08:21 – It was 57.3F (14C) when I took Colin out at 0700, partly cloudy. He went wandering off down the road, ignoring my calls as usual. I finally had to walk down to the field behind the convenience store, where he was sniffing around, and tell him he was a B-A-D dog. As soon as he knew I was serious, he immediately trotted back up to the front porch and waited to be let in. Barbara and I both chastised him for ignoring me.
More work on science kits. Obviously, it’s good that people are ordering a lot of them, but it’s still depressing to work our butts off to build a stack of finished goods inventory and then watch that stack dwindle rapidly.
The mess in coastal Texas continues, with more rain expected. They were calling it a 500-year rain, but I see they’re now calling it a 1000-year rain. I’ve heard from all of my regular readers, either in comments here or in email, and all of them are safe. A couple of them have vehicles flooded and/or some water in their homes, but no personal injuries so far.
This whole event is an emergency manager’s nightmare. A population of 6+ million people crammed into a relatively small area, inadequate road capacity to evacuate even a small percentage of them, and nowhere for evacuees to go even if they could evacuate.
There’s a lesson to be learned here: with regards to muslim terrorism, people keep saying to stay away from crowds. That’s good advice, as far as it goes, but the thing is that huge metro areas are in effect permanent crowds. The corollary, then, is “don’t live in a huge metro area, or anywhere near one.”
“don’t live in a huge metro area, or anywhere near one.”
Working on that. Will be looking at rural homes when we visit our son in OK next weekend. My favorite has pond, well, and 3.5 acres. It’s also all steel construction. The interior looks in the photos to have been decorated by a color blind idiot but nothing some paint can’t fix. We will see.
That’s been pissing me off for the past couple days, the Houston mayor being blamed for not evacuating before the rains came. As nick and lynn (and ech?) said repeatedly, nowhere to put them. As RBT said, and some would die in the evacuation attempt. All of which is obvious to anyone with a map and the least mathematical and logical ability.
None of that matters to the innumerate screechers. “He should have given the order!” “Typical Democratic politician.” “Typical coon in a man’s job.” “Just make it work!” Now, I’m not saying all of the complainers should be drowned…
I am.
I just saw a post from a more liberal friend wherein she recognizes that Houston couldn’t be evacuated safely in a timely manner. Of course, it was an NPR article that triggered the post.
Wonders never cease.
Has there ever been a successful evacuation?
Has there ever been a successful evacuation?
Why just last night I evacuated my colon quite successfully.
… and produced a full-grown Antifa demonstrator!
“Has there ever been a successful evacuation?”
Every day, but only small-scale like for chemical spills and so on. In terms of evacuating major population centers, Katrina and Sandy are about the best we can expect. But people don’t want to hear unpleasant facts, and telling them that where they chose to live puts them at severe risk in a widespread emergency is one of those unpleasant facts.
And blame the messenger when they hear them.
To hell with them. Their death, injury, or impoverishment all fall under the heading of Not My Problem.
“Has there ever been a successful evacuation?”
Normalcy bias argues against it. Too many people will imagine that “It cant be that bad. It’s never been over our doorstep before. We can just stay put and ride it out” then in a few hours they will be on their rooftops screaming for help from overtaxed rescue personel. We see this in wildfires too but not so much because fire is more scary.
The late Paul Fussell used to mention Orwell’s “power of facing unpleasant facts.” Too many people just won’t. And that includes most of them who identify as liberal or Left.
Bright overcast today so fah; 66 and supposedly gonna be mostly sunny; chance of showers on Thursday but otherwise sun all week.
I have to head back to the college later for an interview with a couple of professors in the program. These things don’t make me nervous anymore; I just show up and tell the truth and be myself and if that’s good enough, groovy. If not, also groovy.
I see in today’s Woodpile Report that SJW’s are calling for veterans to be banned from attending colleges and university because they’re nasty right-wing people and intimidate the snowflakes just by being there. They’re not calling for a complete ban, though. They think veterans should be allowed to attend trade schools and community colleges.
Yeah, picture a combat vet nearly six and a half feet tall and well over 200 pounds who is also an ex-cop and a Patron Life Member of the NRA. How disturbing is that?
When we introduced ourselves, I was straight up about the vet and cop status at least, and if anything the others seemed to be impressed. Looks like a bunch of Normals to me so fah. But I don’t think my persona would fly at Yale or ZooMass very well these days.
Maybe later in the semester I’ll do OCW and see if anyone trembles or squawks.
They think veterans should be allowed to attend trade schools and community colleges.
This is where many go when they want to learn how to do real work and make a difference. It is also affordable.
“This is where many go when they want to learn how to do real work and make a difference. It is also affordable.”
That’s the truth.
I see in today’s Woodpile Report that SJW’s are calling for veterans to be banned from attending colleges and university because they’re nasty right-wing people and intimidate the snowflakes just by being there.
Geesh, isn’t watering down the standards for snowflakes sufficient?
