2024 Hurricane Season thread of DOOM

[Basil 733]

My power is back on after 9 hours. The folks across the street, not so lucky.

[faps 803]

I think it’s time for me to pack up and move elsewhere. The energy capital… sheeeit.

Also, driving around here with lights being out is an adventure. Fucking morons just blasting through the intersection with not a fucking care in the world. They threw up some temporary stop signs at this intersection after someone didnt know how to handle a signal being out. 

[Grimas 652]

Not a single house restored yet in the Woodlands… and this is where all the power lines are underground…

[NorthLoop 13930]

This thread turned into 

 

Now everybody just go jerk off and calm down. 

[Blotto 23245]

6 minutes ago, NorthLoop said:

Now everybody just go jerk off and calm down. 

Well, I'm in Austin but

[Zeus 5889]

Evacuated to Wimberly with the kiddos and camper. Been a great couple of days, hoping the power stays out in Galveston a few more days I can make a week out here. 
 

Saw this fine architectural masterpiece in Luling yesterday

[tx 3 putt 75229]

1 hour ago, Basil said:

My power is back on after 9 hours. The folks across the street, not so lucky.

That happened to me during deracho, extremely frustrating 

[Zeus 5889]

1 hour ago, tokamak said:

Fuck me, 48 hours from now we have a 50/50 chance?

Serious question, can portable generators run indefinitely? I’ve got a Tri-fuel Firman plugged into my breaker box powering my fridge and fans. Never tried to run it anywhere near 3 days straight. I change the oil and shit. 

Firman is nice it should be able to constantly run as long as you have fuel. Keep it in the shade it will have less chance to overheat. You should get a 12000btu portable AC you can set in your house in a room to sleep in AC in the future as well. 
 

If it does overheat it will probably just shut off and you have will have to wait a little. 
 

I like running off propane in mine keeps the carburetor clean for when I ever do need to actually run it off gas. 

[Born to Run 6280]

“G-1”  - Generac needs more money

Anyone else I'd offer to send a tech over; but my guys in Houston are busy dealing with other issues for non psychos; all the generators I've installed are all working great or not needed- roughly 5 of 12 installations are still on generator and maybe 8 of 12 used the generator for at least 2 hrs. Goof, heights; Pearland, West end Galvatraz, Rice Military, memorial. All Generac. All good so far.

[tx 3 putt 75229]

Whataburger app shows you their locations down 

[Born to Run 6280]

That’s Washington st. 

*Ave

And I've been gone a minute- ie a decade

[Planet Houston 4918]

We have been lucky. Power on, other side of the street is out.  Major limbs down from our big oak in the front, but no serious damage. 

[Born to Run 6280]

Not kidding, check that there's oil and fuel in the generator. When Snowvid hit in 2021 a coworker just moved into his house with a generac equipped that never turned on, but for a few quarts of oil

Get annual service, they have a great app that tracks maintenence, any code errors that may develop- it will test run the unit montly and send you a report, if you bother to commission the unit and keep it linked to your phone. All my clients so far have been happy. I've had excellent experiences with Generac, my only bias is my electrician is a certified dealer, but it's not really even a side gig for me; although we do install plenty of them both through him and other dealers.

[TOR 5122]

Holy Shit BirraPoretti's is still open?

[Bevo&Pevo 4923]

4 hours ago, Zeus said:

Firman is nice it should be able to constantly run as long as you have fuel. Keep it in the shade it will have less chance to overheat. You should get a 12000btu portable AC you can set in your house in a room to sleep in AC in the future as well. 
 

If it does overheat it will probably just shut off and you have will have to wait a little. 
 

I like running off propane in mine keeps the carburetor clean for when I ever do need to actually run it off gas. 

plug a box fan into it and let the air blow on the cylinder head.

[pearlandhorn 3258]

Made it through the night without power. It’s going to get hot today. My mom came back with me on Sunday from Tyler as she was supposed to have doctor appointments at MD Anderson yesterday. She didn’t figure they’d cancel. They cancelled.

Our power flickered and went out the final time around 8 am yesterday. 

[Jimbaround 972]

We got very lucky. Lights flickered a number of times but we kept our power. House behind us did too, but the rest of our street and the one behind are out of power.

[Grimas 652]

7 hours ago, Zeus said:

Firman is nice it should be able to constantly run as long as you have fuel. Keep it in the shade it will have less chance to overheat. You should get a 12000btu portable AC you can set in your house in a room to sleep in AC in the future as well. 
 

If it does overheat it will probably just shut off and you have will have to wait a little. 
 

I like running off propane in mine keeps the carburetor clean for when I ever do need to actually run it off gas. 

My Westinghouse 12500 just crapped out…. Genny still running but not generating power…. Probably a $2.99 capacitor I can get on Amazon - next week.

[Loch Ness Monster 3529]

 

 

[Zeus 5889]

5 minutes ago, Grimas said:

My Westinghouse 12500 just crapped out…. Genny still running but not generating power…. Probably a $2.99 capacitor I can get on Amazon - next week.

