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2019 Hurricane & Cyclone Thread

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By clapclapclap
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gmr548

gmr548 16576

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I own a short term rental in Galveston that I book mainly through AirBnB.  I have a moderate cancellation policy, meaning that you get a 50% refund if you cancel more than 5 days out, but nothing if you cancel within 5.  They do have an "extenuating circumstances" clause that covers listed natural disasters, terrorism, and death of family members.  It doesn't really matter, but it doesn't mention hurricanes in the natural disasters.  Well the person booked for the weekend called AirBnB and told them that there are travel restrictions in place making it not safe for them to come from New Orleans.  The wonderful people at AirBnB didn't bother to ask them when they were coming or where they were coming from.  
They are from Austin (it is in their profile).  They are currently in North Carolina.  They are choosing to drive through New Orleans, and they are scheduled to check in Saturday night, when the storm will have passed through.  I'd be fine refunding them Thursday night if the storm was predicted to hit Galveston/Houston area Saturday morning.  Hell, even if it was going to hit over in Beaumont.  But giving them a full refund because of travel restrictions in New Orleans, where they aren't even located, for a stay in Galveston where it isn't even expected to hit is bull shit.  Yeah, its going to rain.  It is July on the coast.  That happens.  

Jesus man. You seem like a joy of a person.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

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Trey3216
Trey3216

It's amazing to think that the most severe flooding seems to have happened after hundreds of thousands of new homes, and thousands of new roads were built on the north end of a waterflow basin.  

Loco
Loco

May god have mercy on your soles!

HeHateMe
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BrickHorn

BrickHorn 18216

Posted
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5 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

The Mississippi is only few feet from topping levees now, before a major rain event. Forecasts have consistently shown enough rain to cause the river to spill over the levees.

If it keeps on raining, the levee’s going to break.  

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phdhorn

phdhorn 6224

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Other than the facts that 1) New Orleans never, ever should have been built there, in a major sinkhole dishbowl more or less below sea level between two bodies of water, and 2) the riches have bent over backwards dicking the Mississippi to keep flowing past it and not into the Atchafalaya, where it really, really wants to go naturally, it's all good!

Flooding during storms?  Say it ain't so!

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jdhorn92

jdhorn92 1545

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12 hours ago, UT_OB1 said:

I own a short term rental in Galveston that I book mainly through AirBnB.  I have a moderate cancellation policy, meaning that you get a 50% refund if you cancel more than 5 days out, but nothing if you cancel within 5.  They do have an "extenuating circumstances" clause that covers listed natural disasters, terrorism, and death of family members.  It doesn't really matter, but it doesn't mention hurricanes in the natural disasters.  Well the person booked for the weekend called AirBnB and told them that there are travel restrictions in place making it not safe for them to come from New Orleans.  The wonderful people at AirBnB didn't bother to ask them when they were coming or where they were coming from.  

They are from Austin (it is in their profile).  They are currently in North Carolina.  They are choosing to drive through New Orleans, and they are scheduled to check in Saturday night, when the storm will have passed through.  I'd be fine refunding them Thursday night if the storm was predicted to hit Galveston/Houston area Saturday morning.  Hell, even if it was going to hit over in Beaumont.  But giving them a full refund because of travel restrictions in New Orleans, where they aren't even located, for a stay in Galveston where it isn't even expected to hit is bull shit.  Yeah, its going to rain.  It is July on the coast.  That happens.  

Id let them out , 100%, perhaps less a modest cancel fee ($100 say, for your time).  Its not worth the negative reviews.  if there wasn't a storm, i think it would be a different.  Treat others better than you expect to be treated is a great customer service ethos, imo. it will come back to you 10X.  they liked your place enough to book it, they will be back.

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Redneck Mutha

Redneck Mutha 7954

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21 hours ago, WBT said:

I don't understand why they never opened the Morganza spillway.  Baton Rouge to New Orleans has been at or near flood stage for at least 2 months.

This is the question people should be asking. 

It's been a time bomb in the making from when the Midwest floods started.  They had a chance to slowly diffuse it a couple of months ago while impacting several thousand people in the flood plain.  But since they rolled the dice, they've pushed the potential lives impacted into the millions. 

Hope the storm speeds up and the levees hold. 

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Asithappens

Asithappens 974

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13 minutes ago, jdhorn92 said:

Id let them out , 100%, perhaps less a modest cancel fee ($100 say, for your time).  Its not worth the negative reviews.  if there wasn't a storm, i think it would be a different.  Treat others better than you expect to be treated is a great customer service ethos, imo. it will come back to you 10X.  they liked your place enough to book it, they will be back.

This.

The hospitality industry requires one to smile while getting kicked in the nuts. 

 

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Blotto

Blotto 23490

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15 minutes ago, jdhorn92 said:

Id let them out , 100%, perhaps less a modest cancel fee ($100 say, for your time).  Its not worth the negative reviews.  if there wasn't a storm, i think it would be a different.  Treat others better than you expect to be treated is a great customer service ethos, imo. it will come back to you 10X.  they liked your place enough to book it, they will be back.

Every now and then when someone does you a solid, even though they dont 100% have to by the letter of the law, but they show understanding due to unplanned circumstances.....its really a good feeling. It's a good feeling because most people adopt the "fuck you, pay me" approach

Be a decent human being. Unless, of course, you are certain these customers conjured up this hurricane to fuck you out of money. 

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UT_OB1

UT_OB1 2217

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17 minutes ago, Blotto said:

Every now and then when someone does you a solid, even though they dont 100% have to by the letter of the law, but they show understanding due to unplanned circumstances.....its really a good feeling. It's a good feeling because most people adopt the "fuck you, pay me" approach

Be a decent human being. Unless, of course, you are certain these customers conjured up this hurricane to fuck you out of money. 