In my Computer Science program in the Northwest, even if we registered for the same course number, the grading standards were vastly different for me and the other males than they were for the undergraduate single mother of six who the department wanted to graduate”with honors”.
The last time I checked, post-graduation, the girl was on her third job in as many years. Diversity in the tech workforce is important, however, as I was told many times by the faculty.
Diversity is our vibrancy!
Hey, have a laff today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYVqmBaqgPU&feature=youtu.be
Law-abiding criminals.
Good morning.
My name is Director Mustafa of the Centeral Banc and I have a preposition for you. Pleased to be helping me [smuggle money out of the country] by sending me a wire transfer for a small handling fee and I will share this unexpected inheritable with you.
——————————————————-
… since this apparently still works, I’d judge that there is no shortage of idiots in the world.
I wrote and posted several long comments at Gateway Pundit addressing their “this nigga is a murderer and should be killed for not evacuating” thread. Disqus either ate the comments or they got deleted for being too sensible and contrary to the groupthink.
Yesterday’s incomplete scanner intel of the boat that flipped was [hopefully] today’s news that 11 people were rescued after their boat flipped. The AO matches. Good news.
WRT our dam release… we are having uncontrolled release. Level hit 108 and started moving around the end of the dike. Eventual high level to hit 112. Spox (spokesperson- hate the neologism but it is shorter) says they’ve never modeled this because, well, it could never happen so why bother? Army Corps of Eng spox was a mealy mouthed weasel who read a prepared statement almost designed to obfuscate. “we expect that a spillway mode will be entered…” The predicted uncontrolled outflow will meet or exceed the current max output of the gates. Had to parse a couple of paragraphs to get that. Also the overflow will continue until Sept 20. so far they’ve doubled the output into the bayou by opening the gates, and the overflow will double it again. No one knows but it looks like the area around the kids school will flood even more than it currently is. Also, spox sees it as a feature that some of the water will pass under the Beltway, and end up in a different bayou, possibly by passing thru MY neighborhood. (My neighborhood is almost exactly between 2 watersheds, or in other words, on some of the highest ground around.)
n
Been in the house long enough that I’m beginning to consider helping. Our immediate circle is OK, starting to broaden focus. It’s against my basic nature not to help if I can, and this is currently a regional disaster. For me that means the I’ll be able to resupply in the future, and can afford to spend some resources.
n
“Been in the house long enough that I’m beginning to consider helping.”
Good for you. That’ll also earn you some karma with your neighbors, and they may listen to you more carefully after the fact when you raise the topic of being better prepared for the next one.
I’d consider this less than regional. To me “regional” means the Southeast, the Midwest, New England, or whatever. But whatever your definition, it’s clear that it’s relatively short-term, so you wouldn’t be harming your own chances by helping out with some food, running some pure water to pass out, lending out some of your eBay camp stoves, etc. etc.
Re:evacuation. Old tech might work. Houston has a dozen or so railroad lines leading out. A number appear to be double tracks. Assume 20 usable lines. Then each needs to handles 6M / 20, or 300,000. Assume two days. Each line has to handle 150k a day. Seems doable, though I’m no RR freak…uh….expert. Getting enough cars might be an issue. I think Houstons light rail is electrified, I don’t know if they can be pressed into service as standard rolling stock.
And of course *organizing* it all would be a tremendously difficult effort.
“My neighborhood is almost exactly between 2 watersheds, or in other words, on some of the highest ground around.”
You could end up being on an island; which is what happened to my mom and her family during the 1938 hurricane in Fairhaven, MA. They got rescued via rowboat but it turned out they woulda been OK, just barely. And last time I drove by there, several years ago, the local ‘hood pop had at least doubled and was all “built out,” including what had a been a meadow and some woods across the street from their house. Another such hurricane would be even more devastating, despite the hurricane “barrier” the city of New Bedford (where I was born) constructed out in the hahbuh. They also cut off the historic district from the rest of the city with Route 6 expansion and re-direction, so the walks I used to take with my grandfather (World War I vet) when I was a little kid there, down to the whaling museum and waterfront, and his Masonic hall, etc., would now be impossible.
“And of course *organizing* it all would be a tremendously difficult effort.”
They’d have to have the plan for it and rolling stock staged LONG before an actual such disaster. And then there’s still the problem of where to send them.
@Mr. Nick; I agree with RBT’s assessment; just be aware of your own OPSEC and be careful yourself.
And then there’s still the problem of where to send them.
Wouldn’t most go back to Mexico? 😉
We were in process of moving to the office when we got islanded in our house. We have 2 ft of water in front of house and 3 ft at the corners. We are good, no flood water in house ! My wife was up every hour last night checking the water level in front of the house.
Our pumps are running 24×7 in Greatwood. No homes are flooded, just boat only in streets. The water in the street has gone down six inches since the morning.
We have electricity and water. We are blessed.
