Prayers for those of you in Houston

[Msmit002]

My sister was in Houston for business (northern part of center city) and was originally supposed to fly back Sunday evening. The hotel they were staying at was only able to accommodate them for one more night but they had to get out Tuesday. With the airports closed her travel person was trying to get them out by any means possible. DFW was the next possible airport but they were pretty slammed and my sister and her team would have to fly standby - which probably wouldn't have worked out. So yesterday they decided that they were going to try their luck with getting out. They got an Uber to drive them to a rental car company outside of the city, they rented a car (which the rental car company made them promise not to drive it back into Houston ) and they drove it to Lubbock airport where they had secured a commuter flight to Las Vegas. From there, they took a flight from Las Vegas to O'Hare, to Raleigh. They made it home about 11:30PM EDT. Long day, but safe and sound.

She contacted me this morning and was telling me about her 10 days in Houston, what she saw when she was there, riding out the storm, etc. She lives in NC so she is no stranger to hurricanes and will heed evacuation warnings without hesitation (she said she only has nine lives and she feels like she has already spent seven - many during her college days ) and was very surprised that they weren't even suggested to evacuate. She said it was heart breaking to watch the news while they were holed up on their hotel.

 

[AndreAggie]

I don't want to go on a different tangent, but evacuating 6.5M people in 2 days is impossible. You would have had millions of cars on flooded highways, resulting in many more deaths than we have experienced with Harvey. This was Houston during Rita.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I don't want to go on a different tangent, but evacuating 6.5M people in 2 days is impossible. You would have had millions of cars on flooded highways, resulting in many more deaths than we have experienced with Harvey. This was Houston during Rita.View attachment 265765

This is pretty much rush hour. Just sayin.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

My sister was in Houston for business (northern part of center city) and was originally supposed to fly back Sunday evening. The hotel they were staying at was only able to accommodate them for one more night but they had to get out Tuesday. With the airports closed her travel person was trying to get them out by any means possible. DFW was the next possible airport but they were pretty slammed and my sister and her team would have to fly standby - which probably wouldn't have worked out. So yesterday they decided that they were going to try their luck with getting out. They got an Uber to drive them to a rental car company outside of the city, they rented a car (which the rental car company made them promise not to drive it back into Houston ) and they drove it to Lubbock airport where they had secured a commuter flight to Las Vegas. From there, they took a flight from Las Vegas to O'Hare, to Raleigh. They made it home about 11:30PM EDT. Long day, but safe and sound.

She contacted me this morning and was telling me about her 10 days in Houston, what she saw when she was there, riding out the storm, etc. She lives in NC so she is no stranger to hurricanes and will heed evacuation warnings without hesitation (she said she only has nine lives and she feels like she has already spent seven - many during her college days ) and was very surprised that they weren't even suggested to evacuate. She said it was heart breaking to watch the news while they were holed up on their hotel.

Glad your sister is okay & made it home.

No part of the forecast for this thing was accurate. Zero. I imagine that's why they didn't order evacuations. They missed the forecast on the rain by less than half.

 

[MUN]

Glad your sister is okay & made it home.

No part of the forecast for this thing was accurate. Zero. I imagine that's why they didn't order evacuations. They missed the forecast on the rain by less than half.

The Weather Channel said that parts of SE Texas could get up to 50" of rain as a result of the storm, in that it was a VERY slow moving system. I believe this was on Thursday night. I think that's pretty accurate.

 

[belac]

They got approximately (from what could be measured and estimated by the time it leaves) thirty trillion gallons of water
Just WOW
Possibly more, all data isn't in yet

 

[cruiser21]

The Weather Channel said that parts of SE Texas could get up to 50" of rain as a result of the storm, in that it was a VERY slow moving system. I believe this was on Thursday night. I think that's pretty accurate.

I heard this on Fox news. I'm sure many people knew what was coming. You make a decision and deal with consequences. Honestly if I was in that situation I most likely wouldn't have left. I don't think anyone imagined how bad it actually turned out. It's always easy to Monday morning quarterback a situation.

