NFL News: Hue Jackson names DeShone Kizer starting quarterback
August 27, 2017Indians Breaking in Gloves for Postseason
August 28, 2017Apologies to those looking for WFNY’s Scott Sargent, but, as the resident Texan at WFNY, I hijacked the spot to discuss Hurricane Harvey, which continues to devastate Southeast Texas.
“I don’t have time for that.” a member of the Houston police department responded tersely to reporters on the KHOU 11 live stream on Sunday who were peppering him with questions about how many people had been evacuated, how many had been saved. He went on to explain the people on the ground were keeping notes and they would eventually have overall numbers, but the number one priority right now was saving lives. Hurricane Harvey was still sitting over Houston 48 hours after making landfall in Rockport Texas as a Category 4 Hurricane (winds 140 miles per hour) and dumping water at rates that were expected to top all previous records (by the end of the storm, 50 inches are projected in some areas).
Making saving lives the number one priority was seen throughout the weekend. FEMA director Brock Long was quoted as saying “save lives first, do the paperwork later” when he was asked if he had a message to public and private organizations that had seen red tape slow down relief efforts in past disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. The message appeared to have been received as reports of companies such as Anheuser-Busch1 and HEB delivering water and supplies to the evacuation centers and elsewhere were not met with the same resistance previously seen. The American Red Cross led an organized effort to distribute the supplies and open these evacuation centers in schools, churches, and community centers outside the areas most in peril from flooding.
Even the local television crews were getting into the act. Brandi Smith of KHOU 11 was live when she noticed a man trapped in his semi-truck on a flooded road; away from the visibility of the patrolling rescue missions. Still on air, she abandoned her report to flag down a passing patrol car and direct them to the location of the man, saving his life.
Incredible, watch as @BrandiKHOU flags down a rescue boat on-air, saving this truck driver's life https://t.co/EVvNbdt13k pic.twitter.com/3mYi9McniB
— Hayley Jones (@HayleyCJones) August 27, 2017
https://twitter.com/JMKTV/status/901842756829679616
KHOU 11 was a lifeblood of communication for anyone with the desire to track the storm. Their YouTube live stream channel continued to report the devastation and heroics throughout the weekend. Working on little sleep and often wondering aloud if the equipment was even working or connected, the reporters traversed their city to ensure all were able to see what was happening and keep up to date on the latest advisories from the local authorities.
To anyone outside the city, the efforts were appreciated as a window inside devastation. An unfiltered peek without the interruptions of politics seen on CNN, FOXNews, or MSNBC. To those inside the city, the efforts were nothing less than heroic. A needed communication channel for those hunkered down wondering if and when the risk of the surrounding, rising waters would tilt the assessment towards evacuating their homes.
Here is the saved feed from Sunday. You will notice that the feed changes from having a KHOU 11 stamp to WFAA during the day. The KHOU 11 offices in downtown Houston flooded to the second floor, knocking out their equipment. WFAA in Dallas worked quickly to pickup the feed and take over the main desk responsibilities for the rest of the day. Teamwork, journalism, and humanity in harmony.
Texans get a bad rap in the nation as being stereotypically proud and stubborn. It is not untrue. The often untold portion of those characteristics is the pride can take hold in the love for the area and people who inhabit it. The stubbornness can take hold in the unwillingness to fold in the face of tragedy. Both traits were full on display throughout the weekend.
When 20 to 30 inches of rain fall in 48 hours, flooding will happen. When the rainfall happens over an overpopulated area that doubles as one of the main feeders into the Gulf of Mexico, flooding will be horrendous. The mayor of Houston was stuck with an impossible decision. Order an evacuation of the entire city, parts of the city, or advise that everyone take every precaution possible, while remaining in their homes. Evacuating the entire city- and region- would include seven million displaced people. Evacuating portions of the city would have the probable effect of invoking panic and causing others to also evacuate. In either case, the already often clogged highways and roadways out of Houston would become logjams of vehicles.
