2024 Rain Thread: All Your El Nino Are Belong to Us

[tx ind 6904]

Is Centerpoint’s outage tracker just fucked and there’s no other options?

[SydneyCarton 47486]

2 hours ago, UnivTex34 said:

Hope you Houston folks are ok. My brother took a direct hit from the worst of it. Said it was reminiscent of our childhood in the panhandle.

 

I think your brother and I live 2-3 streets apart. 

Checking in from Timbergrove/Heights. Got plenty of pics but internet is shit now, will upload later. It’s a war zone here. Almost every road out is blocked by a 100 year old oak or 200 foot pine that was completely uprooted. I’ve got a pick of a power pole that ripped halfway up the trunk and the top half then spin wires and all and is suspended n the middle of the street like a macabre hang victim. 
 

most folks are fine but plenty of roofs with trees through them. Spent the evening nailing tarps to open roofs for neighbors. 
 

its going to be street to street combat for Centerpoint to clear trees to get in trucks. 

[SydneyCarton 47486]

8 minutes ago, tx ind said:

Is Centerpoint’s outage tracker just fucked and there’s no other options?

Yes

[bolverk 29097]

13 minutes ago, tx ind said:

Is Centerpoint’s outage tracker just fucked and there’s no other options?

 

4 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

Yes

 

It's so bad that it knocked out their tracker.

 

This is from a different source. It doesn't give you information on neighborhoods, but it does show that 41% of Harris County is down and that outages are widespread throughout SE Texas.

Good luck. I feel for you guys.

https://poweroutage.us/area/state/texas

 

[Nivek 16688]

GOOF resident. Big tree down a few houses over, I have a few trees with dangling branches. I finally pulled out the generator and connected the fridge and Internet, phones were sometimes in SOS mode.

Sitting with the wife and kids in the hall really underscored how shitty our preparation and communication was. We will need a drill in a week or two to try again.

[Uncle Boobs 1240]

Thank God I have beer and slutty women here. Houston is fucked. On candle power for the foreseeable future.

[fattyflattie 4633]

3 hours ago, Dahobbs said:

I think you'll be waiting for awhile. I'll be surprised if power is backup for most people before the end of the weekend. 

It’s all back up (in area @Lat22 mentioned). We never lost it, but it went out around Foster and was out until I got to my hood. Think it came back on around 2100 for everyone else in area. I don’t know what we’re connected to but we kept power throughout the freeze, too. 
 

Between waller and Brookshire, I saw probably 20 BIG live oaks down. About ~1000 shit trees down, including 2 across the highway closing one lane in 2 separate spots. A tractor with van trailer on its side in the ditch, a house being framed had second story collapsed, a second story of a house removed from the first story on a built and presumably occupied house (same neighborhood, nice houses) and the arms for the railroad tracks were bent backwards.   By the time I hit fulshear, it looked like nothing had happened.   Oh and I saw a piece of plywood wagon wheeling at a very high rate of speed across our parking lot that missed a guy who pulled over and parked by inches at best.  Was pretty wild shit. 

Edited May 17 by fattyflattie

[HenryJames 65563]

5 hours ago, SydneyCarton said:

Got plenty of pics but internet is shit now, will upload later.

 

[Evil Bill Obrien 3024]

Feel pretty confident in saying that outside of a tropical system (Harvey, Ike, Allison survivor here) yesterday was the most intense storm I've ever been through in Houston, holy shit. Counting myself lucky that the power only briefly went out. Will admit that even though I keep pretty close tabs on the weather this surprised the shit out of me with how intense it was and how fast it all happened. Hope everyone on here in the Houston area stayed safe.

[locodos 5256]

back to back hottest winters on record... I'm not looking forward to hurricane season

[Dahobbs 17251]

Still without grid power since 630 last night. Unfortunately, because I don't pay attention at all, my battery backup was only 40% charged when this hit. It lasted until a little after 2 am. I need the sun to come out and get some energy to house so I don't have to clear out the fridge and freezers. 

[crimsonlonghorn 2306]

11 hours ago, Lat22 said:

Got pretty sporty in the Richmond/Pecan Grove area but it seems like the worst has passed. Now waiting for power to come back on. 

Yeah, it rained real good here in Booth and filled up the ditches on our place along with a lot of thunder and lightning, but after about 30-45 minutes it was done. Never lost power. 

Then I started getting texts and news alerts and saw how bad it was just north of here in Houston proper. We dodged a damn bullet. 

Edited May 17 by crimsonlonghorn

[deadshank 24645]

Spring Valley north of Katy Freeway.  
 

