2019 Rain Thread

[crimsonlonghorn 2306]

36 minutes ago, Telegraph_it said:

Or you live somewhere that doesn’t flood in the greater Houston area and don’t have to go to work on days like today. 

This. I live in Greatwood and it doesn't flood. The streets filled up with water for a few days during Harvey but not a single house got water. And if the Brazos isn't high the whole neighborhood will usually drain almost immediately, like this past May when we got 15" in 6 hours and the streets were passable 30 minutes after the rain stopped. 

I used to live in Timbergrove and before that Bellaire and both of those houses had minor flooding 15-20 years ago. No way I'd ever live in those places now. Or anywhere inside the Beltway.

This didn't used to happen in the past. The problem is that with all of the freeways and denser and denser development the water has nowhere to go anymore. And all of the waterways more or less flow through the inner loop, so all of that water has nowhere to go but through the densest part of town. 

[Bookman 4639]

Getting a nice light rain in NW San Antonio.

[Pancho 44860]

The problem can be both climate change and more people/highways/concrete. 

 

This issue isn’t mutually exclusive. 

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

My neighborhood didn't flood.  My brother's house did in Harvey.  But I am talking about dealing with it in general.  Just trying to work or having kids in school.  As for working remotely, yeah, that isn't a common thing for oil and gas, especially in project life.

[6th Street 6430]

Some guy interviewed did warmer water in Gulf of Mexico is causing these slow moving storms that dump rain like this

[Nice Guy Eddie 13515]

Houston doesn't have a long term plan for flooding because it would be too expensive.  Houston can build the world's best storm sewer system but the weak point is still that they bayous empty into Galveston Bay.  The city isn't high enough to empty the bayous faster.

I suppose the city could buy large areas of land to create additional flood reservoirs but that is costly and couldn't protect the entire city.  And I assume you can't build pumps to empty the bayous to the bay faster either.   So the best option is to build a storm sewer system that hopes to relieve street flooding up to a certain point. 

few improvement ideas:

• encourage employers to encourage workers to work from home on the high flood risk days. fewer people on the roads are important.  a risk is that some of these days will be false alarms.
• fix the freeways that flood so quickly especially the 45-10 interchange area. As soon as that floods, people can't move and it has a downstream affect on many side streets.
• smack people that drive their low-to-ground car into high water areas leading them to necessarily abandon their cars. 

[gmr548 16584]

42 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

what Houston gives us

Swamp ass?

[gmr548 16584]

6 minutes ago, Pancho said:

The problem can be both climate change and more people/highways/concrete. 

 

This issue isn’t mutually exclusive. 

In fact they are compounding.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13515]

11 minutes ago, crimsonlonghorn said:

This. I live in Greatwood and it doesn't flood. The streets filled up with water for a few days during Harvey but not a single house got water. And if the Brazos isn't high the whole neighborhood will usually drain almost immediately, like this past May when we got 15" in 6 hours and the streets were passable 30 minutes after the rain stopped. 

I used to live in Timbergrove and before that Bellaire and both of those houses had minor flooding 15-20 years ago. No way I'd ever live in those places now. Or anywhere inside the Beltway.

This didn't used to happen in the past. The problem is that with all of the freeways and denser and denser development the water has nowhere to go anymore. And all of the waterways more or less flow through the inner loop, so all of that water has nowhere to go but through the densest part of town. 

I live in Garden Oaks which is fairly protected from floods but houses have flooded in the past. I never understand the new builds that don't add a few feet to their base. You're building a 1M home but its basically at the same level as the house that was originally built in the 30s. Future proof against the 1000 year storm that will occur every 10 5 years.

[swraith 347]

Our scouts camp in Bastrop this weekend, supposed to canoe/kayak to work on their badges.  Any weather forecast for them [mention=636]phdhorn[/mention] ?

Same but for cub scouts. We are camping at Cub World off lake Bastrop Saturday night.

[Iceman 2720]

3 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

I agree.  It's a bad idea to attach your wench to a power pole.

What if she likes it that way?

Edited September 20, 2019 by Iceman

[swraith 347]

I project it would cost about 5 million per mile plus pumps, so approx a cool billion, to pump rain water from our reservoirs and bayous to Central Texas.  Would that not a good a idea?  What would be the benefits/cons?    