In any other city, such traffic would be problematic for supplies and rescue necessities coming into the city. In Houston, such traffic could cause widespread calamity. Why? Houston engineers were stuck with a seemingly impossible problem. Millions upon millions of people living and building upon the marshes that would naturally drain the 50 inches of average rainfall Houston receives per year (remember that number) with some mild flooding. Creating an urban center on this location meant a solution to the water issue needed to be solved.
I-10 and Yale. The Heights. Houston, Texas. pic.twitter.com/MV7ZufPd7b
— euzkera (@euzkera) August 27, 2017
Digging under ground was deemed out of the question- Texas homes do not have basements due to limestone bed beneath the sandy soil surface. The best solution was deemed to utilize the natural roadways and highways to keep the water away from the homes. What most would see as an on ramp to a highway, these engineers saw as a way of housing thousands of gallons of water until it could be drained.
Bottle floating by a @houstontranstar camera on I-610 feeder road…this is how high up that camera is on google maps #houstonflood #Harvey pic.twitter.com/1Ds8U8Foye
— Eric Zerkel (@EricZerkel) August 27, 2017
So, I-610 is one of the main highways people would utilize to evacuate Houston. It is also one of the main temporary reservoirs designed into the flood solution. What happens when you have a traffic jam on this highway and flooding hits? Thankfully, we did not find out.
Houston, Texas freeway sign nearly submerged amid extreme flooding from #Harvey: https://t.co/JZvofyopoP pic.twitter.com/rInVl4Wxba
— ABC News (@ABC) August 27, 2017
The rainfall exceeded the ability for the infrastructure to absorb the accumulation of water though and many areas, including downtown Houston became inundated. Low level areas such as Dickinson saw families climbing to their roof despite the continued downpour of a tropical storm so that rescue efforts might find them.
Houston, before and after (so far) https://t.co/xFUCL6r7xq pic.twitter.com/UyEjrqH6y2
— Justin Miller (@justinjm1) August 27, 2017
One of the issues though was that there were simply not enough rescue boats that could traverse the lower level waters. The city of Houston put out a request for any private citizens who could help with these areas. The response was overwhelming as the community rallied.
video shows numerous boats maneuvering around stranded vehicles on flooded street in Texas. https://t.co/PScGhIp3Nw pic.twitter.com/f86l5Ob8OA
— G Bruce (@garybruce666) August 28, 2017
Houston is not out of danger yet. The flood waters are slowly receding on Monday as the rain has lessened, but nine trillion gallons of water have already been dumped on the city. The Washington Post did the math to show that would be enough water to cover the entire contiguous United States with almost a quarter of an inch (0.17 inches). And yet, Harvey has another expected trick up his sleeve. The current weather projections are for Harvey to meander back over the Gulf of Mexico, absorb the moisture from the warm water, and make one more push through Southeast Texas with another 20 inches of rainfall expected. The total would push the overall total to 50 inches, the average annual rainfall in just under five days. 60 inches in that timeframe- considered not out of the question- is a once in a million year event.
I was one of the fortunate ones.2 Living in the outskirts of Austin, the storm was projected to hit and cause flooding especially to areas North of San Antonio such as Wimberley (see: 2015 Wimberley floods). Instead, the brunt of the storm stopped East of the city, sparing many of the vulnerable areas in Central Texas. The rain was constant throughout the weekend and the wind caused some minor damage, but the perspective of those living in the utter devastation in Houston made us all realize how lucky we were. My family even spent some time playing outside in the cool temperatures despite the rain as a celebration of our blessings.3
Where there is high water on Houston roads right now. Virtually everywhere. pic.twitter.com/oU3t8GTNfI
— Charles Franklin (@PollsAndVotes) August 27, 2017
I know there are those that scoff at why prayers matter and rebuke such messages in the aftermath of such natural disasters often dubbed as acts of God. Please understand how vital it is to our existence as a society that we see the good in all of us. The good that is often hidden as we wage meaningless wars of words upon the fringes of our existence. The good that often rises when we are forced to respond to calamity.4
So, I pray for everyone in Houston. I pray for those who need rescuing. I pray for those showing the courage and bravery to rescue those in need. I pray for everyone leading the efforts and having to make the tough decisions on how to direct the response.