We have organized with neighbors for food and water. We personally have 120 cases of water and 12 person months of food. And two propane stoves. Two families with 2 story homes next to us have offered to let us stay in their upstairs if we got flooded.
The National Administrator has reputedly mobilized the 45,000 men of the 1st Cavalary division ? out of Fort Hood, 200 miles northwest of here. They will be bringing down their heavy equipment to help clean the streets of the Houston metroplex when the waters have receded.
We reputedly have 300,000 flooded homes in the metroplex. No telling how many cars are in the streets, maybe 100,000. Who knows ?
The Brazos river peak estimate has been lowered from 59 ft to 57.5 ft. And the crest has been moved back to Thursday. Our levee in Greatwood can reputedly handle a 60 ft crest. Except the levee just disclosed that the back entrance can only handle 57.5 ft of water. We use the back entrance to get to our office property. Whew …
http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=HGX&gage=RMOT2
Yep, gonna take it nice and slow.
BTW, starting to see some of the vaunted ham radio response. There was no traffic I could copy until today. Finally heard a red cross shelter report, and heard the freq for county OEM. No traffic there though. Our big repeater is still doing ‘normal’ programming, ie IRLP linked nets, and link to the winsystem.
The thing with helping, water is still fine. Power is on. In areas, stores and even some restaurants are still open. It’s a heavy rain event for houston. Flooding is cutting people off from one another, and wiping out areas, but the rest is still functioning.
6.5 M people affected and the areas in TX and LA, I still don’t see how you could not think of that as a ‘region’.
n
n
Given that hurricane preparedness is relatively normal in that area, and given that Nick is an eBay seller and could make a point of letting people know that campstoves, etc. were from his eBay stock, the risk to OPSEC is very minimal.
“I still don’t see how you could not think of that as a ‘region’.”
Region to me would be something like all or most of several states–say, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and maybe southern Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, etc.–directly affected. The normal classifications are something like “local”, “statewide”, “regional”, etc. This sounds to me like something between “local” and “statewide”.
With 10% of the nation’s population, Texas is a region unto itself. We could easily secede from the USA and maintain our economy. In fact, Texas subdivides into five regions.
With 10% of the nation’s population, Texas is a region unto itself. We could easily secede from the USA and maintain our economy. In fact, Texas subdivides into five regions.
Did Texas really reserve the right to split into five separate states under the agreement to join the United States?
I heard that from a successionist type when we first moved to Austin, but I’ve never done any research. It seems like the closer you get the Fredericksburg, the crazier the succession theories.
Given that hurricane preparedness is relatively normal in that area
No, it is not. My immediate neighbors have 2 person months of canned food. No stored water. No cooking other than electric in the kitchen.
The neighbors on the other side of them have 3 or 4 days of food. And no water. And we live in a upper middle class neighborhood.
With 10% of the nation’s population, Texas is a region unto itself. We could easily secede from the USA and maintain our economy. In fact, Texas subdivides into five regions.
Did Texas really reserve the right to split into five separate states under the agreement to join the United States?
I heard that from a successionist type when we first moved to Austin, but I’ve never done any research. It seems like the closer you get the Fredericksburg, the crazier the succession theories.
No. The carpetbaggers after the civil war forced a new state constitution on Texas and removed that option.
Here is my front yard and driveway flooding (5 MB):
https://www.winsim.com/harvey_starlite_flood.jpg
Re:evacuation. #2.
The other advantage Houston has, that probably no place else in the US has, is the Houston Ship Channel.
Assuming 100 of the roughly 150 cruise ships can be shanghied by the government, then overpacking the by 5x should allow you to move approximately 2M in a day or so from there.
If you do a ‘Meredith Victory’ type of operation, tankers, container ships, general bulk carriers, tugs pulling barges – you could probably move the rest.
But only before or after the storm, no ship handler is going to deliberately sail into a hurricane…
As DaveH said, you have to prepare in advance, Dunkirk was an abnormality.
Here is my front yard and driveway flooding (5 MB):
Looks like the hipster areas of Tampa after just a thunderstorm.
A major storm tracking up the mouth of Tampa Bay making landfall near Tampa Airport would be ugly. Beyond the gentrified neighborhoods north of MacDill, over the last 20 years, a whole bunch of new housing northwest of the airport was built on fill to bring the swamp land up to the minimum above sea level for residential construction.
Lack of big storms for decades has resulted in a whole lot of stupid creeping into the zoning process in Hillsborough (Tampa) and Pinellas (St. Petersburg) counties.
Have any of you guys in the Houston area seen one of the floating fire ant piles? That’s a nightmare come true. Imagine one of those floating right up to your driveway.
You’d need a can or two of RAID! or else a Molotov Cocktail.
You’d need a can or two of RAID! or else a Molotov Cocktail.
Finally! A reason to own a personal flamethrower. Woo hoo!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PKA0TzBapY
“personal flamethrower”
They actually sell those at Home Depot. You just have to make sure to get one of the ones with a metal nozzle/sprayer.