 

Yes I have long thought that a good infrastructure project for Texas would be water piped from the coast line.

[irishtexan 11522]

Exactly. Id take a 30% pay cut if i moved to austin

Conversely, a thirty percent raise wouldn’t be nearly enough to move my family to Houston from Austin. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t move for a 100% raise.

[OWLVIS 557]

Ed Emmett would have gone with the wettest prediction and urged for more caution and closures, then the Schools would have followed.

IF County Judge declares the emergency dist. can get a waiver for the missed days from State if necessary

[Macanudo 12992]

I left work (Allen parkway and waugh) at 3:30.  Ran Allen Parkway into downtown and onto 59N.    That was closed at 610 so I exited and weaved through Kashmere Gardens to I10 East back to BW8 north.  Drive home on that to 59 and was in my driveway about 120 minutes after my initial departure .   All things being equal, I was lucky compared to those on the east or northeast side. 

I marveled at how may big rigs/18 wheelers were on the road.  Shouldn't there be a point where we say "Yall are staying put at a truck stop or parking lot somewhere."  On my sojourn through east Houston it was kind of disturbing how many big rigs were driving through really low lying areas pushing wakes up to the front doors of homes.  

As I drove out 10 and then BW8, I was also shocked at the amount of businesses that looked closed.  Whole strip centers seemed empty.  Kudos to those businesses for recognizing that sending people home early/not even opening was the thing to do. 

[Js1 85439]

7 minutes ago, OWLVIS said:

Ed Emmett would have gone with the wettest prediction and urged for more caution and closures, then the Schools would have followed.

IF County Judge declares the emergency dist. can get a waiver for the missed days from State if necessary

Stfu. Even space city weather Didn’t  see this coming. Don’t make it political. This shit is extremely unpredictable at times. The school districts should have been more cautious. 

[justhookit 4191]

24 minutes ago, 6th Street said:

Some guy interviewed did warmer water in Gulf of Mexico is causing these slow moving storms that dump rain like this

So when tropical systems stall or slow down over land I guess it’s because our rivers and lakes are too warm.

[crimsonlonghorn 2306]

NSIAP - this cracks me up. 

 

[OWLVIS 557]

3 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Stfu. Even space city weather Didn’t  see this coming. Don’t make it political. This shit is extremely unpredictable at times. The school districts should have been more cautious. 

suck my balls this was about experience, "Space City Weather" .... pfftt

[Updawg 2275]

I'm amazed at how long a lot of you guys stayed at work or even went in. Seems like there should be more remote working on these days. From what I saw on TV yesterday, it looked like today wasn't going to be good. Probably worse than expected but still. I'm not in Houston though, just an observation from outside.

[GreenspointTexas 9662]

The storm was supposed to head straight to dallas this morning. Instead, it went from Crockett to Conroe

 

never seen that before in my life... ever

 

 

no one saw this amount of destruction coming

[crash_davis 23114]

1 minute ago, GreenspointTexas said:

The storm was supposed to head straight to dallas this morning. Instead, it went from Crockett to Conroe

 

never seen that before in my life... ever

 

 

no one saw this amount of destruction coming

i think you can say that about most natural disasters.  people said that with harvey.  they said that about the hurricane that just slammed the bahamas.  people say that about earthquakes.  and so on and so on.

[Js1 85439]

6 minutes ago, OWLVIS said:

suck my balls this was about experience, "Space City Weather" .... pfftt

Thanks I’ll pass. 

[Iceman 2720]

On Harvey, they predicted the onslaught of rain and we were all like, ‘ No fucking way. Not 40” of rain... They’re just drumming up business for Home Depot”

Then the rains came and we got Forrest Gumped for 4 days.

Edited September 20, 2019 by Iceman

[OWLVIS 557]

 

1 minute ago, Js1 said:

Thanks I’ll pass. 

It's a great way to spend more time with your mother.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13515]

11 minutes ago, Updawg said:

I'm amazed at how long a lot of you guys stayed at work or even went in. Seems like there should be more remote working on these days. From what I saw on TV yesterday, it looked like today wasn't going to be good. Probably worse than expected but still. I'm not in Houston though, just an observation from outside.