But, I also pray for all those with such hate in their hearts that they send out messages of anything but love over this tragedy. The vitriol was easy to push aside this weekend given the valor and sacrifice being shown, but impossible to ignore. “Your side” does not get to claim victory for this weekend. The response and the strength showed does not give anyone an ability to express indignation upon a particular person or group. America came together to show we can handle tragedy and pick each other up. We need to celebrate that for all our faults, our country can still be great.
#NEW #RESCUE #VIDEO: @USCG Air Station #Houston hoists people from rooftops as waters continue to rise from #Harvey #USCG #CoastGuard #SAR pic.twitter.com/NUGeM5vc0I
— Jodi Mohrmann (@jodi_mohrmann) August 28, 2017
As Houston teeters between the current catastrophe and potential biblical proportion devastation, I am proud to report humanity is winning the day. Stories of heroism have been prominent; not looting and crime and assault. Maxed out on rescue efforts saw private boats fill the gap. Reporters not only reported the news but helped direct emergency response. It was beautiful. It was America.
This man helping this woman from the floodwaters to her wheelchair is the America I love.
— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) August 27, 2017
- Stopped canning beer to can water for Houston this weekend. [↩]
- Not much changed for us as living 20 minutes from the nearest gas station means having a generator, lots of water and other supplies as a way of life. Still, the surreal state of watching the clouds of the storm while not being hit by the beast of it was crazy. [↩]
- Note: Texans are so great that there were no room for additional volunteers at evacuation and food centers over the weekend. With public officials telling people not to travel to Houston- would cause more issues than solve- it wound up being a weekend to cherish with our family. [↩]
- A big thanks to the countless amount of people who checked in on me this weekend. It was appreciated. [↩]
32 Comments
There are a million more images and videos that can be shared. Here is one more:
https://twitter.com/jswishdaman/status/902003390967898112
It’s crazy how much flooding there is in those pictures. That’s Katrina-level stuff.
Glad your family is safe. Praying for Houston.
It has gone well past Katrina at this point. 188,000 homes affected in Katrina, over 400,000 affected so far with another 1.1 million in danger’s path this week if the worst of the rain happens. The ONLY saving grace thus far has been the outstanding engineering work and the cooperation of all the people to help each other through the tragedy.
For anyone looking to help:
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-weather/hurricaneharvey/article/Hurricane-Harvey-How-to-help-victims-of-the-12003372.php?cmpid=twitter-desktop
Thank you sir. Never quite so glad to not live near the beach than we were this weekend.
Glad you and the fam made it through Bode. Solid recap here, and the efforts put in by Texans this weekend was admirable. Yes, they are a proud lot, but they often have reason to be.
While HOU is a disaster, and there is definitely more to come, my heart aches for those in Rockport and along the coast. This was a devastating storm. While I’m sure much of the damage was to second homes or vacation property, there are people that woke up to everything they own gone. No matter how prepared you think you are, it is a crushing feeling to see rubble in the place of a cozy living room, kitchen, yard, a home. Yes, things can be replaced, but the trauma of seeing the place where all those memories were built now destroyed is something I do not wish on anyone. Thoughts and prayers out to all of them for the strength to recover and carry on.
Thanks for this, Michael. I will always love that state.