Damn that stinks, at least you know how to work on engines and fix them. 

I also have two generators, a loud cheap construction one that usually gets borrowed in loss of power situations is my backup to the firman. 

[Grimas 652]

1 minute ago, Zeus said:

Damn that stinks, at least you know how to work on engines and fix them. 

I also have two generators, a loud cheap construction one that usually gets borrowed in loss of power situations is my backup to the firman. 

YouTube videos… and I do have a 3000 watt inverter that I just had to dust off and just ran extension cables to the wifi and fridges no issue until it gets to 90 today and the wife starts really bitching…

[Dahobbs 17180]

Day 2 begins.  It was 4 days in May. Let's see how we do this time. 

[perfectchaos007 6534]

7 hours ago, Planet Houston said:

We have been lucky. Power on, other side of the street is out.  Major limbs down from our big oak in the front, but no serious damage. 

My whataburger app currently paints a more grim picture 

 

[GreenspointTexas 9376]

13 minutes ago, Loch Ness Monster said:

 

 

This was from like 5 years ago i thought?

[Fudge Nuggets 18899]

5 minutes ago, perfectchaos007 said:

My whataburger app currently paints a more grim picture 

 

Mine showed the second closest one to us was open. I took a quick drive out that way, no power. Whataburger was not open. 

[Js1 82948]

What a relief that centerpoint didn’t have any visiting crews staged and ready. So they aren’t starting work until today. 

[SydneyCarton 47297]

20 minutes ago, Grimas said:

YouTube videos… and I do have a 3000 watt inverter that I just had to dust off and just ran extension cables to the wifi and fridges no issue until it gets to 90 today and the wife starts really bitching…

That’s my current setup. Two fridges, a deep freezer, a little fan, and my internet. 

[SydneyCarton 47297]

14 minutes ago, Js1 said:

What a relief that centerpoint didn’t have any visiting crews staged and ready. So they aren’t starting work until today. 

i saw faster response from out of town units after the derecho and that had zero warning. 

[Captainant 26902]

13 minutes ago, Js1 said:

What a relief that centerpoint didn’t have any visiting crews staged and ready. So they aren’t starting work until today. 

Why on earth would they spend all that money to stage crews that their shareholders should be getting instead?? It's not like center point is gonna lose any customers over poor service, so they have zero incentive to do anything more than the barest of minimums

[Js1 82948]

12 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Why on earth would they spend all that money to stage crews that their shareholders should be getting instead?? It's not like center point is gonna lose any customers over poor service, so they have zero incentive to do anything more than the barest of minimums

Meanwhile heat index will be 105 today, 2 million don’t have power, “hopefully” half that will be back on by tomorrow end of day. Haven’t seen anything about cooling centers open yet from the city 

[Mother mopar 3267]

YouTube videos… and I do have a 3000 watt inverter that I just had to dust off and just ran extension cables to the wifi and fridges no issue until it gets to 90 today and the wife starts really bitching…

PSA: Be cautious of bogus parts on Amazon. I've been burned twice by shit parts.

[Nivek 16665]

12 hours ago, elfenix said:

Common clay driving a jacked up F350 almost killed someone in an Elantra because he had not a single bit of curiosity as to why people were stopped in the left 3 lanes of a 4 lane street.

Assume anyone driving a truck like that is a moron or a chicken shit afraid of driving.   

[SydneyCarton 47297]

3 minutes ago, Nivek said:

Assume anyone driving a truck like that is a moron or a chicken shit afraid of driving.   

That venn diagram is a circle, sir. 

[SydneyCarton 47297]

16 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Meanwhile heat index will be 105 today, 2 million don’t have power, “hopefully” half that will be back on by tomorrow end of day. Haven’t seen anything about cooling centers open yet from the city 

That email just went out fwiw. 

[perfectchaos007 6534]

28 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Why on earth would they spend all that money to stage crews that their shareholders should be getting instead?? It's not like center point is gonna lose any customers over poor service, so they have zero incentive to do anything more than the barest of minimums

Citizens are powerless, but big corporations may collectively sue them if they can prove their incompetence led to lost productivity. Our office and warehouse doesn’t have power for the second day and that’s a lot of lost productivity. 

[The Ace of Aces 4946]

Have we confirmed Greenspoint I mean the stranded truck guy is ok? 

[TexArcher 37040]

3 minutes ago, The Ace of Aces said:

Have we confirmed Greenspoint I mean the stranded truck guy is ok? 

 

 

[Zonahorn 7921]

 

[pearlandhorn 3258]

36 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Meanwhile heat index will be 105 today, 2 million don’t have power, “hopefully” half that will be back on by tomorrow end of day. Haven’t seen anything about cooling centers open yet from the city 

There’s a shitton more than 2 million people without power. My mom and I are driving to NE Texas on 59, took beltway all around Houston from south Houston. We are up in Corrigan now and there’s no power up here, 2 hours north of Houston.