During Harvey I didn’t miss a day of work because my house, work and commute didn’t flood.  Today the commute was completely underwater for a good portion of the day.  Harvey was worse overall, but today was worse in some areas.  I was surprised but what we saw today.

[Modessit 5603]

Someone I know who drives a cab here in Austin had someone pay her $400 cash to drive them from the Austin Airport to Houston.

[Modessit 5603]

[Updawg 2275]

The problem can be both climate change and more people/highways/concrete. 
 
This issue isn’t mutually exclusive. 

As well as fronts aren't coming as early as frequently which allows systems like this to linger instead of being pushed off quickly.

[Dewey 3286]

That was a north wind that stalled and pushed her east, otherwise she's in north Texas today. 

[Updawg 2275]

Not strong enough unfortunately

[Storm the Field 5296]

1 hour ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I live in Garden Oaks which is fairly protected from floods but houses have flooded in the past. I never understand the new builds that don't add a few feet to their base. You're building a 1M home but its basically at the same level as the house that was originally built in the 30s. Future proof against the 1000 year storm that will occur every 10 5 years.

Coincidentally, I'm building a house in GO and we decided to go super overkill. 4.5 feet of crawl space before you get to the subfloor. If my future house ever floods, Houston has ceased to be. Extinction-level event.

[closetojumping 62755]

7 hours ago, GreenspointTexas said:

Welp, it took me 3 hours to get from Kirby/Main to the Heights. Had to go all the way south to bw8 just to get on a freeway, and then took 288 back north to i10. I10 was closed, so had to find a place to cross white oak bayou. All roads were flooded. Finally went up to 610, went east to i10, made a u turn the  went 610 west to yale

 

definitely white knuckled a lotta water. By far the most harrowing drive ive made in my 33 years on this planet

I worked until 6 in Sawyer Yards, took Houston street onto 45 south, then 59 and then 610 south into Bellaire. Took me 15 minutes to get home today. Not a single house flooded in Bellaire and as far as I understand, there isn’t much house damage in most of the Houston area. 

2 hours ago, Patricio Swayze said:

I am pretty much only here because of family and job at this point.  Between the flooding (4 major floods in the past 4 years) and the constant highway construction/traffic, I am just sick of it.

Do you actually believe that other places lack traffic? I work in Austin regularly. The fucking traffic at rush hour in Austin is worse than Houston and getting even more terrible. 

Houston has flooding. Austin has homeless everywhere and drought. They both have traffic. Los Angeles has drought, earthquakes and traffic. Let’s not even discuss San Fran. Atlanta is running out of water. Hurricanes in Miami and Tampa more often than Texas. Chicago is a decaying shithole. New York City is 2x the cost of living in Houston. Who the fuck would actually wake up and choose Dallas? That’s jobs and family too. So sure, you’d love Seattle, Nashville or Denver. Awesome. 

You guys overstate the problems in Houston and understate the upside. Fucking great jobs everywhere. Cost of living is low. Amazing diversity without so much of the bullshit that comes with it elsewhere. No one comes to Houston for vacation, but no shit you are here because of your jobs and family. That’s why people are where they are all over this fucking planet.

I go all over the place and I see better and worse than Houston, mostly worse. But y’all can feel free to head elsewhere. Next man/woman up will take your job and you can live worry free from all natural disasters, traffic and whatever the fuck else in Shangri-La. Good luck with it. 

Today was mostly hysterics and people not knowing when to sit tight and be patient. 

[Zepol87 9188]

You guys be safe. I've never spent a significant amount of time in Houston but damn I couldn't t imagine dealing with shit in Dallas. I would have left awhile ago

[Victor Lazlo 1777]

2 hours ago, 6th Street said:

Some guy interviewed did warmer water in Gulf of Mexico is causing these slow moving storms that dump rain like this

No, it’s the fucking high pressure systems to the north and to the east that, as the NHC predicted on Tuesday, blocked Imelda from being able to blast her way north and east quickly like the majority of these storms do. 

Same thing happened with Harvey. 

The highs eventually weakened, the storm finds that weakness, and moves that way. 

The temperature of the Gulf of Mexico has fuck-all to do with the forward speed of these storms after they hit land. 

[Hate 20120]

Stfu. Even space city weather Didn’t  see this coming. Don’t make it political. This shit is extremely unpredictable at times. The school districts should have been more cautious. 

