Houston, Texas, Hit by Unprecedented Flooding; Seven States At Risk

[Omaha Steve]

Source: NBC News

BY ALEXANDER SMITH, SHAMAR WALTERS AND HENRY AUSTIN

Flash-flood watches and warnings were issued across seven states early Tuesday as an unprecedented downpour of torrential rain triggered "extremely dangerous and potentially life-threatening" conditions in Houston.

More than 30 million Americans were told to brace for dangerous thunderstorms — including flooding, hail and possible tornadoes — as meteorologists warned the weather that has centered on Texas and Oklahoma since Saturday could expand to other areas.

At least 12 people were still missing, eight people have been killed, and countless more evacuated amid the deluge that has inundated Texas and Oklahoma with record-breaking floods since Saturday.

In Houston, more than 80,000 people were without power and the flood waters closed roads including Interstate 10 and Interstate 45. Houston was among 24 counties where Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster on Monday.

FULL story at link. Video: http://on.today.com/1GAfnFQ



Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/houston-texas-hit-unprecedented-flooding-seven-states-risk-n364456

[KatyMan]

1. it was apocalyptic here last night

on the far west side of Houston. Constant thunder, strobe lightning, heavy heavy rain....sat on the back patio watching it for an hour or two, it was pretty amazing.

[LittleGirl]

2. 4-5 yr dought and now

more rain than the earth can contain. Sad. Climate change is real.

[jwirr]

8. My dad used to say that a heavy downpour did little to end a drought because it would run off so

fast that it did not have time to soak in. From the pictures I have seen this is holding true.

[B2G]

14. It's been running off and into the lakes and resevoirs

Just because it runs off your lawn doesn't or there is flooding mean the water is lost.

http://kxan.com/2015/05/14/experts-recent-rains-end-worst-of-years-old-texas-drought/

[jwirr]

17. No of course not and that is good but what my father was talking about was farm land.

[B2G]

21. Yep, nothing worse that flooded fields.

I thought you meant the drought in TX wasn't ending due to the rapid volume of water...because it is.

[jwirr]

22. Fine. We will see.

[ScreamingMeemie]

3. 0 hours of sleep here in Spring Klein last night.

[Igel]

47. But wasn't the lightning display fascinating.

The offspring loved it. He said he couldn't hear the thunder. Then I pointed out that there was a constant low rumble that had gone on for so long he'd tuned it out.

The cats just hid under the bed.

[yeoman6987]

5. Al rocker said well at least the drought is over in texas

[B2G]

15. And he's pretty much right.

http://kxan.com/2015/05/14/experts-recent-rains-end-worst-of-years-old-texas-drought/

[yeoman6987]

16. I know and glad it is but I just thought the timing was off

If he said it two weeks from now it would have been better.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

39. Ft. Bend County Here.

Apocalyptic is the right word.

And I didn't get any sleep because one of my dogs is afraid of bad weather. sigh I'm wiped!

We were without electricity for fifteen hours.

[SusanCalvin]

51. One of our dogs also.

He's getting better, though. Started by stomping our heads. After a few years progressed to cowering between us, pinning me between him and another dog. Last night he settled for between me and another dog. Much better for everyone.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

58. My pup was never afraid of bad weather

but is getting old and cranky. It was worse because we lost electricity and she was making me hot as she clung to my neck. LOL

[SusanCalvin]

62. Poor things.

They don't know what's going on, they just know they don't like it.

[Gothmog]

63. Whole Foods have a product called rescue remedy that helps

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

73. Thanks for that suggestion.

I'll look into that.

[Gothmog]

56. I am also in Fort Bend

Do you go to Fort Bend Democratic Party functions?

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

57. I used to go years ago before I went back to work

I'm home again and should get more involved. Do you?

It's already raining here, and started pouring about thirty seconds before the kids got out of the car when I brought them to school.

[Gothmog]

60. I am very active with the county party

Currently Don Bankston and I are working on the adoption of countywide voting for Fort Bend County where we will move from precinct voting on election days to voting centers that allows one to vote on election day at any location (just like you can for early voting)

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

61. I have been living in my own little bubble for so

many years, that I don't know who's who. That, and most of my friends are republicans, although most of the women are quite liberal on social issues, thankfully.

[Hayduke Bomgarte]

4. Wow!

Good thing climate change is a myth. Just think how much worse it could be.

[olddad56]

11. don't you mean "how much worse it will be"?

[kimbutgar]

6. All this is happening in these deep red states with congress critters who don't believe in climate

Change and that government is bad. Government not's so bad when that government helicopter picks you off your roof after your community been flooded or sends out aid to those in distress.

[samsingh]

7. i wonder if the repug morons begin to understand how things are connected?

[jwirr]

9. Since most of them probably live on the top of the hill - more than likely not.

[FrodosPet]

46. There are hills in Houston?

Where are they all hiding?

