Texas Hurricane

tonyb

Wow, that's unreal. I just can't fathom the size and scope of this....in an area such as Houston yet.

charley95

Let's cross our fingers, there's another one churning in the Atlantic. It makes me sick to my stomach that so many people will be bankrupt after this with no means to rebuild.

txcoastal1

Very true, after hurricane Ike many never returned to Galveston. They moved out of town or even out of state. Lots of homes were never even opened till a year later.

This is a much larger scale

msg

Jeez.
Even with all the footage, the effect of the devastation just doesn't quite register until you hear the stories of the effect on people, throughout, and specifically in dealing with the aftermath.

BlueMDPicker

mrbigbluelight

Good thing he has boots on

I'm curious as to the situation with the city's water supply. I haven't read anything regarding it, so any locals have any information regarding that ?
Metro areas of that size I assume have large reservoirs for supply. What is their status ? And what is the situation with the area's pumping station or stations ?

I ask because during our areas 500-year flood back in '93, the City of St. Louis water pumping station came very, very close to having to shut down. I had left there about 4 years earlier but was still in contact with a lot of folks there. The crews were on 24/7 duty to keep the "boat afloat" and had to be delivered half-way to the site via jon boats.
The guys described the situation to me and said that if the river had come up another 6", they would be forced to shut down. With what they told me, they were right.
The Waterworks has since done some MASSIVE alterations to prevent that situation in the future.

So I'm just curious as to what the potable water situation is. You can have water, water everywhere but if you don't have a drop to drink, well, that's not a good thing.

exalted512

We had 30" here. Minor roof leak, but we're in no danger of flooding and the winds weren't bad here. My parents live by Corpus. They had some uprooted trees, moved their carport 80' and turned it completely around, and some minor wind damage to their shop and roof on the house, but nothing too bad.

My brother lives in Dayton. They've had over 50" of rain at this point and might even surpass 60 by the week's end. His house had about an inch or less of water in it. But I have friends all over that have lost much more. Flooding several feet deep in their homes, some completely lost their homes by the coast from the wind. There's been reports of a van full of 6 people that perished and even a Houston police officer. Historic and tragic, all at the same time. They literally had to add more colors to indicate the rainfall amounts. The pictures filling my facebook timeline of friends who have been directly affected by the storm are numerous and saddening. People like my brother who didn't have flood insurance because they're not in any flood plain (including the 500 year flood plain) is pretty common, and I feel for them the most. A good friend of mine in Rockport lost about 20-30% of the structure on his house, but luckily he has coverage for everything since it is much more expected.

I think the loss of life now is around 10-15, but I bet the final number is going to be over or in the hundreds.
-Cody

gurot1

I saw these images on news and can't even imagine what it must be like in person. Thoughts and prayers to all those affected. Stay safe!

EndersShadow

Side note: I work in insurance, but not super familiar with auto....

The Gov is on the hook for flooding (for those with coverage), what I'm trying to fathom is the amount of CARS that are going to be totaled out now for flooding, and the costs... Its going to be on a Katrina/Sandy scale scale if not more.

Also wondering if its covered under collision or comprehensive. Hopefully its covered under either as I cant image the pain of losing a house AND a vehicle at the same time with the possibility of no coverage to replace either.

I'm betting that the car lots wont be able to keep up with demand, since its likely their existing inventory is also totaled.

After Katrina & Sandy insurance companies actually rented private AIRFIELDS, JUST TO PARK TOTALED CARS ON because they had that many.... I think pictures are on google of that.

This is gonna be even worse.

Again, hearts and prayers to all you guys!

txcoastal1

Over 200,000 cars for Katrina. I'm going to say that number for Harvey will be 3-4 times, maybe even more

Business and jobs will be stifled. Horrible decisions will have to be made. Of course construction will boom so some scales will tip.

Just going to be a lot different for the next year.

tonyb

I heard estimates of 500k cars will be toast. Which means, the used car prices are going to skyrocket, and new car salesmen are going to make a killing. All the appliances too that are going to need replacing.

Now would be a good time to open a junkyard/recycling center, mold remediation, carpet cleaning business down there.