 

[aggiedog]

I'm in one of the small towns that flooded west of Houston when our river crested to historic levels, 30 feet over what is considered flood stage. The new bank in town was built 6" above the floodplain and had 4 feet of water. We're fine but many people lost their homes. I've been overwhelmed by the help that is pouring in and thru our town. There has been a steady stream of utility trucks from all over the country going south to Victoria, port Aransas , etc. We spent all day organizing donations and were fed by a group from 4 hours north who packed their large BBQ pit up and went out looking for a community to feed. Our local Goodwill type charity, who puts tens of thousands of dollars into the community was wiped out and their building condemned. They had a new building donated to them within 24 hours. It needs work but at least it's dry.

As for evacuating Houston, we live 70 miles from there and that Rita "rush hour" picture could have been taken here. Houston is no stranger to rush hour, but the evacuation lines stretched for over 70 miles, and 15+ hours, for what normally takes an hour down I-10. People ran out of gas, had heart attacks where no responders could help them, abandoned their cars, etc. The highways and surrounding roads were so clogged that police, EMS,etc, couldn't move either. There is no simple answer to moving 6 mil people simultaneously.

 

[hanscarlet]

I don't think the widespread flooding was predicted... sure they say flooding but you never know how severe that is... this flooding had kids on kitchen tables because it's getting as high as 3-4 feet in homes.... as far as evacuation, I am normally the person that also is like "why wouldn't you evac?" but now that waters are going down they are discovering cars underwater filled with people... if you get stuck on a road and water sweeps you away you're a goner... I can't imagine being faced with a choice of getting stuck on a highway for hours during a gas shortage and hoping water doesn't get me or waiting it out in my home... just horrible situation down there and I just can't believe how bad it has been... the rain just is non stop... sweetpee I liked your rebuild post to offer a "hug", I am sorry you have to rebuild again, how exhausting it must be... and fox news is reporting this morning that there was an explosion at one of the plants that sweetpea referred to earlier

 

[ziravan]

I live just north of Houston. We had to cancel our cruise on Disney Dream tomorrow.

For starters our flight out of Houston was cancelled.

And we got over 16" of rain in 2days. We're inland so we didn't get it as badly as Houston. But that's a year's worth of rain in one weekend.

When we cancelled we were expecting to be double tapped. For us at least, it was a blessing Harvey moved east.

We're safe. We're going to our WDW part of our trip next week.

But. But. We had an aft wrap. Just dang.

 

[laceltris3]

I am in central Houston, inside the Loop. We had over 30 inches of rain, and had 4.5 feet of water in our garage, and probably 8 feet in our street. Our neighbors were rescued by boat because the National Guard couldn't get to our street. My husband almost jumped into the water to help save a baby in a tire that they were trying to get to a dry house but the current in our street was too strong. We kept hearing helicopters, and since our power was out didn't know what was going on. I found out later they were rescuing people off the roof of two story apartments a couple miles away.

We lost both our cars, but the water was 3 inches away from coming into our house for HOURS. Ultimately our living space was spared, but all of the insulation under the house was soaked.

Even though we have been fortunate, this experience has us so looking forward to our cruise over Christmas. I cannot imagine needing a break more, and fortunately, I paid it off a month ago. Payment date is next week, and there's a good chance I would have missed it giving hat we have going on.

 

[elvispursley]

I live just north of Houston. We had to cancel our cruise on Disney Dream tomorrow.

For starters our flight out of Houston was cancelled.

And we got over 16" of rain in 2days. We're inland so we didn't get it as badly as Houston. But that's a year's worth of rain in one weekend.

When we cancelled we were expecting to be double tapped. For us at least, it was a blessing Harvey moved east.

We're safe. We're going to our WDW part of our trip next week.

But. But. We had an aft wrap. Just dang.

So sorry that you had to cancel your cruise. That just seems to be like another blow (probably just what you guys were looking forward to most)! Glad everyone is safe. Hopefully DCL let you reschedule!

