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There are more than a few people that absolutely hate the way Houston's urban layout proceeds.

My thoughts... tough cookies. You no like, there are LOTS of cities that pursue other urban plans. Houston will not be changing to suit these folks.

And again, they site FEMA payouts... NOT Houston's problem. Bad Federal policy is wholly the responsibility of bad federal policy makers.

Houston floods. Always has, always will. Lots of folks enjoy living in the flood plain for a variety of reasons. These folks will uniformly take your money in the name of "emergency aid" if you offer it; without hesitation or the slightest hint of repentance.

The answer is not whining about Houston's urban plan; the answer is: STOP THE FREE MONEY.

On the other hand, they run out the troupe of "barely above Sea Level"; much of what you would identify as Houston on a satellite map is WELL above Sea Level, 100ft+. Makes the article seem more like propaganda than informative.

Exactly: don't like the building site selections by our homeowners the you should write a letter to the feds and insurance comkcomkpanies. This is Texas and we don't tend to allow the govt control our CHOICES. Even foolish choices: watched a TV interview with a guy explaining his his house has been flooded 7 TIMES IN THE LAST 19 YEARS. Obvious some one keeps bailing him out: he didn't look like a high income earner.

As Agent says: stupid is as stupid does. And there seems to be a good but of stupity to spread around. It's real simple: build a home in area the USGS identifies as a flood plain and it will eventually get flooded. No problem sinced the feds will provide flood insurance. At a cost below actual value which is why that agency is very much in the red.

Thanks for the local perspective. As A put it--Houston is going to flood (and flood and flood and flood, apparently!).

Best wishes to all you folk 'deep in the (very soggy purple) heart of Texas'!!






(The banks of the Horseshoe Bend on the Brazos River in Texas yesterday)

(And it looks like things are pretty soggy in parts of France and Germany right now, too:)



(Simbach am Inn, Germany)

doh, you might not have noticed it, but any Texan would notice it instantly.

Many of those houses in your Brazos image above... did not flood. They are on stilts, tall stilts. they are fairly old, so I think they're only about 10ft up in the air or so; but with modern steel frame stilts, 10ft is chump change, 30ft is quite doable for future construction if folks want to continue living on the Brazos, as many most certainly will.

The idea being you park your truck under the house during normal day to day life, and when you need to flee, drive away; the garage gets muddy, river later goes down, back in business.

I'm familiar with that design from my stays on the Outer Banks and some other areas along the East Coast prone to hurricanes. And our 'playhouse' in the back yard when I was growing up in the Philippines was on stilts in imitation of a 'Nipa hut.' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nipa_hut

But you're right that I hadn't noticed them in this picture. Cool.

"30ft is quite doable for future construction"

Better start building!!

I just looked at your heart image; of course its bad for river flooding; but that offshore part... that can turn real dangerous, really quickly; near shore tropical storms form that way; they may not carry much wind speed, but they can move an unimaginable amount of water inland with not much warning. I'm kinda tired of being wet though, so it'll have have to take a pass for a few weeks.

Yeah, this also shows a system developing over the next few days:

http://twitter.com/JointCyclone/status/ ... 24/photo/1

And at the same time it will be abnormally warm throughout the South...sounds very...sticky!

http://twitter.com/GregPostel/status/73 ... 29/photo/1

dohboi wrote:http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-weather/article/texas-floods-rain-climate-change-impacts-7423458.php
State climatologist: Houston rains are getting worse

See, we have our designated guy who can call it like it is. His numbers then go into flood control models. Flood control models evolve into mitigation spending amounting to billions of dollars, allowing "Houston" to adapt and move as the water demands that we do.

All without a single politician having to say the words, "Climate Change". LOL.

More bat sh!t crazy weather down TX way. Hope all you yokels are staying safe and staying away from this mess:

https://www.wunderground.com/video?video=2055749674

dohboi wrote:More bat sh!t crazy weather down TX way. Hope all you yokels are staying safe and staying away from this mess:
https://www.wunderground.com/video?video=2055749674

I know that crossing; its not as "crazy" as one might suspect for it to be flooded like that, all it takes is just the right training path on a thunderstorm. Kinda one of those things where it doesn't happen often enough, or long enough to make it worthy raising the highway. Also, it always surprises me that folks will drive into water like that; but they do.