Have any of you guys in the Houston area seen one of the floating fire ant piles? That’s a nightmare come true. Imagine one of those floating right up to your driveway.
My neighbor and his son kayaked three blocks away and back. They ran into a floating fire ant bed on the way. They played with it for a while and broke it up.
I’ll say it again, being as close to a subject matter expert as you are likely to find, outside of someone employed in the field, there is no practical way to evac houston and the surrounding area.
Yes, you can use ships, but people would have to get to them and get aboard them, they’d have to have been provisioned (and how long would that take and where would it come from), where do you put the 2 million private vehicles the people arrived in, who’s paying for (or seizing) the vessels? They are completely ruined for their intended purpose for a long time after such use. The cruise terminal area is a vast post industrial wasteland.
Yes there is some possibility of rail, (I’m going out along rail lines if it comes to that) but the rail companies pull all their rolling stock out of the way of the hurricane. NO F’ING way are you going to load people onto BOXCARS, and light rail is apparently not compatible with the freight lines. And again, where do you load them, how do they get there?
Evac by highway has been tried. They’ve tuned it up since then, installing ‘contra-flow’ lanes, etc. We know how it turned out last time. and BTW, the contra flow starts 45 minutes from the edge of Houston on a normal day- iow, it’s of very limited use. Highway engineers go to really extreme lengths to keep people from ending up on the wrong side and to keep them separate.
There is no practical way to do mass evac.
But the number one reason is– People won’t go. They have animals, they don’t have transport, they believe it’s all a plot to F them somehow, they’re worried about looters, they don’t want to end up locked in a room with unknown strangers, they simply don’t believe in the severity of the problem, or like many on the boards, they have vowed they won’t leave without being carried.
The take away is– if you think you might want to leave, GTFO RIGHT NOW. As soon as your pre-determined trigger hits, GO. Don’t wait for orders or permission. GO. and take what you need with you.
n
Of course, it’d be a lot safer just to buy a couple of anteaters.
I wonder how anteaters would do against a colony of fire ants. Someone must know.
I meant safer for the person, not necessarily for the anteater(s). It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it.
Then I turned on The Weather Channel to see what was new, if anything. They were interviewing some judge of some court. I had to turn it off; the stupidity was overwhelming…worse than listening to Kankles.
He was far to stupid to realize the absolute nonsensity (new word) of the drivel that he was given to read: “…..800 hundred year flood…..”.
Incredible, where did that data come from? A statistically significant sample size of 100 floods would require how many years? 80,000?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sample_size_determination
Who would appoint such to a judgeship? Someone who would select AlGore as a vice presidential candidate? Mr. Cankles?
Oh well, 77degF, 29.75inHg here; time for a PBR.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100-year_flood
Sure. They have money in the bank and the stores will always have food, so why bother stocking up? And stored food attracts bugs and mice. Fresh is better, anyway, and besides, we can always go out to eat if we don’t have anything in the house that we want to eat.
You might have them beat, too. Most government-employed or government contractor experts aren’t, especially. In most cases, the only advantage they have over interested “amateurs” is inside information.
I’ve been trained, a bit, in evacuations of civilian populations. This was in context of getting people out of the way of military conflict. I have no experience doing it, but I easily grasped the training (no doubt the engineering training and the habit of thinking quantitatively, which few of my classmates had) and I’ve seen the results of cities of a few tens of thousands trying and failing to get outa Dodge.
Ed, I’m almost certain your idea of cycling 100 cruise ships through the port and having them take on 20,000 passengers each would not work. Nick mentioned several issues, but even without those the idea of getting that many ships in through swelling seas, and getting that many people onto each, and then getting the ships out through worse seas without clonking into anything else beggars the imagination. Merely the issue of moving that many cattle — I mean, untrained civilians, half of them convinced that they’re special and the “one suitcase and no pets” rules don’t apply to them — onto the ships is probably a show stopper.
Trains is a possibility, if they were rolling in advance. Contra Nick’s dismissal, people can be loaded into boxcars. There’s still the issue of where to take them, but I’d think FEMA camps can be set up somewhere along the line, away from the storm path. The transportees can be kept busy and can help pay back the expense of moving them. I don’t know what kind of piecework could be arranged, but there has to be something. To inspire the residents, FEMA could even put “Work will make you free” over the gates.
We have a huge ball of fire in the sky ! What is this evil day star ?
The transportees can be kept busy and can help pay back the expense of moving them
Give them lots of rope and they can pull the loaded rail cars. No need for an expensive locomotive. For some a flat car would serve just as well.
Trains is a possibility, if they were rolling in advance. Contra Nick’s dismissal, people can be loaded into boxcars. There’s still the issue of where to take them, but I’d think FEMA camps can be set up somewhere along the line, away from the storm path.
Sure, fire up the FEMA camp conspiracy theorists.
