actually the richest neighborhoods are along Buffalo bayou, the one that is expected to be out of its banks for weeks on end. This was a non discriminatory flood.

It is true that the vast majority do not have flood insurance, only 1 in

6 have it. I absolutely feel sorry for the poor that do not have flood insurance, not so much for the rich that do not have flood insurance. I will always have it regardless of my elevation. I could be 100' feet higher than my close neighborhoods and if debris blocks storm drains I might flood before they do. This actually happened about 10 years ago when a tornado went through our and neighboring neighborhoods followed by about 3" of hard rain. The lower neighborhoods drained quickly, our neighborhood flooded and it normally took 10+" to flood.

Absolutely

[DerbyDad03]

d, but "all of the sudden", the water is receding in their house. They are driving around now, but mostly looking for other places to live. Apartmen ts are lasting (literally) just several minutes when put on the apartment f inder pages or on someone's facebook page. She responded within 15 minutes of a posting on a facebook page, and she was already aced out of the unit.

re considered "moderate" flooding with only 4-7 feet of water in the neighb orhood, and only 2' in their house. No word on when they will have a meeti ng, but she said the govt folks are pouring into the city.

y have a direction for another several months.

Well, at least I got that last part right. ;-)

[Leon]

;~). It is hard to understand exactly what is going on down here by watching the news.

[DerbyDad03]

ood, but "all of the sudden", the water is receding in their house. They a re driving around now, but mostly looking for other places to live. Apartm ents are lasting (literally) just several minutes when put on the apartment finder pages or on someone's facebook page. She responded within 15 minut es of a posting on a facebook page, and she was already aced out of the uni t.

were considered "moderate" flooding with only 4-7 feet of water in the neig hborhood, and only 2' in their house. No word on when they will have a mee ting, but she said the govt folks are pouring into the city.

lly have a direction for another several months.

You know, it's not just watching it, but reading about also. If you google something like this...

are poorer sections of Houston more apt to flood

...you'll get articles like the ones at the links below.

It's not just the physical flooding, but the aftermath and the lack of resources typically available to the poorer areas.

In any case, the bottom line is what we all know is true: The vast majority of those impacted can't just run out, buy an RV and move back onto their land. For those in the inner city or tiny border towns, that option is not even close to being *on* the most unrealistic list of options one could com e up with.