I hope everyone in SE Texas is preparing for hurricane Harvey. It's looking like a cat 3 or 4 now.

August 25, 2017, 12:14 AM

jlb226

quote:
Originally posted by dry-fly:
I hear y'all, trust me. Not arguing. Only reasons I'm contemplating it are because it's north of Houston and we'd be headed back by 2:00. I'll be up early checking things out.

From my experience with the Rita evacuation, I would strongly suggest that you wait. It's not the weather you need to be concerned about, it's the panic/frenzy from the evacuation/exodus, which could leave you riding out a storm, stranded on the side of the road.

For Rita, the usual 180mi (2.5 hour) drive to Austin took, ~18 hours. Every freeway/highway/backroad out of town in gridlock. Every gas station along the route out of gas. Stalled (overheated, out of gas or involved in a collision) cars only exacerbating the problems. Usual A-hole Houston drivers on their very worst behavior.

Admittedly the mass exodus from Rita was worse that usual, because of the recent memory of Katrina, but our local news has already started the typical "stormageddon" reports. Neighborhood gas stations are running out of gas, stores are running out of typical hurricane supplies, which will only add to the panic/frenzy.

August 25, 2017, 12:17 AM

dry-fly

Thanks guys, y'all be safe too!

August 25, 2017, 02:09 AM

cwm1150

Latest update sure does not look good, Cat 3 now with 105mph winds. I am a little more than 100 miles from landfall in Galveston County. Placed on standby by my PD. Working night shift and my little berg is pretty quiet.

August 25, 2017, 03:26 AM

maxdog

Re Houston medical center flooding, yes it was bad. Afterwards, Methodist hosp installed "submarine doors" so basement wouldn't flood. Next flood event, maint staff waited too late to close doors trying to reach maint dept head to get permision to seal the doors. He was awol. Flooded again. Xray records and equip in basement. Some fear at first that water in basement contaminated with radioactive xray isotopes. Luckily not. Moisture permeated through entire multistory tower ruining all sterile items, bandages etc. Big mess.

August 25, 2017, 03:30 AM

maxdog

I remember tropical storm stalling in 1979. Claudette? Natl Weather station just south of Houston measured 42 inches in 24 hours. Huge swath of land between Houston and Galveston, including parts of I45 underwater. Set natl rainfall record.

August 25, 2017, 04:28 AM

maxdog

The evac for hurricane Rita was a cluster magnificant. It was the fault of one idiot politician. I was on the Emergency Mgt team of a coastal county south of Houston. There was an orderly and well planed evacuation design that the mayor of Houston screwed up because he didn't follow it. He endangered thousands of lives for political reasons. there were zones starting with the coastal area, and then going inland. The county had to evacuate through Houston. Zone 1 would go first, head north throgh Houston via frwy systems on Northward toward Dallas, Austin etc. Then zone 2, 3 etc until coast evact'd. Then Houston. The city of Houston was supposed to block all Houston entrances to their freeway system for several hours to allow coastal residents through. The freeways would then be opened to Houston residents to leave. Houston and surrounding governments had all signed off on the plan and it was part of the master disaster evacuation plan. Instead, the mayor of Houston, fearing criticism from Houston residents, lost his nerve at the last minute and didn't follow the plan. Didn't tell any of the other plan members, local government officials either. Just as the first wave of coastal evacuees were hitting the Houston freeways, the idiot decided not to follow the plan. Freeway access was not blocked as planned. The idiot then got on TV and told residents who wanted out to go.

It took a while for word to get back to us as we began to get reports of massive traffic tie ups.

I was in a county courthouse room and witnessed a red faced County Judge call Houston Mayor Bill White a GD bald headed son of a bitch. Being the only bald headed guy in the room, at first I thought he was talking to me. Then I realized that Bill White was the subject of his rant. Bill White is the single person that screwed up the whole plan and backed up traffic for 200 miles.

It didn't help that the governor didn't send enough hiway patrol to the evac routes to manage the traffic. Our County Judge called the governor's office only to find everyone had gone home for the day. He then had some choice words about Rick Perry.

The only people who need to evac Houston are those living in flood prone zones, which is a small percentage. The media hyped people into a frenzy. Old time Houstonians sstayed put unless they were in a flood zone. Bill White was lucky the systemm veered to the east. Can you imagine what would have happened if the storm had caught thousands of people stranded on the highways?

Of course the media never reported any of this. They would never cricize a democrat mayor, even a bald headed sumbitch mayor.

August 25, 2017, 05:16 AM

braillediver

It is what it is but take these observations as to what a real national emergency would be like. It would be un-announced, instantaneous and worse than this by magnitudes.

August 25, 2017, 05:54 AM

trapper189

Exacuation is a great idea in theory and if I lived on a barrier island or a flood prone area, I would evacuate, but when you add people and the unpredictability of these storms into the mix, staying put can be viable. Living on a peninsula (Florida) my choices.