Thank you. Both for the kind words and also for bringing up Rockport (and associated Corpus Christi). I focused on Houston above as they continue to go through their experience, but Rockport was destroyed and will take years to rebuild. Thankfully, they were one of the cities to evacuate.
http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/WireAP_1a2d134c1e754094a249ddc51a74770c_12x5_992.jpg
Has Houston ever been hit like this before? Or is this just fluky/global warming/etc.?
https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/rockportpilot.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/1e/d1e1a42e-1d71-11e4-bc48-001a4bcf887a/53e234e6333a1.image.jpg?resize=300%2C312
http://www.rockportpilot.com/business/article_c09a4720-1d71-11e4-914f-001a4bcf887a.html
I’m 10 years in with no desire to leave. There are flaws but, man, this is a fantastic state.
50 inches of rain in 5 days would be a contiguous United States recorded history record. As noted above, 60 inches would be considered “once in a million year weather event”
~20 inches was seen in previous storms, but the urbanization (Katy and Cypress areas specifically being paved over marshlands) have made the overall effect worse.
https://twitter.com/NWS/status/902174274571689984
Associated from that link, apparently some areas have breached 40 inches of rainfall now.
https://twitter.com/NWS/status/902141938920550402
We are flying into , or were supposed to fly into Houston on friday for my kids high school football game. We are waiting for a cancellation notice. I hope all is well for you Bode!
I spent almost two years with Union Pacific in the Baytown and eastern Houston area (we actually serviced the Anheuser-Busch plant). The amount of economic impact in our little territory was staggering. Our mainline went through the main Exxon plant for THREE MILES (picture that for a minute). We also worked Chevron, Bayer, Huntsman, Martin Gas, Baker Hughes, Targa Resources, a second Exxon plant, and LyondellBasell. Those were just the Fortune-500 customers. They’re almost all located near water and at low elevation. I am fairly certain they all would have experienced destructive flooding.
There’s just as much industry a few south in LaPorte and Galveston areas. The economic effects of these shutdowns will be felt nationwide and will likely linger for quite some time. In an economic sense, it will trump Katrina… easily triple the impact.
Thanks. All is well here.
If you do want to get into an airport, hopefully it is IAH and not Hobby. They might be able to get you in by Friday (assuming wherever you are playing isn’t under water).
My father-in-law works in Seabrook (Caterpillar subsidiary), which you know is in that same vicinity. I’ve driven by that monster Exxon plant (was one of the first things he wanted to show the boys when we visited the first time). Crazy amount of money generated from such a small region indeed.
I haven’t seen pictures of Galveston since early Saturday. Reports were it was too treacherous for anyone to attempt to travel towards.
Singapore is a huge global oil port. Seems like half the ex-pats there were from Houston or NOLA. Have lots of friends from, or back to, that region.
UP covers everything west of New Orleans / St Louis / Chicago. If I recall correctly, the UP system was broken down into 23 “Service Units” and then further into maybe 200 territories. Something like four of the largest eight industrial territories in the entire system were along the Gulf in Texas.
It’s not like the Gulf is heavily Auto or consumer goods which sells to end-users (although it has that too)… this part of the country basically provides the factors of production for everyone else. Most industries around the country will feel the interruption and impact.
I have family in Houston. Their house didn’t flood, but their friends down the street weren’t so lucky, so they’re helping them out. Some of their other near-by friends lost power, so they loaded up their generator when the water subsided briefly and drove it over and let them use it. People coming together and helping out. It’s a beautiful thing.
Praying for all affected by the flood. God bless you and your family for all you are doing to help. There is a much bigger picture than politics that we sometimes don’t see until events like the unfold. I love the spirit of Texas!
I’ll keep them in my prayers. Hope Tuesday/Wednesday do not change that status for them. Love to hear they are all coming together as a community.
Absolutely.
https://twitter.com/ABC/status/902205400078045185
Texas: “The Greatest Nation in the Nation”
Not unexpected & done in coordination w/ relief efforts downstream but there will be residual flooding due to it (just would have been worse ahead of dam w/o it).
https://twitter.com/KHOUBlake11/status/902232643957387264
Game is canceled. Their coach said three different kids lost their houses. This storm is unbelievable.
pray they stay safe