That’s complete and utter bullshit. I posted a graphic Tuesday that showed the greater Houston metro area was at a high risk for flooding rains on Tuesday. This was not only predicted, but anyone paying attention was warned. This wasn’t a surprise to anyone that pays attention. Look back at my posts leading up to this event and know that any Surly poster that reads this thread and is in SE Texas was fairly warned.

[GreenspointTexas 9662]

7 hours ago, closetojumping said:

I worked until 6 in Sawyer Yards, took Houston street onto 45 south, then 59 and then 610 south into Bellaire. Took me 15 minutes to get home today. Not a single house flooded in Bellaire and as far as I understand, there isn’t much house damage in most of the Houston area. 

Do you actually believe that other places lack traffic? I work in Austin regularly. The fucking traffic at rush hour in Austin is worse than Houston and getting even more terrible. 

Houston has flooding. Austin has homeless everywhere and drought. They both have traffic. Los Angeles has drought, earthquakes and traffic. Let’s not even discuss San Fran. Atlanta is running out of water. Hurricanes in Miami and Tampa more often than Texas. Chicago is a decaying shithole. New York City is 2x the cost of living in Houston. Who the fuck would actually wake up and choose Dallas? That’s jobs and family too. So sure, you’d love Seattle, Nashville or Denver. Awesome. 

You guys overstate the problems in Houston and understate the upside. Fucking great jobs everywhere. Cost of living is low. Amazing diversity without so much of the bullshit that comes with it elsewhere. No one comes to Houston for vacation, but no shit you are here because of your jobs and family. That’s why people are where they are all over this fucking planet.

I go all over the place and I see better and worse than Houston, mostly worse. But y’all can feel free to head elsewhere. Next man/woman up will take your job and you can live worry free from all natural disasters, traffic and whatever the fuck else in Shangri-La. Good luck with it. 

Today was mostly hysterics and people not knowing when to sit tight and be patient. 

This.

 

also, id like to add, that almost everyone who leaves texas (for whatever reason) eventually comes crawling back... and for good reason

[HouTex 1886]

https://www.harriscountyfws.org/GageDetail/Index/2240?span=24 Hours&v=surfaceBox

As bad as yesterday was in Houston, this city and its drainage systems can recover quickly.  See the link for the graph on the Buffalo Bayou at Shepard.  Except for a barge(s) hitting an I-10 east bridge, the freeways are all open today.  Memorial was closed at Shepard yesterday with high water (happens all the time) but I still made it home to the Tanglewood area from downtown in about 45 minutes at 6:30.  Not that big of deal for most people.

Sure, we have to put up with this BS once in a while, but every city has its issues.  I'm not moving anytime soon.  

[TonyTexas 10518]

I hope no one is heading east out of Houston today. A bunch of barges broke loose and hit the bridge at I10 and the San Jacinto river. Freeway closed in both directions.

[htown85 159]

Happily living in Houston the rest of my life.  Annual flooding > scooter trash everywhere everyday 

[atomheartbevo 89735]

12 hours ago, GreenspointTexas said:

Judge Lina Hidalgo... yum


 

28 and already a county judge?

Impressive.  

[gecko 1104]

Trust me, there will come a day real soon when the voters of Harris County will miss Ed Emmett

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

Do you actually believe that other places lack traffic? I work in Austin regularly. The fucking traffic at rush hour in Austin is worse than Houston and getting even more terrible. 
Houston has flooding. Austin has homeless everywhere and drought. They both have traffic. Los Angeles has drought, earthquakes and traffic. Let’s not even discuss San Fran. Atlanta is running out of water. Hurricanes in Miami and Tampa more often than Texas. Chicago is a decaying shithole. New York City is 2x the cost of living in Houston. Who the fuck would actually wake up and choose Dallas? That’s jobs and family too. So sure, you’d love Seattle, Nashville or Denver. Awesome. 
You guys overstate the problems in Houston and understate the upside. Fucking great jobs everywhere. Cost of living is low. Amazing diversity without so much of the bullshit that comes with it elsewhere. No one comes to Houston for vacation, but no shit you are here because of your jobs and family. That’s why people are where they are all over this fucking planet.
I go all over the place and I see better and worse than Houston, mostly worse. But y’all can feel free to head elsewhere. Next man/woman up will take your job and you can live worry free from all natural disasters, traffic and whatever the fuck else in Shangri-La. Good luck with it. 
Today was mostly hysterics and people not knowing when to sit tight and be patient. 

