In case you're interested, we’re still high and dry here after the latest storm, mostly because the rain finally moved
on.
The sun even came out yesterday afternoon. Up until it came
out, we were both numb from all the negative news we kept hearing and seeing on
our computer and then later the TV as reporters began to venture into the
flooded areas.
A LOT of areas are flooded, some that had never been close to being flooded. I’m betting there are at least 10,000 cars flooded, many completely under water. And some of these cars are in apartment complexes, million dollar home areas, and shopping mall parking lots where people tried to get their cars to safety. The water just kept rising and rising because the creeks and bayous could not handle that much water.
A national news organization reported that some areas of Houston got 16” of rain in 24 hours. I can believe it. According to the National Weather Service, we got between 7” and 8” here before the second front came through, and about 5 miles west of us got 10” After the final band of rain roared through dropping another 2" on us, we probably hit 10" total. Here's the rain amount chart from the National Weather Service. We live in the circle just above Houston.
A LOT of areas are flooded, some that had never been close to being flooded. I’m betting there are at least 10,000 cars flooded, many completely under water. And some of these cars are in apartment complexes, million dollar home areas, and shopping mall parking lots where people tried to get their cars to safety. The water just kept rising and rising because the creeks and bayous could not handle that much water.
A national news organization reported that some areas of Houston got 16” of rain in 24 hours. I can believe it. According to the National Weather Service, we got between 7” and 8” here before the second front came through, and about 5 miles west of us got 10” After the final band of rain roared through dropping another 2" on us, we probably hit 10" total. Here's the rain amount chart from the National Weather Service. We live in the circle just above Houston.
And the image does not even come close to showing the rising water that flooded neighborhoods that never flood.
Click HERE and you can see some videos of the flooding.
We stayed home, but a neighbor ventured out and pretty much found herself blocked from even getting out of our neighborhood. Even if she did get out, most businesses were closed. Oddly, our Target store just up the street was open, but I’m betting even it shut down due to lack of staff and lack of business. Most people in our area just stayed home.
Click HERE and you can see some videos of the flooding.
We stayed home, but a neighbor ventured out and pretty much found herself blocked from even getting out of our neighborhood. Even if she did get out, most businesses were closed. Oddly, our Target store just up the street was open, but I’m betting even it shut down due to lack of staff and lack of business. Most people in our area just stayed home.
Damage assessments will surely be in the Billions of
Dollars, but they won’t know until it’s over so that damage estimators can get
into areas. Right now, they are just doing it by ‘guesstiment’ by taking
areas and determining approximately how many
homes, businesses, etc were inundated by how much water. Then applying
some formula to come up with an approximate amount. Even then, it’s not
an exact science.
Plus, when they start to re-build, there will all kinds
of additional charges due to lack of manpower, equipment and materials.
The delay creates a problem for black mold development which can greatly
multiply the costs due to its toxic nature. Mold, by law, has to be
completely eradicated and inspected before any repairs can begin. There’s
not enough mold treatment technicians and
inspectors in the US, much less Houston, to get the job done quickly.
Add to that the long term effects of the flood regarding
re-sale value of property and flooded cars, and the drop in property taxes due
to homes being declared unfit for human habitation, and must be torn down,
usually because the owners had no insurance of any kind, much less flood
insurance.
When you take everything into
account, it could be a Trillion Dollar Storm.
To make matters worse,
one very highly regarded TV news anchor/reporter said that no matter what the
government says about ‘flood zones’ and ‘100 year flood exempt zones’ that any
property in Harris County is susceptible to flooding, and owners (like us)
really should buy flood insurance from the government.
Well, that’s unnerving to say the least, especially after we
purposely built on high ground 27 years ago. Even so, being 90 miles from
the Gulf and 110’ elevation will certainly keep us from getting flooded from
the Gulf of Mexico, while our house is built on the highest point in our area
will keep us from getting rain-flooded. Unless, of course, God is out to
get us. Then it probably won’t make much difference.
As of today, 4-21-16, the rain is over for a while, but not the flooding.
Once again, the Coop held up well in the 50 + mph winds and
suspected tornado in the area, and although it got pretty wet from the
horizontal rain, I was able to wipe it down without seeing any damage.
For us, it was just another storm, but for tens of thousands of people, it was a disaster they may never recover from.
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