 

[cruiser21]

I am in central Houston, inside the Loop. We had over 30 inches of rain, and had 4.5 feet of water in our garage, and probably 8 feet in our street. Our neighbors were rescued by boat because the National Guard couldn't get to our street. My husband almost jumped into the water to help save a baby in a tire that they were trying to get to a dry house but the current in our street was too strong. We kept hearing helicopters, and since our power was out didn't know what was going on. I found out later they were rescuing people off the roof of two story apartments a couple miles away.

We lost both our cars, but the water was 3 inches away from coming into our house for HOURS. Ultimately our living space was spared, but all of the insulation under the house was soaked.

Even though we have been fortunate, this experience has us so looking forward to our cruise over Christmas. I cannot imagine needing a break more, and fortunately, I paid it off a month ago. Payment date is next week, and there's a good chance I would have missed it giving hat we have going on.

I can't even fathom the financial hardship for so many families. Enjoy your cruise you deserve it.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

@laceltris3, I'm so glad you're okay. I've never seen anything like this. It's amazing. Yay for a trip to look forward to.

I can't even fathom the financial hardship for so many families. Enjoy your cruise you deserve it.

My tenant has to move out of our house. I won't have that rent income to cover that house payment. So we have rent where we live, rent for hubby's apartment where he works, and a house payment. It's going to be tough. We're one of the few with flood insurance but they always fight to pay as little as possible. I expect half or more will be paid by us and that's if we do the work ourselves. I hate dealing with insurance adjusters. I cannot even begin to tell you how much.

So I'm paid in full for 6 nights at OKW (with hubby for our anniversary) followed by 3 nights at BLT + a 4 night Dream cruise with friends in just a few weeks. I do a cruise with friends every September. Our anniversary is Sept 18 so we try to do something for that, too. Usually since I'm already down in Florida we work something on one end of my trip. Hubby says I should still do the cruise with my friends. But, even the seemingly small amount of money for food while at BLT...I just can't even think that's the thing to do. I don't see enjoying myself or being good company at all. I'm very torn. Plus, I'll be so worried with all the things I should be doing working at the house. How can I ditch my anniversary trip with the hubby and be okay doing my girls trip with my friends??? That feels so messed up. I have so many crazy mixed emotions on all of it. I don't know what to do.

Also paid in full, flights, etc on a Royal cruise with a couple friends in October. Same thing. I don't feel right going off to have fun with friends while leaving the family behind working on our house. None of the money is recoverable, I know. I feel so confused and awful. In my heart I don't even want to go anymore. I just want to be with my family getting all the things done. If I go I'll probably spend the time feeling guilty wishing I hadn't.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

The Weather Channel said that parts of SE Texas could get up to 50" of rain as a result of the storm, in that it was a VERY slow moving system. I believe this was on Thursday night. I think that's pretty accurate.

Places they forecast to get fractions of that got tons more. Just west of my house in the Nederland/Port Arthur area there was a weather station that reported over 100 inches. My house was supposed to get 18-24". We got more like 53". And considering this was supposed to be a tropical storm that came in around Brownsville....that was the forecast 3 days before landfall. It changed almost hourly as time went on. That sure was accurate. I don't know any other profession you can be that wrong that often and still have a job. Sure the weather is impossible to forecast...but without timely forecasts it's hard to plan. Believe me, a lot don't take the forecasts seriously because so often they say "It's going to be bad! Evacuate!" but we end up with a few gusts & sprinkles. It costs money to evacuate. People are hesitant or unable to do it every time the weather people say to. More often than not they're wrong anyway.

 

[laceltris3]

@laceltris3, I'm so glad you're okay. I've never seen anything like this. It's amazing. Yay for a trip to look forward to.




We're one of the few with flood insurance but they always fight to pay as little as possible. I expect half or more will be paid by us and that's if we do the work ourselves. I hate dealing with insurance adjusters. I cannot even begin to tell you how much.

