Hurricane Harvey

Cosmic Cat

Honorable
I was living on the coast when Hugo came through in 1989...I will not live anywhere near the coast again..Until you have experienced this you don't really know what these people are going through. Packing up and leaving your home behind and not knowing if it's going to be there when you get back is scary. We had no choice, our son was about 2 years old at the time.
 

3FEL9

Islander
I was living on the coast when Hugo came through in 1989...I will not live anywhere near the coast again..Until you have experienced this you don't really know what these people are going through. Packing up and leaving your home behind and not knowing if it's going to be there when you get back is scary. We had no choice, our son was about 2 years old at the time.

How do you guys insure your homes in the hurricane prone coastal areas. The premiums must be astronomical
 

Cosmic Cat

Honorable
How do you guys insure your homes in the hurricane prone coastal areas. The premiums must be astronomical

Most insurance companies cover hurricane damage...Its the flooding where people run into trouble. Most insurance companies do not cover flood damage anymore.....You can get flood insurance I think through a government funded agency National Flood Insurance Program.
 

Toroid

Founding Member
In the 1994 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles County the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) allocated 200 billion dollars to the disaster area. I suspect at least 100 billion will go to Texas. I heard on the news the other day that 80-90 counties in Texas had damage or flooding. They could get an additional two feet of rain through Thursday.
 

Caeldeth

Noble
I am going to say with the extent of this disaster that it has the possibility to be the costliest natural disaster in human history.
 

Caeldeth

Noble
Because of the strong blocking high it's just sitting there churning in the gulf stationary. The same places keep getting rocked by very heavy rain bands. Since its blocked in the gulf that adds an enormous amount of tropical moisture injection into the storm which is why your seeing these kinds of biblical rainfall totals.
 

Toroid

Founding Member
Houston at great risk of additional flooding due to Addicks Reservoir overtopping.
Addicks Reservoir -Houston- BREACHED; Water Pouring over top of Spillway at of 8:06 AM EDT
According to the Harris County, Texas, Flood System, the major reservoir "Addicks" has now over-topped its spillway, sending thousands of cubic feet of water per minute into Houston. This is now on top of the catastrophic flooding already taking place in that city! The chart below, from the Texes Flood System shows the nightmare as it's happening:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGuqk1f7VWw
addicks-map.jpg
 

Toroid

Founding Member
Joel Osteen received backlash for closing his 17,000 seat mega-church in Houston and not allowing flood victims to use it. He was slammed by Twitter users and they opened the doors.
Joel Osteen's church says it WILL welcome flood victims | Daily Mail Online
  • An official Facebook post said Osteen's church was closed Monday after floods
  • He faced a backlash online, as other churches welcomed in the displaced
  • But on Tuesday spokesman Donald Illoff said they were keeping their doors open
  • He claimed that the church was now a 'distribution center for those in need'
  • But he said it will only accept people when other places of refuge are full
  • Osteen himself then contradicted that, tweeting it would 'receive anyone'
  • Iloff also released photos showing flooding in the church that has now receded
  • The floods have left roughly 30,000 displaced to temporary shelters
  • Osteen's net worth is estimated to be $40m. His mansion is worth $10.5m

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4833836/Joel-Osteen-s-church-says-welcome-flood-victims.html#ixzz4rAPABHfz
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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Toroid

Founding Member
As estimated 48,000 homes have been destroyed as a cost of $160 billion. People in Beaumont are being told to evacuate or they'll die. River levels could reach 82 feet.
Texas judge warns of rising water as Harvey brings rain | Daily Mail Online
  • Residents in a county of Beaumont, Texas, have been told to evacuate or face certain death from Harvey
  • Authorities warned anyone staying behind to write their social security number on their arm to later be identified
  • Two explosions at a flooded chemical plant in Crosby have released toxic chemicals in to the air and water
  • The entire city of Beaumont, which has 118,000 residents , is now without running water
  • Harvey is still thundering on and is making its way towards Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky
  • It will bring heavy rain to those states but is not expected to cause the same devastation as it has in Texas
  • So far 38 people have been confirmed dead but the final death toll will be exponentially higher as the flood waters recede and more bodies emerge
  • The governor of Texas has warned that it could take weeks for some flooded districts to become dry again
  • More than 48,000 homes have been destroyed by the storm and the estimated cost of damage is $160 billion
  • To donate to the Red Cross Hurricane Harvey relief fund, click here or call 1-800-435-7669