Maybe the train could take the refugees to the WalMart stores closed for “plumbing issues”. You know, the surface nodes on the FEMA tunnel system.
For some a flat car would serve just as well.
This is a necessity for the wallyhogs. You’ll also need a crane to lift their fat asses onto the flat car.
I saw some live TV of folk who were pleased to climb onto a flat-bed wrecker (tow truck) to get out of the water.
An especially great drone video of our flooded neighborhood (for MrAtoZ):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=XdZNnMVyFo8
The streets are designed to be our last defense against flooding the homes. The homes are all 4 to 6 ft above the streets. The video shows one of our two pumping stations with the two 5,000 gpm pumps.
Only 110F showing on the patio(shaded). Phone says 108F.
Tomorrow 111F.
Dat’s a lotta wotta down there! Damn.
Being a Gloomy Gus, I don’t see any options for evac of places like that which will work. So it stands a chance of becoming like Bangladesh, basically, or any other huge-ass metro area with millions of people sitting on top of wetlands and floating earth and near open seas. Any huge storm like this in a giant city like that will wreak havoc for decades to come, with multiple consequences on all levels, as Kunstler outlined. The oil and gas industries, banking, finance, etc., and maybe resulting in higher fuel costs on the East Coast this winter.
I gotta call our guy tomorrow and order another couple of cords of firewood. We have maybe two cords already; also gotta top off the oil tank and keep it topped off through the cold weather season. And I gotta sit down there in the cellar on the next rainy day and assemble more shelving and get more food and wotta stocked up.
This will be somehow in addition to getting the other four ground-floor windows replaced and I’m lobbying for new stairs and railing off the back porch for obvious reasons. We need to replace the front steps, too. But 95% of foot traffic going in and out is in the rear. Which reminds me that I gotta do the security chit on that door. So many projects have fallen by the wayside this past year. And the damn Saab needs to get fixed. Plus TAXES.
Have another laff:
http://takimag.com/article/the_week_that_perished_august_27_2017_takimag/print#axzz4rBggfzCT
The Day Star is out today. With big fluffy clouds providing shade.
It’s 87F but it must be that “dry heat” I hear about. Pretty nice out. The A/C has run twice today. Now 3 times.
Summer’s back is broken. This is normal for this time of the year. It’s going to get cold (like run the heat at night) by mid October.
To inspire the residents, FEMA could even put “Work will make you free” over the gates.
Make the signs tri-lingual. No, make that quad-lingual. English and Spanish of course. This is Texas.
Plus German simply to watch heads explode.
Add that illegible stuff that gets spray painted all over the place. I suppose that stuff says something.
“Add that illegible stuff that gets spray painted all over the place. I suppose that stuff says something.”
Legible stuff seen on a bridge going outta town this afternoon: MEAN PEOPLE SUCK. Below that: NICE PEOPLE SWALLOW.
Damn kids.
And in class last night, I sat in the position nearest the door, of course, where I saw the usual emergency procedures sign above the fire extinguisher. Above that was a sign for Active Shooter procedures: RUN. HIDE. FIGHT.
OFD is gonna hunt down that fummamucker and double-tap his ass, face and haht. Since I can’t fucking run now or fit under one of those toddler desks in there.
http://eaglerising.com/46784/feminist-pushes-to-eliminate-fathers-day-wants-special-persons-day-instead/
Like anybody ever gives a shit about Fathers Day anyway. And I note she doesn’t wanna replace Mothers Day, which is like unto Utter Holiness and Sanctity in this country. Forget it at your peril, boyz.
WAY too many derps here have WAY too much fucking time on their hands.
I do sympathize with many down there in Houston but sure as hell not all. This storm was coming and there were plenty of warnings. Why should anyone not have a weeks worth of water and food? No, coming home yesterday and listening to NPR (well they still have news at noon, just filter the bs out) and they talk about a building where a bedsheet is hung out with ‘HELP’ on it. They then talk to a woman (most likely a minority from the sound of her voice) on the phone and she says they haven’t had any thing to eat or drink. Mmmmm too bad me thinks. What did you do ahead. They didn’t bother to ask that.
Also stories about Anheuser Busch stopping beer and canning water. Well, shy not that a week ahead. All those great government planners should have warehouses full before this even hit.
Let’s hope the casualties are low. Let’s hope some people learn.
There’s a huge difference between New Orleans and Houston. Naw’lins floods and they jerry rig it enough to get by. Houston fixes it.
I went to the World Fair in 1984. We were about 10 miles north of the fair. The motel was not what I expected for the price but it was clean. So…. a car broke down on the highway. Four lanes each way. They parked on the shoulder of the leftmost lane. I saw them walking away. We went to the fair and when we got back to the motel that evening, the car was still there. Parts of it. The wheels were gone. The trunk lid and hood and the doors were gone. Along with the seats. Someone did provide cinder blocks for the car to sit on. The remains were there three days later.