Dash cam video on way to check house we just finished.   HO to move in today.   3 of the neighbor’s pines blew over and smacked the house we just finished.  Other trees hit power lines, knocked down poles and transformers.   So, jacked up house with possible structural damage and no power in the foreseeable future.  
 

Bonus points for HO’s current rental around corner getting smoked by  a tree and he couldn’t attempt to get his stuff out for the move and water pouring in and onto his stuff.   He checked his family into a hotel.   Poor bastard.  

[Js1 83620]

1 hour ago, Evil Bill Obrien said:

Feel pretty confident in saying that outside of a tropical system (Harvey, Ike, Allison survivor here) yesterday was the most intense storm I've ever been through in Houston, holy shit. Counting myself lucky that the power only briefly went out. Will admit that even though I keep pretty close tabs on the weather this surprised the shit out of me with how intense it was and how fast it all happened. Hope everyone on here in the Houston area stayed safe.

I can’t believe I missed it! 

[Captainant 26927]

Good lord what a horror show walking the dog this morning - a bunch of framed houses in the under construction neighborhoods near me are no longer multi-story. Like someone dumped out a box of matchsticks

Will upload some pics when data gets better

Edited May 17 by Captainant

[GreenspointTexas 9386]

Easily the worst weather event ive lived through

 

 

[locodos 5256]

oooph

[deadshank 24645]

1 hour ago, Captainant said:

Good lord what a horror show walking the dog this morning - a bunch of framed houses in the under construction neighborhoods near me are no longer multi-story. Like someone dumped out a box of matchsticks

Will upload some pics when data gets better

Hello, builders risk policy.    

[HouTex 1838]

Went to the Astros game last night and we got in just as the storm arrived.  Couldn’t tell what was going on outside during the game.   We left in the 7th inning and it was shocking how much damage was done in such a short period,  As bad or worse than the last few hurricanes to hit the city.  

[LCHorn 2564]

Just now, HouTex said:

Went to the Astros game last night and we got in just as the storm arrived.  Couldn’t tell what was going on outside during the game.   We left in the 7th inning and it was shocking how much damage was done in such a short period,  As bad or worse than the last few hurricanes to hit the city.  

I’m not sure the economics on it are clear, but Houston construction needs to adopt Pacific tsunami technologies.  It seems like there’s a 100 year event now every five years.  

[Captainant 26927]

1 minute ago, LCHorn said:

I’m not sure the economics on it are clear, but Houston construction needs to adopt Pacific tsunami technologies.  It seems like there’s a 100 year event now every five years.  

Climate change? In the oil and gas capital of the world??

UNPOSSIBLE!!

[HouTex 1838]

1 minute ago, LCHorn said:

I’m not sure the economics on it are clear, but Houston construction needs to adopt Pacific tsunami technologies.  It seems like there’s a 100 year event now every five years.  

We need to outlaw trees and/or bury the power lines (kidding, sort of).  The damage was mostly from falling trees and heavy branches.  Also some broken glass from downtown skyscrapers.  

[Storm the Field 5256]

57 minutes ago, HouTex said:

Went to the Astros game last night and we got in just as the storm arrived.  Couldn’t tell what was going on outside during the game.   We left in the 7th inning and it was shocking how much damage was done in such a short period,  As bad or worse than the last few hurricanes to hit the city.  

Same boat. I met some buddies at Frost Town brewery before the game. Got there about 6:15 and it wasn't even raining yet. Forecast was making it look like storms wouldn't arrive until after first pitch. Drank 1 beer, went and got another and I look up and it's pitch black outside, raining sideways, and everyone's phone is flashing tornado warnings. Power went out for about 30 seconds but mercifully came back on. 15 minutes later the sun was back out. 2 of the guys GTFO to go check on their houses. Their neighbors were sending pics of trees on roofs and whatnot. Me and my other buddy knew our houses were fine from talking to our neighbors, but had no power. We said fuck it, rather be at MMP with power than at home in the dark so we walked over to the stadium and caught a ballgame.

Getting home was a bitch though. We walked back to the brewery to wait for post-game crowd to thin out and it took forever to finally get an Uber signal. Luckily my buddy finally got one on the hook and added me as a stop. We were driving home in pitch black, taking detours due to downed trees and shit. Never been more grateful to make it to my house. 

My poor wife got stuck at a Total Wine on the way home from work for like 30 minutes. She popped in to the one by her office to grab a bottle of wine and get home before the rain, thinking she had time. Power went out, tornado warnings. Staff made everyone go hide in the bathrooms. 

Luckily, my boss came up to our office this morning and confirmed we have power and internet and everything, so I just rolled in. Drove down Heights Blvd to get here. It's completely fucked. Probably 50% of the trees on the trail are ripped apart. Gonna be several days until it's fully functional again and several years until it looks normal.

