Flooding

I'm lucky and never had to deal with a flood, however my sister had a frozen
water line burst and water flooded her house, everything from 4 ft down on the
wall had to be removed and pitched.

A friend had a water line come off his water softener. All the floors in his
house had to be replaced.

A nursing home was built in a low area. Spring rains put it under water. They
worked on it for months. They couldn't get the mold trapped behind the brick
out. Finally demolished nursing home.

It sounds like Harvey is going to sit and spin for days in Texas.
My heart goes out to all who are going to have a flooded home. Can only hope
you have flood insurance.

Geo.

What one may not realize with any emergency of the sort, regardless of the nature, wind, water, fire, you name it, it totally engulfs lives and the infrastructure.

All the goods and services to which we have become accustomed in our modern day lives come to a screeching halt.......everything......guess what's in the water that is all around you and you have to go through to get out....besides the snakes ??????? I remember in the aftermath of the Cameron, La. event stories folks told about riding it out on their roof tops and having to knock the snakes off the roofs....... Think about all the animals that don't understand.........You have to endure the event and then try to put the pieces that are left back together. Monumental task. Not something you want to live through again.

I grew up on the coast and was stationed back down there when in the military for a time. Not pretty. We housed a Katrina family from Biloxi (a family the wife knew from when we were down there) during that tragedy. The stories they told about what happened to them and getting out alive made your skin crawl. Bad Bad Bad.

It was always my belief that hurricanes were what gave the south the reputation (and habit) of being so helpful to others in times of emergency.

There was a bit of that when that storm went up the east coast.....Sandy, was it? But I was appalled at how long it was taking folks to jump in and help.

Mark, I think you hit on something though - with hurricanes, there's still a lot left in the aftermath; lots of debris, that is! And to the unknowing eye, there are still plenty of good, sound houses still standing afterwards. In comparison, when that tornado hit that small mid-west town a few years back, pretty much the whole town was simply wiped away. Not nearly the amount of debris as with a hurricane. ....But then, not nearly the level of total destruction, either!

We had a wildfire go through a few years back, and one of the firefighters was here from Bemidji. He had told of how his crew had just come back from helping to fight the single largest wildfire in Texas history....I think that was in Bastrop? Anyway, he said how totally amazed he was of the people who had just lost everything, yet would go withdraw money from their bank accounts to buy food and drinks for the visiting emergency personnel. As he spoke, his face filled with tears. In reply, the only thing I could think of to say was, "[i:c2d6a01d8f]Welcome to the deep South[/i:c2d6a01d8f]". Hurricanes have and largely continue to shape who we are. However, I don't miss them!! Went through two while there that I was out in the middle of (fire dept), and a third where I was volunteering at a Red Cross shelter in SATX while stationed there. Nope, don't miss hurricanes one bit!!

And our daughter was complaining earlier this week because her flight out of Hong Kong was delayed for 8 hours because of a typhoon.

I can't even imagine what the people in the Houston area are going through. One report said Rockport, TX no longer had a functional infrastructure. Apparently that meant the entire town was basically abandoned.

While I feel for the folks affected by Harvey, keep the folks in Montana in your prayers also. They are still burning.

I've got a nephew that live's in Angleton south of Huston, he posted last night his place was flooding and he was headed to some friends that lived at a little higher elevation.

Flooding isn't a issue where I live, if I flood out the neighboring town will be under 200 ft of water, but as a fire fighter I've helped with flooding in the lower areas, once helping recover a small child's body when her drugged up parents drove out into high water causing her to drown.

Like others I think fire is the worst, one can recover items from a flood, or tornado, a fire leaves nothing.

Our Cattlemens Association sent several semi loads of supplies out to Ok. after their fire, the folk's there wouldn't let the driver's buy anything, payed for motel rooms, food, everything, they where so appreciative. The drivers said just having someone to tell their stories to seamed to help relieve some of the stress they where under, they listened to lots of stories the two days they where there.

The last I heard was some areas will get five and six FEET of rain. Just go and dummpa couple of olympic size pools in your back yard !!

Yeah, fire is a bad thing also. Have been fortunate to never gone through a large-scale wild fire.

Kinda brings home the old saying, "[i:0818193c78]come hell or high water[/i:0818193c78]". Interesting difference between the two, however, is that the fire pretty much destroys things, but also sterilizes from the heat. The ash makes new vegetation want to grow. In fact, some seeds cannot grow unless they get hot enough, as from fire.

