I wonder how things are in Houston.

[TexasBushwhacker]

40. Well, my life is pretty much back to normal

I live in the mandatory evac zone on the west side, but my apartment didn't flood so I've been able to stay. The exit gate that was impassable because of high water is passable as of Thursday so I was able to return to work. I'm out $400 from missed work, so I'm much better off than many folks. My calves are still sore from all the walking I did when I was stranded.

There are still some cars stuck in high water on one side of the complex. The second floor apartments are fine and I think about 1/3 to 1/2 of the ground floor apartments took on some water. The management company released everyone from their leases so we could relocate whether we had to or not. I'm pretty sure I'm staying, but I have looked around to see if any 55+ communities had any vacancies. No luck on anything affordable.

I ran into TERRIBLE traffic on Thursday after work because areas on the west side that are normally accessible from several roads were only accessible by one or 2. It took me 30 minutes to go 3 miles!

The water in the flooded areas by Buffalo Bayou is going down slowly because they are still releasing water from the reservoirs. There are already attorneys advertising that they can get you a BIG SETTLEMENT if your home was flooded by the INTENTIONAL RELEASE of water from the reservoirs.

Of course, it's likely those homes would have flooded if the dams ruptured. The whole point of the controlled release was to relieve pressure on the dams to prevent a rupture and flooding of even more homes. They are 70 year old dams that have a 50 year life span. They were already undergoing major repairs.

When I owned a house in the 80s and 90s, I had flood insurance even though I wasn't in a flood plain and it wasn't required by the bank holding my mortgage. Why? Because Houston is FLAT and it FLOODS and since I wasn't in the flood plain it was damn cheap.