Edited May 17 by Storm the Field

[Tylerocks 2535]

That was intense.  

Got the weather alert about 6:15, no real time to do anything.  Lost power around 7.

We're in Montrose and was able to go to HEB to pick up something to eat, wine, beer and ice...so weird the blocks immediately west of us all had power...we're still in the dark.

Luckily it wasn't blazing hot last night and could sleep with the windows open.

 

Some of the videos I've seen of downtown are crazy.  Wells Fargo building was shredded by what looked like a tornado

Edited May 17 by Tylerocks

[GreenspointTexas 9386]

Whoever doesnt have power within the next 22hrs or so is gonna be fucked

 

 

gonna be hot as shit the next 10 days

[HouTex 1838]

10 minutes ago, Tylerocks said:

That was intense.  

Got the weather alert about 6:15, no real time to do anything.  Lost power around 7.

We're in Montrose and was able to go to HEB to pick up something to eat, wine, beer and ice...so weird the blocks immediately west of us all had power...we're still in the dark.

Luckily it wasn't blazing hot last night and could sleep with the windows open.

 

Some of the videos I've seen of downtown are crazy.  Wells Fargo building was shredded by what looked like a tornado

I drove past it last night after the game.  Same or similar thing happened about 20 years ago to Chase tower.  High winds came roaring down Travis St and micro bursts picked up gravel from some of the nearby roof tops and threw it at Chase Tower.  A ton of windows were blown out.  We thought it must have a tornado but we later heard it just very high winds that can be magnified by the tall buildings.  

[Storm the Field 5256]

Space City has a good explainer of yesterday's disaster.

https://spacecityweather.com/houston-what-the-heck-happened-on-thursday/

[jimmyjazz 45206]

About 20-25 years ago Travis Heights (south Austin) had similar amounts of tree damage.  It was virtually impossible to drive the neighborhood.  I never did hear of a confirmed tornado, but whatever it was, the wind velocity was really high.

[GreenspointTexas 9386]

When out of towners are texting me, asking if my house fell over last night:

 

 

[Pescado_Rojo 19262]

30 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

About 20-25 years ago Travis Heights (south Austin) had similar amounts of tree damage.  It was virtually impossible to drive the neighborhood.  I never did hear of a confirmed tornado, but whatever it was, the wind velocity was really high.

Was that from the storm that spawned the Cedar Park and Jarrell tornados? I was working at the Custom Sounds store that used to be on S. Congress and Academy when that storm hit. The straight line winds came right down Congress. Our storefront had two 4'x8' windows on the Academy side of the corner that had an aluminum strip between them that blew out and drove rain into the store like it had been shot out of a high pressure hose. Still can't believe the windows didn't break. There were limbs down and trees uprooted all over the place after that one. 

[jimmyjazz 45206]

4 minutes ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

Was that from the storm that spawned the Cedar Park and Jarrell tornados? I was working at the Custom Sounds store that used to be on S. Congress and Academy when that storm hit. The straight line winds came right down Congress. Our storefront had two 4'x8' windows on the Academy side of the corner that had an aluminum strip between them that blew out and drove rain into the store like it had been shot out of a high pressure hose. Still can't believe the windows didn't break. There were limbs down and trees uprooted all over the place after that one. 

I don't think so.  I remember hauling ass home to get ahead of the Jarrell tornado that was barreling south, and don't recall any damage near our neighborhood.

[Captainant 26927]

Power and data are back up in Spring Branch, glad my fridge won't become a write-off

[Storm the Field 5256]

Man, some companies are so tone deaf. Talked to a good friend of mine that lives in Timbergrove. He's out helping neighbors cut up trees, removing busted up fences and shit. Gets an email from his office at like 8:00 a.m. this morning.

"Feel free to work from home today due to yesterday's weather."

Said it was everything he could do to not respond "Feel free to kiss my fucking ass."

[Hate 20061]

10 minutes ago, Storm the Field said:

Man, some companies are so tone deaf. Talked to a good friend of mine that lives in Timbergrove. He's out helping neighbors cut up trees, removing busted up fences and shit. Gets an email from his office at like 8:00 a.m. this morning.

"Feel free to work from home today due to yesterday's weather."

Said it was everything he could do to not respond "Feel free to kiss my fucking ass."

Yeah, I’m in my office today…downtown!

[Captainant 26927]

3 minutes ago, Hate said:

Yeah, I’m in my office today…downtown!

Jeeze what are the buildings and roads like? From the pictures it seems like every building is missing quite a lot of glass

[SydneyCarton 47486]

Thanks for posting some of my pics HJ

 

gotta dump of some more. We’re in Timbergrove and from what I’ve seen we got the worst of it. I got a genny up and now have our freezers and fridges getting power and I restored the WiFi. No a/c but whatever. Here’s some of the worst shit. 
 

keep in mind this is all about 5 square blocks from around my house. 