Sweetpee, we have dealt with flood insurance before, as we got a couple of feet on Memorial Day in 2015 (which, ironically enough was less than a week before we left on our DCL Alaska. I found out my car was totaled while we were in port in Juneau.) Our flood insurance has been very fair. It's through the national flood insurance program, so it's not really the money of your insurer/administrator. They want to settle the claim as quickly as possible to not waste their own resources.

 

[laceltris3]

Places they forecast to get fractions of that got tons more. Just west of my house in the Nederland/Port Arthur area there was a weather station that reported over 100 inches. My house was supposed to get 18-24". We got more like 53". And considering this was supposed to be a tropical storm that came in around Brownsville....that was the forecast 3 days before landfall. It changed almost hourly as time went on. That sure was accurate. I don't know any other profession you can be that wrong that often and still have a job. Sure the weather is impossible to forecast...but without timely forecasts it's hard to plan. Believe me, a lot don't take the forecasts seriously because so often they say "It's going to be bad! Evacuate!" but we end up with a few gusts & sprinkles. It costs money to evacuate. People are hesitant or unable to do it every time the weather people say to. More often than not they're wrong anyway.

Same here. If we'd gotten the 18-24" forecast, I am pretty sure they wouldn't have been rescuing people by boat on our street. We evacuated for Rita, as I was pregnant at the time, and it took us 14 hours to get to my parent's house which was 60 miles on this side of San Antonio. And we left at 3:00 in the morning and took smaller state roads and stayed away from I-10. I can't count how many times they have canceled school and there is literally not even puddles in the street.

 

[MUN]

Places they forecast to get fractions of that got tons more. Just west of my house in the Nederland/Port Arthur area there was a weather station that reported over 100 inches. My house was supposed to get 18-24". We got more like 53". And considering this was supposed to be a tropical storm that came in around Brownsville....that was the forecast 3 days before landfall. It changed almost hourly as time went on. That sure was accurate. I don't know any other profession you can be that wrong that often and still have a job. Sure the weather is impossible to forecast...but without timely forecasts it's hard to plan. Believe me, a lot don't take the forecasts seriously because so often they say "It's going to be bad! Evacuate!" but we end up with a few gusts & sprinkles. It costs money to evacuate. People are hesitant or unable to do it every time the weather people say to. More often than not they're wrong anyway.

Well I hear there is good news in SE Texas! I understand the flood waters have receded in many places. Is that correct? Hopefully, people in flooded areas will be able to start getting into their homes and businesses and start cleaning up and drying out. MUN

 

[hanscarlet]

Agree with MUN - hearing you guys are finally starting to dry out and water is starting to recede? Now they are saying the mold and home devastation are the next battles. Hope all is well and check in when you can.

Also go on a cruise if it is paid for, the people of Houston deserve DCL more than anyone this year, bring brightness to your 2017 with a cruise, don't feel guilty. It will help your mental health which is something everyone in Houston needs help with after this traumatic week.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Sweetpee, we have dealt with flood insurance before, as we got a couple of feet on Memorial Day in 2015 (which, ironically enough was less than a week before we left on our DCL Alaska. I found out my car was totaled while we were in port in Juneau.) Our flood insurance has been very fair. It's through the national flood insurance program, so it's not really the money of your insurer/administrator. They want to settle the claim as quickly as possible to not waste their own resources.

Not even kidding, if the adjuster comes back with a fair number I will probably cry from shock & disbelief. Farmers was still including windstorm when Ike came. Our house was 2 months old. Every contractor we got an estimate from was $25k+. We did all the work ourselves. Subbed out the sheetrock, roof, & flooring only. Spent like $12k-$15k. Fought like crazy with Farmers and got about $6k. I was sick over it. Imagine if we hadn't been able to do so much ourselves. We'd have been stuck with a $20k bill! Ive never had a flood claim before. Not from Katrina. Not from Ike. It would be a dream come true if the adjuster came back with a number that didn't make me throw up a little. Truly.