Hurricane Harvey

[auntiehill]

^Seriously....you're in a thread about one of the worst natural disasters in recent history and you're spending it defending the Confederate flag. Why don't you just start your own thread so you can go on about it there. I'm surrounded by flood waters, my friends have lost their homes, people have died, the 4th largest city in the country will take YEARS to recover from this--something that will affect the entire country....so, forgive me if I don't give a shit about discussing the Confederate flag.

 

[Snaploud]

I'm sorry to hear about your friends losing their homes. Do you know how badly your house got flooded yet, @auntiehill ? Or are you still in Austin waiting for news?

 

[auntiehill]

My subdivision, in the areas to the back and side of my section, are flooded rather badly. My little section is a little island of dryness. We really lucked out. We still have two days or so to wait to see if the levee fails, so I'm sitting up here on the second floor of my house, surrounded by all the light stuff we could carry. Food, cleaning supplies, candles & flashlights, some chairs, all the major electronic devices, photos, artwork, all the cat stuff--it's all around me on the second floor.

Two of hubby's close friends completely lost their homes, and a third lost the first floor of his small town-home. Another friend lost part of her roof. Luckily, hubby's mother has been extremely comfortable and safe in her hospice home and his sister had flooding all around her but her house didn't flood; she just couldn't leave her neighborhood for a few days.

We have a curfew now--no one out from 10pm to 6am.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

That's good to hear, @auntiehill. What about transportation and supplies?

 

[auntiehill]

Our local store was decently stocked; only a few shelves were empty. Not all the gas stations are open yet but I saw a few tanker trucks out so they're working on it. Our water supply is fine but the next town over has a boil order. So some places are good; others--not so much.

If you could see the Brazos or any of the major bayous from your home , then you got well and truly fucked. Anyone living within 20 miles of the Addicks or Barker-Cypress dams will be fucked for a very long time.

 

[StarCruiser]

Yep - the Brazos (and San Bernardo, Trinity) river is still high and will be for a while.

Many homes downstream are currently inaccessible. The local authorities have had to deliberately cut power to some areas around Buffalo Bayou just to get people to leave their homes so that police and firefighters won't be put at additional risk to get them out later.

Some areas won't be usable for many weeks, maybe months. Many homes are total losses. Estimates are still over 130,000 homes and businesses lost.

 

[Snaploud]

Any updates from our friends in the Houston area...? Irma seems to have taken the collective focus away from Texas.

 

[auntiehill]

Traffic around downtown & the Galeria is a nightmare, but it should get sorted in a few weeks

For the 100,000 + people with flooded homes, it will take months, if not years, to get things sorted.

 

[StarCruiser]

Life is -very slowly- returning to normal (or what passes for normal here).

They do have part of the West Belt (Sam Houston Parkway) back open so, traffic should start to level out a little.

 

[auntiehill]

Looks like I-10 in Katy is finally open.

 

[Finn]

Looks like I-10 in Katy is finally open.

I coulda sworn the I-10 was above ground in Katy. All those shops and restaurants in Katy looked lower than the highway...

 

[auntiehill]

Just past the city center, it is on the ground. Katy stretches past the developed areas.Of course, they also had tornado damage. All those RV dealerships got smashed to bits.

I-10 and 6 seems to be finally open. I'll be glad to finally drive up 71 to my Mom's next weekend. Bastrop had the main bridge closed for a long time. At least now I know all the alternate routes.