 

Edited May 17 by SydneyCarton

[Js1 83620]

15 minutes ago, Storm the Field said:

Man, some companies are so tone deaf. Talked to a good friend of mine that lives in Timbergrove. He's out helping neighbors cut up trees, removing busted up fences and shit. Gets an email from his office at like 8:00 a.m. this morning.

"Feel free to work from home today due to yesterday's weather."

Said it was everything he could do to not respond "Feel free to kiss my fucking ass."

Lol my office said WFH and a bunch of people responded back “okay but I don’t have internet or power!”

[billfromlaketravis 11291]

We’re good. Centerpoint put up some giant steel power line poles in our neighborhood last year and we haven’t had a long blackout since.

No downed limbs was a nice surprise. 
 

I’ll buy 80 mph winds. Jesus, my front was moving. 

[SydneyCarton 47486]

Here’s one more, it is the craziest so me. It didn’t even uproot the tree. It just Indian rug-burned the trunk and twisted it like a wet towel. That tree is blocking TC Jester, which for those unfamiliar is a very large 4 lane thoroughfare with a median in between. Multiple huge trees blocking it in multiple places. 
 

 

[Storm the Field 5256]

Man, I love older neighborhoods with mature trees as much as anyone, but storms like yesterday are an ass kicker for places like that. Just drove by my old house near 30th and Yale and it's a warzone. Oak trees split in half, branches through roofs, fences toppled over. It's a night and day difference from my current street less than a mile away. We've got some small limbs down and whatnot, but pretty much just looks like what you'd see after a bad storm. 

[Hate 20061]

5 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Jeeze what are the buildings and roads like? From the pictures it seems like every building is missing quite a lot of glass

My office is on the east side right next to Discovery Green. It looks like the worst of it was on the west side. The streets were clear mostly aside from some trash and debris. A lot of the trees had blown over on the sidewalks. It seems as if this side of downtown escaped the worst.

[GreenspointTexas 9386]

4 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

We’re good. Centerpoint put up some giant steel power line poles in our neighborhood last year and we haven’t had a long blackout since.

No downed limbs was a nice surprise. 
 

I’ll buy 80 mph winds. Jesus, my front was moving. 

Heights recorded 116mph winds yesterday. Between Katy and Waller, 128.6mph winds were recorded

[Storm the Field 5256]

2 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

Here’s one more, it is the craziest so me. It didn’t even uproot the tree. It just Indian rug-burned the trunk and twisted it like a wet towel. That tree is blocking TC Jester, which for those unfamiliar is a very large 4 lane thoroughfare with a median in between. Multiple huge trees blocking it in multiple places. 
 

 

Yeesh. Timerbgrove always seems to get the worst of it. So many houses had to be gutted after Harvey. Always seems to lose power for extended periods of time. 

[SydneyCarton 47486]

6 minutes ago, Storm the Field said:

Yeesh. Timerbgrove always seems to get the worst of it. So many houses had to be gutted after Harvey. Always seems to lose power for extended periods of time. 

We’re on the dry half of Timbergrove, so we are good for hurricanes. This…was something new 

[texasdago 7463]

Damn @SydneyCarton that's an F'ing hurricane

[GreenspointTexas 9386]

13 minutes ago, texasdago said:

Damn @SydneyCarton that's an F'ing hurricane

Worse than a hurricane

[Storm the Field 5256]

As of 2 hours ago, this was showing 684K people without power in Houston. As of latest update 15 minutes ago, down to 651K. 

https://poweroutage.us/area/county/1394

I imagine a lot of people will get power back at some point today, but for several hundred thousand in the hardest hit areas, who the hell knows?

Edited May 17 by Storm the Field

[Hate 20061]

10 minutes ago, GreenspointTexas said:

Worse than a hurricane

It’s not worse than a hurricane. Jesus Christ…surprised you have posted a bunch of “game over” comments.

[SydneyCarton 47486]

1 minute ago, Hate said:

It’s not worse than a hurricane. Jesus Christ…surprised you have posted a bunch of “game over” comments.

Eh. I’ve lived through Ike, Harvey, he’ll even Alisha as a kid. In terms of wind and tree damage, this is by far the worst I’ve ever seen. It terms of total. Monetary loss, sure, it’s not close to a hurricane. But it’s hard to express the tree damage man. 

[Js1 83620]

2 minutes ago, Hate said:

It’s not worse than a hurricane. Jesus Christ…surprised you have posted a bunch of “game over” comments.

What’s game over in this context? Everyone died?