New Orleans is an interesting place. Lots of history. It, to me, has a bad vibe. I know folks that love the place. They think I’m nuts. Perhaps….
It went from tropical depression to hurricane in a day and a half. That does not excuse not having several days of food and water stashed in the kitchen. Esp. if you have a cell phone and cable TV.
I’ve always had some food stashed…. I suppose it’s from when I first got out on my own and well…. you get a job but they don’t pay you until 3 weeks later. Pretty crazy stuff to be getting excited finding a quarter in the parking lot because that means you have enough to buy a can of tuna to go with that last box of mac ‘n’ cheese.
“An especially great drone video of our flooded neighborhood (for MrAtoZ):”
Lynn: very good news that you are riding it out and getting by without too much pain. I (we) have all been very worried about you guys down there.
My brother lives in Houston Heights – have not been able to get in contact with him yet.
We were in a bad flood in 1997 up in N. Dakota. Only good part was that Joan Kroc flew in and gave every family $2K. She tried to do it anomalously but the media ratted her out. To this day, I am a fan of Mc Donalds.
Wikipedia Joan Kroc: “She is affectionately known by the citizens of Grand Forks, North Dakota, and East Grand Forks, Minnesota, as the “Angel” because of her anonymous $15 million donation to assist the cities after a devastating flood occurred there in 1997. She was revealed as the source of the funds after reporters tracked down ownership of the jet that she used to fly into the area to survey the damage.[19]”
Stay dry and stay frosty. And 3 cheers for Mattress Mack!
Nah, wallyhogs are fine in floods. They float like corks.
Yah, maybe. I have my doubts. As the saying goes, he’s predicted seven of the last zero collapses.
Recall that when New Orleans was “obliterated” by Katrina and the refineries and oil transfer yards were trashed and gas prices went up to $4.50 and that was going to be the new price forever because it would be a decade or more before refining capacity was built back up. How’d that prediction work out?
Yah, that’s why I suggested putting it there. The day when I can’t make a head explode is a day when I wasn’t even trying.
Following that cow’s suggestion, I suggested renaming Mother’s Day to Breedermoo Day. I got some appreciation for the new name but no real support.
Yep, been there. I was really poor as a kid and young adult, before there were soup kitchens and other food handouts in most cities.
No. The carpetbaggers after the civil war forced a new state constitution on Texas and removed that option.
That may not block the split. The split was authorized in the resolution that brought Texas into the union. The breakaway to the Confederacy doesn’t block it, as a Supreme Court case ruled that the state may have joined the Confederacy, but it never left the United States. The major question is whether the resolution bringing us in is pre-authorization by Congress. If so, all it would take to split is a bill passed by the legislature.
“https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100-year_flood”
YUUUP! Total fraud. That link says 100 year flood is a 1% probability in any year. OK, 800 year flood is 0.125% probability?
YUUUP! Total fraud! How do they calculate those probabilities?
“New Orleans is an interesting place. Lots of history. It, to me, has a bad vibe.
Mrs. OFD has been there several times for gigs over the years and has said the exact same thing.
“Melania Flaunts High Heels To Visit Tropical Storm Harvey”
http://dailycaller.com/2017/08/29/melania-flaunts-high-heels-to-visit-tropical-storm-harvey/
First, they complain that Trumps kid is underdressed for flying on AF1. Now they complain about his wife being overdressed for flying on AF1. What a bunch of whiny junior high girls !
The hottest FLOTUS evah!
I was born in Denver but my dad moved us down to Na Leans to support his job in the Space race in the early 60s. It was a great place to grow up! Lots of good memories. We lived in Slidell and I can remember going to spend the night at a little town, across the line, in Mississippi, to be taken care of when my parents were out for the weekend. We were the only white kids in town and always had a great time – just saying – good memories.
After the moon landing, we moved back to Colorado so I can’t say much about the area after about 1970, other than that one of my brother’s lived on the french quarter during most of the 1990’s – always an interesting place to visit.
An especially great drone video of our flooded neighborhood (for MrAtoZ):
Nice video of the bad flood. Even a cheapo drone can get good footage. The might come in useful for ya’ll in the future to recon efil routes.
Pretty crazy stuff to be getting excited finding a quarter in the parking lot because that means you have enough to buy a can of tuna to go with that last box of mac ‘n’ cheese.
I remember those days. In my first apartment, working moving furniture, (absolutely shite work – hauling grand pianos up narrow stairwells) and walking the streets in the evening hoping to find enough soda bottles to pay for something to eat.
“… hauling grand pianos up narrow stairwells…”
There once was a piano-moving company in Boston (early 1970s) that advertised in the Boston Phoenix (“alternative” commie rag) as “Death Wish Piano Movers” with a cartoon of a piano hung precariously above a city street outside a house.
WRT being poor and working one’s ass off; yup. Not as a kid; we got by OK on Dad’s one paycheck, amazingly. No luxuries but three hots and a cot and occasional trips out for ice cream. Being an unemployed bum as an adult and selling off books, having yard sales, scrounging for change to buy gas, yeah. And lots of rice and beans and spaghetti, got on sale and/or with coupons.