They never even contacted me to discuss.  They contacted AirBnB and told them part of the story - they were in New Orleans (not true at the time) and that there were travel restrictions making it unsafe for them.  

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clapclapclap

clapclapclap 9000

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1 hour ago, gmr548 said:


The strength of the storm isn't the issue. The flooding is. Not unlike Harvey for Houston. It Is a slow moving storm projected to drop a lot of rain. The Mississippi is only few feet from topping levees now, before a major rain event. Forecasts have consistently shown enough rain to cause the river to spill over the levees. Not to mention, as the storm moves north, the rain will continue to drain into the Mississippi, prolonging the issue long after it's left the area.

They can't say exactly where but portions of southern of Louisiana are likely going to face disastrous flooding. They should absolutely be warning people in the area and preparing a respobse.
 

Well, technically the strength and path of the storm are the issues, because the storm surge is what would cause the Miss. River to overtop the levees.  Note the fast spike and then fall on the predicted river level.

Much of the levees are above 20', but some may be as low as 18'.  The city is actually a series of bowls with internal levees crisscrossing it.  So it's possible if one section is overtopped that it might be contained to only that bowl.  Maybe.

So unclear if Houston will have to reopen the Astrodome and prepare sandwiches for evacuees to throw in the trash.

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Wally Fairway

Wally Fairway 5541

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1 minute ago, mchookem said:

well shit. we'll be westbound through NOLA about 2pm tomorrow (headed home from FL)... ...should we seek an alternate route?? when's this thing making landfall?

so this was my problem in trying to figure this shit out when I lived in Houston; how far out of the way do I need to drive to get away from the rain & wind? 
now I never evacuated, but then again when I lived there only 1 hurricane came through - but since you don't know which way the storm will go, once it's on land - can I go to San Antonio, Dallas, note - never go east into LA, or do  I have to go further say Kansas (because I wouldn't go to Okie except to drive through)

so are you willing to go through GA, TN, Arky and maybe into Okie to avoid getting wet/stuck? If so maybe you should just stay where you are and give it a day or two to run its course.

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jdhorn92

jdhorn92 1545

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1 hour ago, UT_OB1 said:

They never even contacted me to discuss.  They contacted AirBnB and told them part of the story - they were in New Orleans (not true at the time) and that there were travel restrictions making it unsafe for them.  

They took the low road, you should take the high road.  I think some people are conditioned to tell a white lie to position themselves to look better.  In this case, if it was me, i would have called you or emailed you directly and explained the situation.  You're in a tough spot , I get it.  Wish you the best, its a tough deal.

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SHOOTER12

SHOOTER12 8800

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11 minutes ago, Wally Fairway said:

so this was my problem in trying to figure this shit out when I lived in Houston; how far out of the way do I need to drive to get away from the rain & wind? 
now I never evacuated, but then again when I lived there only 1 hurricane came through - but since you don't know which way the storm will go, once it's on land - can I go to San Antonio, Dallas, note - never go east into LA, or do  I have to go further say Kansas (because I wouldn't go to Okie except to drive through)

so are you willing to go through GA, TN, Arky and maybe into Okie to avoid getting wet/stuck? If so maybe you should just stay where you are and give it a day or two to run its course.

Vegas is always a safe bet.

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BearSchlong

BearSchlong 8083

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2 hours ago, Redneck Mutha said:

This is the question people should be asking. 

It's been a time bomb in the making from when the Midwest floods started.  They had a chance to slowly diffuse it a couple of months ago while impacting several thousand people in the flood plain.  But since they rolled the dice, they've pushed the potential lives impacted into the millions. 

Hope the storm speeds up and the levees hold. 

From a few weeks back - https://weather.com/news/news/2019-06-19-louisiana-disaster-aid-fisheries

 

Makes me wonder if this is why they hesitated to accelerate the flow of fresh water into the estuaries and gulf.

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phdhorn

phdhorn 6224

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2 hours ago, mchookem said:

well shit. we'll be westbound through NOLA about 2pm tomorrow (headed home from FL)... ...should we seek an alternate route?? when's this thing making landfall?

Maybe.  Just don't go I-10 thru NOLA, no reason to anyway.  Stay on I-12.  As for the rest of the route, the interstates are usually built up on a roadbed some 5-6 feet over the lower elevations, and it's about 15 miles inland, so chances are decent you can get through.  But yeah, it's a gamble.  You can go I-20 to be sure and only lose about an hour, might be worth it.

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jdhorn92

jdhorn92 1545

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1 hour ago, pearlandhorn said:

It's a shithole before this hurricane.  It will be a shithole after it.

Totally.  I just helped a former Horn FB player get a job there.  Won't mention any names, but he had some ties to the area that precipitated the move.  I just hope he goes to the Northshore for housing.

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Bullneck

Bullneck 19073

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It's not like New Orleans hasn't been warned.  The ULI put together what became known as the "Green Dot Plan" after Katrina, basically abandoning low-lying areas and letting them be reclaimed by nature (9th Ward in particular).  Politics won out.

greendot082410jpg-0b978888fe0c3d8f.jpg

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Trey3216

Trey3216 15345

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Good Lord, these idiot D squad reporters for the Weather Channel are killing me.  Trying to pack 71 adjectives into a sentence and continually getting tongue twisted.   

Talking about “because of how deep the water in the Mississippi right now with the Midwest flooding”.   Breh, we know the river is deep, but right now the river is referred to as high, not deep. 

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