[jwirr]

49. Okay. Texas is flat. But there must be somewhere that it is not flood plain?

[SusanCalvin]

52. *East* Texas is flat. nt

[FrodosPet]

54. West Texas would be my guess

[cannabis_flower]

64. Why do you think...

They call a neighborhood in Houston, "The Houston Heights". And it seems like anytime it floods in an area, the news makes it look like it flooded everywhere in the city. My neighborhood in Spring Branch didn't flood either. I would venture to say that less than half of Houston flooded.

[jwirr]

68. Thank youi. Glad you are safe.

[TexasBushwhacker]

66. The Gulf Coast and the Panhandle are flat

Central Texas is hilly, but the water goes downhill and adds to the local rainfall. For example, the Blanco River that flooded Wimberly rose over 40 feet in a few hours. 40 feet!

[jwirr]

69. I heard that last night - I cannot imagine 40 feet of water rushing out at you. Horrible.

[TexasBushwhacker]

70. Yeah, when it's that much water it acts like a solid

taking everything in its path. I had relatives that went through a flood like this. They had 1 hour warning to get out. When they went back to the house after the water had subsidded, they found their refrigerator in the living room!

[jwirr]

71. I have been through a flood but nothing like what we are seeing.

[kentauros]

72. Take a look at this GIS server courtesy of the City of Houston

and turn on the "topography" layer. Then take a look at the area of Houston known as The Heights (as others have pointed out.) It's just north of I-10, and around Heights Blvd. You'll have to check off one of the contours choices to the left ("2001 Contours (2ft)" or "2008 NUSA Contours (1ft)&quot .


http://www.gims.houstontx.gov/gims/default.aspx?app_id=gims&app=GIMS&AppID=-1&app=GIMS

[DamnYankeeInHouston]

10. Ive never heard thunder like I heard last night.

Constant booming. The water came halfway up my current yard in Willowbend. I'm waiting to find out if the townhouse I'm about to buy on South Braeswood and Kirby is dry. Doubtful.

[Sunlei]

13. about the house you may buy, do not buy near any Hou.drainage canals! call insurance and see if

they will sell you flood insurance(and how much), also get FEMA flood insurance. If they will not insure you, don't buy.

[DamnYankeeInHouston]

19. Oh I know. Allison is my benchmark.

I have flood insurance in my current location even though it's not even in the 500 year flood plain. I know regular insurance won't cover any water damage and the policy only cost $300 a year.

The new townhouse is across the street from Brays Bayou so I assumed it flooded, but a friend said his employee lives in the complex and that it's fine. They've done a lot of work on Brays Bayou and upstream at Willow Waterhole. I'll venture out in awhile to see for myself. I know the danger. It's in the 100 year flood plain. It's just light years better than my second choice. The condo fees include insurance, but I plan to take out an additional policy. I'm sure flood insurance there will cost more than $300 a year. Luckily, I haven't closed yet. I'll make my decision after I check it out.

[Sunlei]

25. Brays Bayou will flood, no matter the recent work. I can guarantee with the 12+ inches of rain in

a short amount of time Houston will have in future, Brays Bayou will flood out all the homes on both banks some day soon.

[DamnYankeeInHouston]

42. It didn't flood this time.

[KatyMan]

28. Just paid our flood insurance out here in Katy...

$430.

[Sunlei]

59. same here 430 to Fema just paid.

regular agent is State Farm, they get a couple k more and we have never had a claim.

[ananda]

12. But of course this is just an act of God....

... but for what I have no idea since the
teabaggers got all their wetdream wishes
in making war on women and gays.

[SoapBox]

18. The commentators at the Rockets/Warriors game were saying they

could hear it outside...and then after the game said that there was an announcement, suggesting that people stay inside the arena for a while because of the weather.

Could we have just a tiny bit of that rain here in California?

[DamnYankeeInHouston]

20. Build a pipeline and we'll give you plenty.

[SoapBox]

23. Cool!

[Kelvin Mace]

24. You may be getting your wish

as they say a super El Nino is coming.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/30/1380954/-Super-El-Nino-Likely-as-Huge-Warm-Water-Wave-Hits-West-Coast-Extreme-Marine-Die-Off-Developing

[passiveporcupine]

32. If this article is correct,

California drought may end this winter too. And hopefully Oregon as well.

[Kelvin Mace]

45. Yes, but going to the opposite extreme

You will probably have a very bad fire season, followed by massive flooding and mud slides of historical proportions.

[Blue_In_AK]

36. If the temperature in the arctic has anything to do with it,

El Niño will be impressive. We had very little snow last winter, an early spring and now daily temperature records are being broken in interior and northern AK.

[tblue37]

26. Drought change:

The darker the color, the worse the drought. Yellow = abnormally dry; red = extreme drought; dark red = exceptional drought.