I hope you folks that are going to be affected by this come out OK.

August 25, 2017, 07:32 AM

Ox190

Have a good friend with a 2 year old and a 1 month old down there. Tried to get him to evac and come up to DFW to stay with us but he thinks going up to Kingwood to stay with his in laws is going to keep them far enough away from it. I hope he's right.

August 25, 2017, 07:52 AM

Jaywendland1981

Im close to kingwood. Some well all the creeks will flood over the first night maybe the 2nd but most neighborhoods are built higher up especially newer ones. Centerpoint energy crews are already stationed everywhere, saw about 12 crews with little camps set up otw in to work. We are prepared. Shouldn't be as bad as the last couple storms.

August 25, 2017, 08:12 AM

tatortodd

Very little changed overnight on the hurricane track. Here is the 7 AM Coastal Watches/Warnings and Forecast Cone for Storm Center.

August 25, 2017, 08:28 AM

TXJIM

If you look at that forecast, it is a true worst case scenario. Most tropical systems come in and blow through in a few hours to a day. This system looks to move onshore and stall, sit in one spot for a couple of days, then move slowly east just off the coast ending up over Galveston and Houston, 5 days later, still at tropical storm strength. You are looking at an entire region being lashed by winds and rain for 5 straight days. Some areas in the region could see rain fall totals approaching 50" in that period. If you live in this area and have ever flooded plan on it. If you have ever been close to being flooded you will likely be this time. There will be water like people have never seen.

August 25, 2017, 08:34 AM

TXJIM

This is the current rainfall total forecast. The scale maxes out at 20", meaning they don't have a color for anything over 20". Much of that area will receive more than 20" of rain. That area is more than 100 miles wide....

August 25, 2017, 08:41 AM

rushfan65

To everyone in Texas, stay safe. I was in Miami during Andrew and Ft Lauderdale during Wilma. Hurricanes are nasty storms!!!

August 25, 2017, 08:48 AM

P250UA5

Just getting our first bands of rain around IAH.
No traffic to speak of on the drive in to the office this morning. We'll see how it is around noon when we close up shop today.

We've had tickets to Coldplay for about 9 months, show is tonight at NRG Stadium, announcement to be made at noon on whether they cancel the show.

August 25, 2017, 09:58 AM

jhe888

quote:
Originally posted by maxdog:
The evac for hurricane Rita was a cluster magnificant. It was the fault of one idiot politician. I was on the Emergency Mgt team of a coastal county south of Houston. There was an orderly and well planed evacuation design that the mayor of Houston screwed up because he didn't follow it. He endangered thousands of lives for political reasons. there were zones starting with the coastal area, and then going inland. The county had to evacuate through Houston. Zone 1 would go first, head north throgh Houston via frwy systems on Northward toward Dallas, Austin etc. Then zone 2, 3 etc until coast evact'd. Then Houston. The city of Houston was supposed to block all Houston entrances to their freeway system for several hours to allow coastal residents through. The freeways would then be opened to Houston residents to leave. Houston and surrounding governments had all signed off on the plan and it was part of the master disaster evacuation plan. Instead, the mayor of Houston, fearing criticism from Houston residents, lost his nerve at the last minute and didn't follow the plan. Didn't tell any of the other plan members, local government officials either. Just as the first wave of coastal evacuees were hitting the Houston freeways, the idiot decided not to follow the plan. Freeway access was not blocked as planned. The idiot then got on TV and told residents who wanted out to go.

It took a while for word to get back to us as we began to get reports of massive traffic tie ups.

I was in a county courthouse room and witnessed a red faced County Judge call Houston Mayor Bill White a GD bald headed son of a bitch. Being the only bald headed guy in the room, at first I thought he was talking to me. Then I realized that Bill White was the subject of his rant. Bill White is the single person that screwed up the whole plan and backed up traffic for 200 miles.

It didn't help that the governor didn't send enough hiway patrol to the evac routes to manage the traffic. Our County Judge called the governor's office only to find everyone had gone home for the day. He then had some choice words about Rick Perry.

The only people who need to evac Houston are those living in flood prone zones, which is a small percentage. The media hyped people into a frenzy. Old time Houstonians sstayed put unless they were in a flood zone. Bill White was lucky the systemm veered to the east. Can you imagine what would have happened if the storm had caught thousands of people stranded on the highways?

Of course the media never reported any of this. They would never cricize a democrat mayor, even a bald headed sumbitch mayor.

My house is about 2 miles from highway 59 on the north side of Houston. I convinced my wife we didn't need to leave during Rita, and instead we stayed comfortably in our house and watched people frozen on the highway.

There is no reason to evacuate Houston this time, and it isn't happening. People are staying put.