Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Tuesday August 29 2017, @07:48AM   Printer-friendly
from the water-water-everywhere dept.

Houston and Hurricane Harvey - Overview and On-Line Resources

Houston, Texas (the 4th most populous city in the USA) is located in Harris County (the 3rd most populous in the country) and has been under the onslaught of Hurricane Harvey which was later downgraded to a tropical storm. Current rain totals over the course of the storm have exceeded 40 inches in some locations — additional rain of up to 10 more inches is predicted. Flooding is rampant and the damage to property is immense. So far, 5 people have been reported dead as a result of the storm. Gathered here are a number of on-line resources followed by a story questioning why mandatory evacuations were not called for earlier. The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) reports the failure of a large number of cell towers, cable and phone lines.

Online Resources:

Why Wasn't an Official Evacuation Order Issued?

As I type this, a historic weather event is crushing south Texas with enormous amounts of rain and massive flooding leaving thousands of people in need of rescue.

So why wasn't an official evacuation order issued? Last Friday Governor Greg Abbott (R) urged people to evacuate, even if it was not mandatory. Shortly after the governor's press conference, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner (D) sent a tweet advising people not rush to evacuate, saying no evacuation orders have been issued. Mayor Sylvester also addressed what he called "unfounded rumors," releasing a statement that said, "...Rumors are nothing new, but the widespread use of social media has needlessly frightened many people today."

Harris County's emergency management office also tried to debunk via Twitter, what it called "false emails & FB posts" on August 24, suggesting people ignore the messages. The post it shared predicted 50 inches of rain (which experts are now also predicting) and 100,000 homes destroyed (it's not clear how many homes are currently flooded in Houston). All of which prompted people to wonder:

You said this was fake news but yet everything this "false" message said is happening. Two days ago we could've evacuated. https://t.co/ORtTyEodQt

— Pickle Heidy (@cheidyy_) August 27, 2017

To be fair, Mayor Sylvester had a good reason for not issuing an evacuation. In 2005 more than 100 people died during the evacuation of Houston for Hurricane Rita.

Source: Heavy.com

Why Evacuating Major Cities Before a Hurricane can be Deadly

[Ed Addition] The Houston Chronicle has an excellent piece, Why evacuating major cities before a hurricane can be deadly:

When Hurricane Rita barreled toward Texas in 2005, for example, an exodus of about 3 million people contributed to at least 73 deaths — though some have estimated as many as 107 — before the storm.

"Traffic jams stretched across hundreds of miles over two days, and many people ran out of gas," reporters Jim Malewitz and Brandon Formby wrote in The Texas Tribune. "Dozens died from accidents and heat-related illnesses, all before Rita even made landfall."

Had Harris County issued an evacuation order even several days in advance, a similar backup may have ensued — and it could have happened on roads that quickly got flooded with several feet of fast-moving water.

See the story for amazing pictures comparing dry and flooded highways.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by Spamalope on Tuesday August 29 2017, @09:54PM (3 children)

    by Spamalope (5233) on Tuesday August 29 2017, @09:54PM (#561178) Homepage

    Politically connected developers create extensive paved areas upstream of your home without corresponding flood control except on paper. Yep, that's the resident's fault alright.

    Realtors block expansion of Clear Creek's drainage because it would be unsightly and hurt property value (or, it appears to happen - might have been a planned in advance 'savings'). The development based on the new drainage was already built naturally. Smaller version of the corruption that's lead to NOLA still not having fully working levee pumps. (Nagan diverted all the levee cash, but NOLA flooding was the presidents fault in the news. WTF? The president doesn't have anything to do with this stuff - good or bad - it's state and local)

    This whole area is flat as hell. There are massive retention ponds. A normal cat 4 hurricane causes mostly wind damage, not inland flooding.

    Why build and live here? Galveston bay + buffalo bayou make one of the best deep water ports in the world. The flat territory is perfect for heavy freight trains. The area is a oil and natural gas producing place. Add the intercoastal waterway and this spot is in the top 10 best shipping locals. The chemical industry here is enormous because the raw material and bulk shipping is here. Lots of satellite industries are here either as support, or because shipping is cheaper from here.

    Otherwise - it's a big nope. Miserably hot and humid. Though Clear Lake on the edge of the bay is one of the biggest pleasure ports in the world. (at least by # of private boats big enough to need a marina)

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday August 30 2017, @12:22AM (1 child)

    by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday August 30 2017, @12:22AM (#561239)

    > NOLA flooding was the presidents fault in the news. WTF? The president doesn't have anything to do with this stuff

    TWO DAYS before Katrina made landfall, I was watching the news in Chicago, and they said that if the eye hits at the wrong place (West) as a Cat 3 or 4, NOLA's gonna flood, especially the lower neighborhoods.

    The asshole in the White House and his useless FEMA director fucked up the sluggish Federal response to the hurricane, then claimed out loud that nobody predicted what would happen.
    Sure it's primarily local, but the Feds always help for major disasters (like the current one). They just dropped the ball, which is a shame in itself. But they dared claim out loud and repeatedly that we had collective hallucinations of meteorologists predicting what happened, which is ... Trumpish level or denial of reality.

    Do we have directors for NOAA and FEMA, yet?

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday August 30 2017, @11:14AM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday August 30 2017, @11:14AM (#561429) Journal

      The asshole in the White House and his useless FEMA director fucked up the sluggish Federal response to the hurricane, then claimed out loud that nobody predicted what would happen.

      They certainly couldn't have predicted the even more sluggish state and local response to Hurricane Katrina. And much of the sluggish Federal response was due to a poorly thought out years-long reorganization where no one was in charge at the Federal level at the time. Object lesson for that sort of thing, that if you're going to shuffle around emergency services, you need to have a plan as to what happens when those services are needed during the course of the transition.

  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday August 30 2017, @10:45AM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday August 30 2017, @10:45AM (#561423) Journal

    A normal cat 4 hurricane causes mostly wind damage, not inland flooding.

    A normal cat 4 hurricane moving at 3 MPH routinely causes a ridiculous amount of inland flooding. And some degree of inland flooding is expected from any hurricane that goes inland.