"Also, it always surprises me that folks will drive into water like that; but they do."

Probably their belief in 'faith' and 'hope'...and their belief that someone else's 'charity' will come to their rescue!!

dohboi - One of the saddest cases was young woman drilling her car into a flooded underpass. And everyone got to see it happen on the CCTV. And it took some effort on her part: she had to squeeze past a highway truck parked to stop folks from driving down that road. Now tyhey've installed some gates they can close. Of course if tytyhey don't lock the gates eventually someone will swing one open and then drown themselves.

BTW I'm not sure if it was mentioned but verty little of the Houston metropolitan area was affected by the floods. Most happened in the more rural areas in the counties. And typically in flood plains as defined by the USGS and Corps of Engineers. A nightmare for thousands of folks with waterr damaged homes but almost no disruption of businesses.

Did she have to be rescued?

If I'm remembering the same thing as Rock, she died.

1st rule of swift water rescue.

DO NOT BECOME A VICTIM.

dohboi - As Agent said sadly she died. Her mom did a lot of local TV afterwards. Lots of similar thoughts but no public pronouncement that her daughter did something very foolish. Almost all the deaths (probably everyone) was the result if fgfgolks driving into a flooded low area on a roadway. IOW completely avoidable. Undersdtand that almost all the flooded homes had only 1' to 3' of water in them. There was no tsunami. And almost every flooded home was in a flood plane within a very short distance to a creek or bayou. Which is why it can takes days/weeks for the wasters to drain: they get trapped behind the natural levees which might only be 1' - 2' high. But there's very little drainage conduits out of those "back levee swamps". About 30 years ago I built a home with a back fence just 40' from a major creek in north Houston. And evereverntually had a very heavy rain. About half the homes in the subdivision but tyhe water didn't get above my curb. Being a geologist it was easy to read a topographic map: I picked the lot that had the highest ground level in the subdivision. Only by a few feet but was on top of the natural levee with the rest of the area being " back swamp". Anyone couod have bought lunch for one of Houston's 6,000+ geologists and gotten the same info. OTOH reading a topo map requires no special skill: just read the numbers on the contour lines. And if that's too complicated you can get a free map from the Corps of Engineers with the flood planes color-coded. LOL.

Probably the most common shot you saw in the media was the Barker reservoir in west Houston. It was specifically designed to flood in the case of heavy rains. Without it the wasters would have rushed down Buffalo Bayou and potentially flood the downtown area. IOW that flooding was international. But the area is designed with parks and a golf course. But an elevated heavily used roadway cuts through it. Unfortunately not elevated enough. LOL.

Sorry to hear that she died. How many more will follow?

Here's something else to file under the copious category: WTF is wrong w TX???

http://billmoyers.com/story/deluge-texa ... e-science/

After the Deluge: Texas and France Split on Climate Science:

Heavy rain and flooding hit both, but one accepts the effects of global warming, and one remains "skeptical."

And yet more proof that events alone, no matter how extreme, do not necessarily change minds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqfDpNymGSE

If Texan's had to admit that there was a problem then they'd be faced with the fact that one of their core ideological pillars of belief was no longer valid. You then are left with the prospect that what you hold as true in other areas may also be just as wrong. I don't believe Texans spend much time in reflective contemplation. And I'm not just picking on them.

Being defiant to the end can get you killed.

I should add that most Texans do believe climate change is happening it's just that around 50% think that humans are responsible.

Lore wrote:If Texan's had to admit that there was a problem

Of course there's a problem. We spend, and will continue to spend, billions of dollars mitigating said problem. Problem predates the "climate change" debate, though is amplified by it. I do have to admit though, I'd much rather be living where we have to deal with too much water, rather than too little.

I don't believe Texans spend much time in reflective contemplation. And I'm not just picking on them.

"reflective contemplation" is useless. Building real mitigation, making real changes in drainage, pouring real concrete, and using real science. THAT is worth doing. And that is exactly what we DO. We have no need of the political jibber-jabber in order to estimate the amount of water needing management.

Being defiant to the end can get you killed.

Political words do not kill. Failure to act kills. And one thing is absolutely true; we act.

What the Left wants us to do is waste money babbling about carbon; money that could have been used to build more retention ponds or buyout homes along creeks and bayous.