?w=300&h=300

?w=300&h=300

[tblue37]

27. BUT--these comments on that article with the drought images make

important points:

Glynis Wentzel
Slightly misleading this article is - our agricultural drought may have improved and TX as a state is almost totally out of that. But our water supply (reservoirs) are still critically low - esp here in central TX. He mentioned Lake Arrowhead & Lake Kickapoo as being 50% full (combined) - well at this time of the year they should be around 80% full. If we have a normal TX summer - that is going to rapidly go down. Ditto with Lake Travis & Buchanan. We are almost headed for stage 4 drought restrictions if we have a normal summer and we do not get heaps more rain in our catchment areas. We still need to conserve BIG time. I feel an article like this can send the wrong message <emphasis added>.


Civil Right of Self-Defense
They didn't cover true long-term drought impacts to the aquifers, either. Between the 7+ years since the last wet year, plus population growth, it seems reasonable to conclude that we're in a permanent 'drought' in terms of how we use water.

[B2G]

29. Arrowhead is at 95%, Kickapoo is at 100% capacity

http://www.waterdatafortexas.org/reservoirs/statewide

[LanternWaste]

65. One wonders how long they may remain at capacity with the summer season about to begin...

One wonders how long they may remain at capacity with the summer season about to begin...

[B2G]

67. Well that pretty much depends on their rainfall this summer. nt

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

40. Map From May, 2014 Seems Misleading

I'm in one of the lighter colored areas, and we still went over 2 years without a drop of rain.

[tblue37]

41. I think drought conditions refer more to the amount of water in lakes, rivers, reservoirs,

and especially in the ground--both in aquifers and in terms of the amount of moisture found in the soil itself--than to the amount of rain, though the lack of rain, if it goes on too long, certainly does cause drought and, eventually, desertification.

[Gothmog]

30. I made it into my office with only one detour

There are a couple of side roads and entrance ramps on my route to the office which are still underwater

[kentauros]

31. I was surprised I had no detours.

Even the submerged section of Westpark Tollway at 59 was empty. Not the same story for the inbound exit to 59 from the tollway, though. Like the feeder road that goes under 59 at 610, it was a lake, with emergency vehicles blocking it off.

People were slowing down on the overpass from S Post Oak getting on to 610, and rightly so. I looked, too, at how it was all flooded underneath on both sides, even though Brays Bayou is no longer out of its banks.

[Gothmog]

34. I took the westpark tollway in and had not problems once I got on

My problem was getting to the tollway and there were some flooded side street and access roads. One of the flooded areas was right before the entrance ramp that I normally take to get on and so I went made a detour. I saw some cars going through the flooded area with water up to their doors

[kentauros]

37. I've only driven in water that deep near my credit union.

I wouldn't do it again, mainly because of any drivers in front. If they slow down, that's when the engine compartment floods.

I've been looking at the flood stages of the various creeks and bayous in town from the NWS Hydrology page. It's worth bookmarking for future use, or for getting home tonight, as some of these bayous aren't finished peaking yet...

http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/index.php?wfo=hgx

[KatyMan]

38. My office sent out an email

saying stay home, which was great I don't know how anyone made it in on 45 given the pics of the 45/North Main area.

I'm sad for the loss of life and property, but boy that was a crackin' storm last night. An amazing amount of rain fell; I swear if you would have stuck your arm out of a window it would have come back bruised the rain was falling so hard. And it sounded like huge lengths of rain, not just little drops but "drops" that were a few feet long...!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

33. Under Perry, they held a prayer day for rain.

I guess their god has a seriously backed up in-tray of prayer for relief.

[Blue_In_AK]

35. I used to live in Pasadena

I'm really glad not to be there now - and not just because of the flooding.

[PDittie]

43. So many of my neighbors posting here!

I'm in Willowbend as well. We fared very well; the hardest thing I had to suffer was loss of satellite signal (lights never even flickered). A blue kiddie pool was stranded in the middle of the street near my house; it looked as if a couple of raccoons had tried to make a break for it, but like some Alcatraz inmates, didn't quite make it. Even the limbs I had to pick up were small ones.

[kentauros]

44. What? Another Willowbend neighbor?

Yes, I'm in the neighborhood as well. Our front road flood with a heavy downpour, but I've never seen it get high enough to get into any of the houses, and I have seen it higher than last night. We're further away from that little tributary bayou, and so on higher ground (topo maps peg it at around 65' from a nearby benchmark.)

I did briefly watch someone's bag of leaves float down the road...

[workinclasszero]

48. God bless everyone caught in the terrible floods in Texas but

When is Pat Robinson gonna get on the air and pronounce that this was God's wrath on all those Texas heathens?

Or does that only work in majority black cities or cities with large gay populations?

That might impact brother Pat's bank account to much, so...yeah.

[PDittie]

50. Maybe He was aiming for

Ireland and missed?

[SusanCalvin]

53. .

[Gothmog]

55. It is raining hard again in Houston