Goddamn you are a fucking windbag. I am venting. And I never said anything about leaving Texas not moving to Austin. Go read one of the Houston threads to see how I feel about Houston. There is a lot of great shot here. I have also lived in DC as well as outside of the country to give me some perspective on what quality of life can be and cost. I choose to be in Texas for a reason. Stop being such a defensive bitch.

[utee94 15835]

Good Lord so many overly defensive Houston folks.

Live where you want to live.  Others may not like it as much as you do.  I doubt their differences in opinion are intended as a personal affront to you.

Sheesh people get worked up over the weirdest crap sometimes.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13515]

19 minutes ago, gecko said:

Trust me, there will come a day real soon when the voters of Harris County will miss Ed Emmett

Maybe. I have no idea how much the county judge does or doesn’t do. Regardless Ed Emmett isn’t county judge because of himself. 

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

About a year ago I saw that a lot on the edge of the 5th Ward, between St. Arnold’s and the tracks just north, was being cleared. When I asked a worker what was going on he said a developer was going to build something. I thought that was strange unless it was industrial. Well, he was wrong. They cleared the woods and put in a retention pond. It isn’t all that big and honestly it is in a curious place. I don’t think this area flooded during the last 3-4 floods we have had. I suppose it could help keep I-10, which is very low in that area, from flooding.

There needs to be a shit ton more of these. Throughout metropolitan Houston and I know that some have been excavated in the past 2 years. Honestly, there are a lot of neighborhoods that probably need to be razed and turned into parks.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13515]

1 minute ago, Patricio Swayze said:

About a year ago I saw that a lot on the edge of the 5th Ward, between St. Arnold’s and the tracks just north, was being cleared. When I asked a worker what was going on he said a developer was going to build something. I thought that was strange unless it was industrial. Well, he was wrong. They cleared the woods and put in a retention pond. It isn’t all that big and honestly it is in a curious place. I don’t think this area flooded during the last 3-4 floods we have had. I suppose it could help keep I-10, which is very low in that area, from flooding.

There needs to be a shit ton more of these. Throughout metropolitan Houston and I know that some have been excavated in the past 2 years. Honestly, there are a lot of neighborhoods that probably need to be razed and turned into parks.

Developers would be up in arms but perhaps new builds (residential  or commercial) should be required to pay into a fund to develop more retention ponds. I wouldn't expect a single house to create a new retention pond but every construction site adds into a larger fund. Allows the city/county to buy low lying areas and develop them even more into parks/ponds.

[Grade of D as in David 13253]

13 hours ago, SubliminalHorn said:

I sorta jokingly asked on my fb today, so why do people live in Houston? Half got ticked off at me and blah blah it’s our home blah blah. Yeah I get it, but this shit happens all the fucking time now. Aren’t people sick of dealing with it? Yes it sucks that people’s homes are damaged, but fuck I would be so sick of dealing with it. Others agreed with me and questioned themselves why they continue to live there. 

Are you trying to get more people to move to Austin?

 

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

Developers would be up in arms but perhaps new builds (residential  or commercial) should be required to pay into a fund to develop more retention ponds. I wouldn't expect a single house to create a new retention pond but every construction site adds into a larger fund. Allows the city/county to buy low lying areas and develop them even more into parks/ponds.

I can get behind this.

I’m trying to think if any neighborhoods inside the loop were ever bought out. I can think of a few between the beltway and the loop, like around Victory Lane. One close to where I grew up in far NW Houston was finally turned into a park (sits next to Cypress Creek and flooded regularly).

[Smax 3800]

Developers would be up in arms but perhaps new builds (residential  or commercial) should be required to pay into a fund to develop more retention ponds. I wouldn't expect a single house to create a new retention pond but every construction site adds into a larger fund. Allows the city/county to buy low lying areas and develop them even more into parks/ponds.

I though I read an article after Harvey about some developers not building retention ponds in new neighborhoods even though it was a requirement by the city?