On the other hand, water, water, water....and all that sewage, silt, dead animals, etc, etc... So no telling what's in the water. Yet at the same time, that filthy water is also the lifesaving grace for vegetation to grow after long dry spells. Have always been fascinated with how nature works.

Was watching some live coverage (when the internet was working for us) yesterday from Fox in Houston. The said how some areas would likely hit 50" in "rain alone"!! They called this a 500-year flood. ...Funny thing is, this is the 3rd 500-year flood event I know of in my lifetime in that area. :wink: But make no mistake about it, this flood event is definitely one for the record books!!

My hometown area is part of the area expected to get the most rainfall - a little north of Houston. ....Is probably considered a suburb now. *lol* Watching the video yesterday, couldn't help but wonder how nice it would have been making the long drive to work if traffic had been that light back then.....only without the water. Still, couldn't believe how many idiots were getting out in that mess and going for a joy ride, knowing that it's not over with yet.

I really don't understand why people living coastal areas are somehow surprised, especially when they have a weeks notice, when a hurricane floods them, or folks in dry areas are surprised by fire or folks, like me, living in snow/ice areas are surprised by 4 feet if snow over night or the power being out for a week or a month. These "storms of the century" happen every few years or decades, not every century or 3. Maybe it's our collective memory getting shorter or something, but looking back through the records this isn't anything like the first time any of this has happened.

Thoughts and prayers to those affected.

Bret -- exactly. However, there's a lot more people down on the coast now that have never been through the experience. Most people, it seems, will weigh out the options (if they have the option to) about where they want to live. They get to hurricanes and figure it's a good bet, as the storms rarely hit the same place twice in a row, so you may go 20 years without ever going through a direct hit. So, we'll just keep insurance up to date, etc.

What they fail to realize is something that cannot be relayed in words, and that's the massive scale of destruction - especially when it's happening in 3D, real-time! It's amazing how many people will move into hurricane country or tornado country and get to feeling comfortable, then when a threat approaches, they stay their ground and put all faith in the weather services. And if they "do" choose to skedaddle, they find that the roads are congested with traffic, gas stations are shut down, grocery store shelves are bare, etc.

Yes, is really interesting the mindset of many folks. For those born in an area, it gets to be life as usual -- just something that happens now and then.

Oh, and then you have all these builders/contractors putting up housing in areas where they KNOW is gonna flood! That's what tans my hide!!

I'll take the cold and snow, thank you. Can always put more clothes on, and can always throw more wood on the fire. ....But these blame skeeters are menacing! *lol* :shock:

On my to do list is to spend a month driving around Texas just to see it all.
Most of us, our impression of Texas is oil fields and movies with scrawny cattle looking for a bit of dry grass here and there in a semi desert . And a TV show with corrupt oil tycoons .
There must be a variation of climate across the state ?

(quoted from post at 10:35:33 08/29/17) Bret -- exactly. However, there's a lot more people down on the coast now that have never been through the experience. Most people, it seems, will weigh out the options (if they have the option to) about where they want to live. They get to hurricanes and figure it's a good bet, as the storms rarely hit the same place twice in a row, so you may go 20 years without ever going through a direct hit. So, we'll just keep insurance up to date, etc.

What they fail to realize is something that cannot be relayed in words, and that's the massive scale of destruction - especially when it's happening in 3D, real-time! It's amazing how many people will move into hurricane country or tornado country and get to feeling comfortable, then when a threat approaches, they stay their ground and put all faith in the weather services. And if they "do" choose to skedaddle, they find that the roads are congested with traffic, gas stations are shut down, grocery store shelves are bare, etc.

Yes, is really interesting the mindset of many folks. For those born in an area, it gets to be life as usual -- just something that happens now and then.

Oh, and then you have all these builders/contractors putting up housing in areas where they KNOW is gonna flood! That's what tans my hide!!

I'll take the cold and snow, thank you. Can always put more clothes on, and can always throw more wood on the fire. ....But these blame skeeters are menacing! *lol* :shock:

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I agree. Had the same thing to a lesser extend here. People move into the mountains and then freak out when they find out bears actually exist! Or they move up here to farm country and suddenly discover liquid manure smells and no one cares if they don't like it! I guess it's perspective.