More recently other bills have gone unpaid while we covered the Seven-Year-BA-Plan that Princess is on, with summer tours of Europe included and a new $4,000 harp this past year. Our son did not get anywhere near this level of entitlement/support. He worked his ass off, actually, and still does, at 31, with three kids, and I seem to recall a fourth is on the way. Kids and a hugely morbidly obese shrew of a wife.
Might make someone think there’s some kinda anti-male bias in the family. (two or more fathers died very young). And I come from a mostly, vastly, male family background and subsequent life.
Well, they say opposites attract….
Catching up…
WRT New Orleans, yep, shithole, scary if you are at all sensitive to vibe, dark and evil place.
WRT not feeling that sorry… that’s why I’m not out on a boat. To a certain extent, and in this particular case, there is room for some compassionate consideration. Came up fast and hit very hard. On the Other Hand, as I said to the guy in the HEB store, “You’ve had EIGHT YEARS to get ready.”
We got a msg on the neighborhood FB group that a new local shelter was opening up and needed to get stocked. Informal, local shelter. We loaded up. Costco packs of paper towel, TP, paper plates, plastic silverware, baby wipes, clorox wipes, snack pack food (all expired, since it’s unofficial they will prob be able to use it), plastic bags, 6 sets toothbrush and paste and shampoo, cards, dominoes, coloring books and pens, etc. By the time we got there, they were full to the ceiling and turning away donations. We got redirected to another staging area w/ a local charity, and dropped the lot off there.
Figured that since we were out, might as well look around. Our whole neighborhood is fine. Dry even. Stores and fast food open. Walgreens, CVS, HEB, lots of places.
Checked on my buddy’s store, was fine.
Decided to see for ourselves what the dam spillway looked like. It is spilling. Lot of water coming around the end of the dike. Did some rough elevation checking, and I’m concerned but not worried about us flooding as a result, unless there is a dam failure.
Ran into several school families, and the nuclear fire sky god came out and dried up all the rain.
It’s a bit surreal. They are doing high water rescues 2 miles from my house, and we (and our neighbors) are almost entirely unaffected. As a disaster, it’s like a parallel universe. No trees down. Power, water, sewer, cable and internet, all still up. No gennies, no chainsaws. Strange.
There was a personal appeal on our FB group for paper maps to get to an ANG unit. They are having trouble getting around. And I just heard on the scanner from a deputy that his attached ANG unit can’t find anything, so it’s a real problem. No idea how widespread.
It’s not like LA where everyone uses Keymaps and always refers to them. You get a lot of Texas directions like “Go down FM 106 to where the icehouse USED to be, turn right. When you pass the place Jimmy smashed into the big live oak, turn right.” This said in total seriousness to out-of-towners. Highway signage takes some getting used to, and even with familiarity may be inadequate. Lots of roads are under construction. Until google maps, every trip either took directions from my wife or gps. I’m better now, but only thru effort and study.
I’m counting on being able to resupply from my backup location sometime soon.
gotta put some kids to bed, more later.
n
Wanted to add that the cops are worrying about crime starting back up. Normal crime and looting, and armed robbery, boat jacking, etc.
Deputies discussing who will act as LEO for ANG units. Who will cover particularly notorious spots. They said “the rain stopped so we’ll start getting them coming out…”
Should be interesting.
n
Glad to hear y’all are OK down there and high and dry. Hat tip for the compassion effort. Every little bit helps, and also good to know the first site was overwhelmed. Peeps usually try to help each other in this country.
And now maybe the assholes, goblins and gremlins come out to play. I’d fucking blow their asses away on-sight. I’d also take turns with whichever other adult/s keeping watches through the nights ahead. But someone who actually lives in the ‘hood will know it better than me, up here in quiet-as-heck Retroville.
Our 24/7 constable patrol is out saving lives, literally, so we’re on our own for a while.
The police chief laid down the law on looters and others that would take advantage of the situation, but TXNs normally don’t mess. If bubba gets a chance to get a shot off, he’ll take it.
doesn’t stop the stupid, desperate, and damaged from trying, but they rarely get a chance to re-offend.
n
gonna catch up on the tv news
Starting to notice news stories about curfews and ‘opportunistic thugs’. Like this one: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-texas-harvey-20170829-story.html . Just one of many news articles showing up.
Typical … first couple of days are OK, then the derps start up.
Stay well and dry and safe.
I recommend Number Four Buck for shotguns.
And then we have this fummamucker:
https://westernrifleshooters.wordpress.com/2017/08/29/marco-must-have-fresh-prey/
Just what we need.
Yo, Marco; por favor, senor: how many Venezuelans are you takin’ in at your house, hermano?