[PTINS 3419]

10 hours ago, YGIFS said:

I've noticed that nobody in Texas is calling for tree trimmers to be back to their home countries in the wake of this storm.  We're pulling some guys from our Mueller area project and taking them to Houston later this month to do what can be done over a weekend to help clear limbs.  Plus some trucks with some supplies from Aldi.  Not a game-changer, but thousands of folks doing stuff like this is what turns the tide.  Not government.  Meanwhile, look after your neighbor, help is on the way even if the helper looks different (or is fucking insane like me).  

I agree it is all the individuals and little things that make it work. But having lived in Houston 4 times, the local government led actions during Katrina was something to be proud of; Democratic Mayor Bill White (UT) reaching out to Republican Gov. Perry (A&M) for State & Federal resources (days away), and supplementing that with the more immediate local resources, HEB & Mattress Mack, etc.

Before Rita, I flew home to IAH and didn't have enough fuel to make it to Katy, and Houston was out of gas, so I parked in a Best Buy parking lot and called my wife to come get me. A wrecker pulled up and the driver offered to sell me some gas, for $50/gallon (he was kidding, he didn't have any). I needed diesel. He told me of a station 2 miles away that was out of gasoline, but still had diesel. No charge, just asked that I keep it to myself. So sad to see so many who evacuated, only to be stranded at a gas station.

After Ike, I got the kids situated, and loaded up my chain saw and tools and took off to help clear the downed trees in Katy. I was very disappointed to see that so many individuals had already beat me to it and had cleared most of the downed limbs in the streets. Later, I took my kids to find volunteer opportunities at multiple food/supply aggregation points, and each time was told to leave a phone number and they would call, as they were already fully staffed for their needs.

Houston Works. From the top of the food chain to the bottom, people get things done.  Help where you can.

10 hours ago, Bevo&Pevo said:

Just think before any power line company puts any pole in the ground, they have to do a "one call" to 811.  If there is pipeline within certain distance the pipeline owner's rep must be present before work can start.  We can't have power companies making holes in P/Ls carrying hydrocarbons now, can we?

Yes, similarly, replacing a transformer is fairly straight forward. However, checking all the upstream and downstream connections before you energize the circuits is a labor intensive and tedious task (Why did it blow in the first place?). Our job is never so important that we cannot take the time to do it safely ...

10 hours ago, Updawg said:

It’s already getting testy by a few in this thread. Can’t imagine what it will be like in another day or two with no power. Good luck

Best wishes for a timely recovery for all affected.  

8 minutes ago, Js1 said:

What a relief that centerpoint didn’t have any visiting crews staged and ready. So they aren’t starting work until today. 

Well, considering that in less than 48 hours (~mobilization to deployment to arrival time), the projected landfall changed from a tropical storm in the most desolate place on the Gulf Coast to a hurricane hitting the biggest city, 400 miles away, I'm not sure you can fairly lay that blame on anybody. 

[Captainant 26902]

1 minute ago, Zonahorn said:

 

Boy howdy, we sure are gonna have a fun fucking time with the increased severe weather from increased thermal energy in the global climate. All those tornados are powered by the abundant hot water in the gulf contributing energy to the storm

[RDCanecutter 25890]

12 hours ago, SurlyBDR said:

 

TBH kind of a mixed message in that post.

[FORTY NINE TO ZERO 2621]

44 minutes ago, perfectchaos007 said:

Citizens are powerless, but big corporations may collectively sue them if they can prove their incompetence led to lost productivity. Our office and warehouse doesn’t have power for the second day and that’s a lot of lost productivity. 

can they even be sued? I thought during the great ice storm they claimed sovereign immunity due to their public / private designation.

basically they somehow seemed to have 100% socialized the risks and 100% privatized the rewards.

Good gig if you can get it!  

[SimonBolivar 10673]

12 hours ago, ROFL BOX said:

Roofing, fences, gutters, structural repairs, masonry.  All of that is within our reach.

[Js1 82948]

Made it downtown to my office - yay for AC, electricity and WiFI.

Fuck anyone on Washington Ave with their power.  Hatin is free.

[Trey3216 15308]

2 hours ago, Loch Ness Monster said:

 

 

I'm 100% certain that was from Harvey and reposted yesterday.  

[TexArcher 37040]

4 minutes ago, Trey3216 said:

I'm 100% certain that was from Harvey and reposted yesterday.  

Like the Osteen meme, I believe.

[TOR 5122]

[SydneyCarton 47297]

1 hour ago, pearlandhorn said:

There’s a shitton more than 2 million people without power. My mom and I are driving to NE Texas on 59, took beltway all around Houston from south Houston. We are up in Corrigan now and there’s no power up here, 2 hours north of Houston.

Yeah, that’s 2 million is Centerpoint. They’re also a bubble if TNMP near clear lake, as well as all of Entergy that covers the woodlands and Montgomery county. 

[SydneyCarton 47297]

Saw this on fb so take with a maaaassive grain of salt:

 

A spokeswoman for Centerpoint admitted yesterday that it did not preposition assets prior to Beryl as it had for other hurricanes.  The old adage “hope for the best prepare for the worst” comes to mind.  This is one of the myriad of reasons that Houstonians are angry and disgusted with CP.