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4838852/Texas-judge-warns-rising-water-Harvey-brings-rain.html#ixzz4rLoTOYOI
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
 

Toroid

Founding Member
Cleanup begins of more than 100,000 homes damaged by the flooding.
Texans dump their ruined belongings after Harvey | Daily Mail Online
  • In Dickinson, Texas, residents are lining up their damaged belongings to be collected by FEMA workers
  • Heartbreaking footage shows the streets lined with ruined goods as neighbors help one another clear up
  • More than 100,000 homes have been destroyed by Harvey and there are 430,000 claims for FEMA aid
  • Many more will be filed as the fallout from the storm continues along with private insurance claims
  • But the majority of the homes struck by Harvey do not hold private flood insurance policies
  • The president has asked for an additional $7.9 billion to add to the FEMA fund to help victims recover

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4846802/Texans-dump-ruined-belongings-Harvey.html#ixzz4rY4wg8pK
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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Toroid

Founding Member
Reports of price-gouging happening in Texas. The biggest complaints are about gas prices being 6-8 dollars.
$20 for a gallon of gas, $99 for a case of water — reports of Hurricane Harvey price-gouging are emerging
The Consumer Protection Division of the Texas attorney general’s office said Thursday that it has received more than 500 complaints of price-gouging.

Most complaints have cited prices ranging from $6 to $8 a gallon for gas.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a warning in response to gas stations against any attempt to take advantage of Harvey victims.

"Texas law protects consumers from fraud in Dallas and other parts of Texas outside of the governor’s declared disaster areas," Marc Rylander, communications director for the attorney general’s office, said. “If Dallas consumers are victims of fraud by gas stations, we urge them to contact our agency’s consumer protection hotline so that we can investigate and take appropriate action.”

The agency is looking into nine cases so far but expects more, according to CNN, and gas is far from the only issue.

One convenience store in Houston reportedly charged $20 for a gallon of gas, $8.50 for a water bottle, and $99 for a case of water, the attorney general's office said.


At a Best Western hotel in Robstown, near where Harvey made landfall in Corpus Christi, rooms more than doubled in price after the hurricane, the AG’s office told Austin television station KXAN Thursday. A crew from the station booked a room and was charged $321.89, including taxes, a night. (The normal price is $119 a night.)
 

nivek

As Above So Below
After hurricane Harvey the Environmental Protection Agency reported discovering and retrieving 517 containers full of “unidentified, potentially hazardous material” from toxic and radioactive waste disposal sites...FEMA made little mention of this in a press release using a single casual sentence but The Dallas Morning News reported it...

Mysterious, 'potentially hazardous' material removed from waste sites in Texas, but EPA won't say from where

The Environmental Protection Agency says it has recovered 517 containers of "unidentified, potentially hazardous material" from highly contaminated toxic waste sites in Texas that flooded last month during Hurricane Harvey.

A one-sentence disclosure about the 517 containers was made Friday night deep within a media release from the Federal Emergency Management Agency summarizing the government's response to the devastating storm.

The Associated Press reported Monday that a government hotline also received calls about three spills at the U.S. Oil Recovery Superfund site, a former petroleum waste processing plant outside Houston contaminated with a dangerous brew of cancer-causing chemicals. Records obtained by the AP showed workers at the site reported spills of unknown materials in unknown amounts.

Local pollution control officials photographed three large tanks used to store potentially hazardous waste completely underwater on Aug. 29. The EPA later said there was no evidence that nearby Vince Bayou had been impacted.
 

Toroid

Founding Member
I like the saying "The treat us like mushrooms. They keep us in the dark and feed us manure."
 
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