Yep, the rain stopped and the thugs come out.
n
Brings back shitty memories from street cop work; while it rained and snowed and the north wind blowed, no dirtbags out, or only the bottom-feeder homeless drunks and junkies. Sun and warm air brought ’em all out and we could look forward to more nights of fun, hijnks and jollity throughout. Plus spending the morning in court for arraignments and even more boffo laffs as perps and vics mixed in the hallways with lawyers and media assholes.
Looters were shooting at the “Cajun Navy,” therefore, WRT to said looters and thugs; terminate. Terminate with extreme prejudice.
Um, am I too close to the issue, or was that link on WRSA to the nazi photoshophun ™ the least funny and most inappropriate thing I’ve seen in a long time?
When did WRSA go full retard?
n
And sadly, from the scanner, it seems someone lost a boat with 3 people on board tonight. Swept under a bridge and capsized, no one recovered, 45 plus minutes gone by.
n
You may be too close to the issue; but on the other hand, maybe somebody else has too much time on their hands and is so annoyed at the constant shit of being deliberately associated with Nazis that they did a primitive and kinda dopey photoshop series.
I gotta hit the sack; kinda beat from today and gotta spend half the day tomorrow on the phone and then attempt to mow the back yard. Getting up staircases is getting harder now and twenty minutes on the supermarket floors reduces me, cane and all, to a shuffling old crip about to collapse in a 230-pound heap on that same polished floor. Wife ordered me to call the VA office down in Burlap and make them get me in sooner than my scheduled 9/11 appointment as my chit has gone downhill kinda fast now. I guess I’ll know I’m in real deep chit if my arms start going numb, too.
No one is saying it ahead of time, but the pictures show that evacuees at the George R Brown center are being searched upon entry. Pix show a man with his shirt up,exposing waistline for police, at the entry point. One wonders what you are supposed to do with any weapons before entry…
Whether or not you think this is appropriate, might have some impact on which shelter you go to. OR none at all. Don’t get on the bus.
n
Also I have no idea what an “Inland strike team” might be, but it seems that 2 of them and 2 buses will be attempting to evac a “Rehabilitation Hospital” in Port Arthur to Huntsville. (pretty long trip)
n
Meanwhile the weasel from the Army Corps of Engineers issued a statement that they had to significantly increase the dam outflows without warning, in order to preserve the structural integrity of the dams. Took him 2 or 3 paragraphs to say.
So the dams are suddenly at risk of failure, but don’t worry, we’ve got our TOP MEN(tm) on it, with contracts executed and construction firms and supplies standing by to address any failures.
F me.
n
Meanwhile swift water rescues continue throughout the night, with Cajun Navy and ordinary folks participating.
Door to door rescues also continue. Team entered a house to search for someone that called for a pickup but didn’t find anyone. Higher wanted to be sure, asked about conditions inside. 6ft of water on first floor, lots of floating debris, tables, etc, and the power is still on. Searcher said he’d go back and check again (prob for body in the mix) but it would take a while. Did I mention that the power is still on?…. Higher says- move on, already lost one officer don’t want to lose another. They did search the houses on either side.
n
Current rescue is single vic in tree in the middle of water too swift for the civilian boat. CG Helo overhead, doesn’t want to get their swimmer caught in the trees. HFD trying to launch a swift boat to join the attempt. Despite all the interop planning, they have no direct comms with the Helo and the guys on the ground have to relay thru command, and aren’t even sure whose Helo it is.
NO comms with civilian boat except shouting. The on scene HFD says “yeah we know these guys, we’ve talked to them before”.
unlike tv, no further info regarding resolution on scanner… I’m going to bed.
n
We spent tonight at the neighbors eating fried tilapia (lightly breaded) and salad. The wife made a banana cake with cream cheese icing.
The water on the street in front of my house has dropped from 2 ft deep this morning to 1 ft deep at 3 am. I am hoping that we have no water in the center of the streets in the morning. I am also hoping that the spot around the corner that was 3 ft deep is less than a foot deep in the morning. I can drive my truck through a foot deep (but I dont want to). That 3 ft deep spot has several cars flooded out in it.
BTW, our pumps are effectively removing water from 1,500 acres at the moment. A 3/4 inch per hour level drop is not bad.
Hey OFD, Harvey is coming for you !
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT09/refresh/AL092017_5day_cone_no_line_and_wind+png/092407_5day_cone_no_line_and_wind.png
Good riddance ! Harvey, you were a bad guest ! You pissed in the pool and pooped on the deck.
https://spacecityweather.com/goodbye-harvey-and-good-riddance/
“Hey OFD, Harvey is coming for you !”
By the time it gets up here it will be a slow drizzle for an afternoon.
A kid at the store yesterday said “Enjoy the last few days of summer” and I told him there’s over three weeks of summer left but we could still see snow anyway. We’ve had it in September before, but up on the higher elevations. Also had it in June, likewise.
“Hey OFD, Harvey is coming for you !”
By the time it gets up here it will be a slow drizzle for an afternoon.
If that much.