I also saw a story that said 80% of those flooded, don't have flood insurance. Lots of foreclosed properties in the future as people will have no choice but to walk away.

mrbiron

tonyb wrote: »

Now would be a good time to open a junkyard/recycling center, mold remediation, carpet cleaning business down there.

There are "get rich quick" schemes brewing in many a'peoples heads right now.
From buying up building material to registering companies for insurance work.


The cars on the other hand....Carmax will grab as many as they can. Spit shine them and resell to unsuspecting individuals.

Nightfall

Be aware of shady used car dealers trying to fix up and sell flood vehicles around the area.

txcoastal1

Look for fuel shortages
Gas up while you can

motorhead43026

Being Houston, you know there are many high end autos underwater.

pitdogg2

txcoastal1 wrote: »

Look for fuel shortages
Gas up while you can

USA Today has an article that said 25% of USA's refining has been knocked out.

txcoastal1

The refineries in Baytown are 5' underwater

From my insider reports even the distributors could be shut down for 4-5 days

exalted512

txcoastal1 wrote: »

Look for fuel shortages
Gas up while you can

it should be noted that this likely is not limited to Texans. Fair warning to all...

pitdogg2

exalted512 wrote: »

txcoastal1 wrote: »

Look for fuel shortages
Gas up while you can

it should be noted that this likely is not limited to Texans. Fair warning to all...

very true Cody.

tratliff

I haven't checked but people at my office, in Irving, were complaining that all stations in the area were out of gas during lunch.

Wife took the truck to fill up this morning, in north west Ft Worth, and was 10th in line.

And prices at stations that have gas are starting to increase rapidly.

Ron - you will chuckle at this. Story on the news showing the Bucees in north Ft Worth. Cars were lined up onto the service road of 35W.


I agree small sacrifice for us in North Texas.

You guys in the Houston area be safe.

Dennis Gardner

As soon as news picks up on any outage, the run on it will cause bigger outages just before the holiday weekend.

[Deleted User]

Just trying to get around town (Irving) is nuts now. Waiting lines out of gas stations into the streets. So you have to carefully pass the line in the left lane watching out for that guy in line that get pissed and pulls out just as you get to him.

I did see a couple of stations without lines today. Wondered why until I saw their price on their sign showing $3.99 and higher per gallon. Wife works a little East of where Kennedy was shot and saw a $5/gallon sign this afternoon. I saw a story on yahoo or Google news where a Best Buy close to Houston is selling bottled water now. Only $40 a case. Businesses that do this crap need to be burned down.

BlueFox

$3.99 a gallon? To me that is cheap considering the situation. Beats sitting in a line. Time is money.

halen

BlueFox wrote: »

$3.99 a gallon? To me that is cheap considering the situation. Beats sitting in a line. Time is money.

Time is money my friend. I have donated almost 30% of my yearly salary to charity this year and it's only September. On top of that I also volunteer for the North Texas Food Bank. Yes, something as this is nothing to you, $3.99 ... It is life altering to others. I see it every week.

Cheers

txcoastal1

That water was Smart Water and was over sold by $10 a case
If you see gas in TX for over $4 for regular unleaded then you need to report it

Take a pick of the station and the pump license

Gouging is illegal in TX

halen

txcoastal1 wrote: »

That water was Smart Water and was over sold by $10 a case
If you see gas in TX for over $4 for regular unleaded then you need to report it

Take a pick of the station and the pump license

Gouging is illegal in TX

Damn straight bro. Didn't happen in my part of town, but did happen in Irving and along I75 by Texas Instruments. You have no idea how much it pisses me off to see it
I am tired and worn out.

Cheers

rpf65

Have to fill up my work truck on a daily basis. I have no idea why any manufacturer would put a 22 gallon tank in a vehicle that gets about 13 mpg, but that's what I have to deal with. Wasn't able to gas up until the fifth station I pulled into. No gas at the others.

Anyway, by the time I got home, back down to 1/4 tank. That's what happens when part of your job is driving over 200 miles a day. Funny thing is that the tankers, from what I've heard, are actually delivering about 20 percent more gas to stations than they usually do this time of year. At least in this area of Texas.

What's even more ironic is the person in front of me got $8.45 worth of gas, driving a Tahoe. Two thoughts crossed my mind. What are people going to say when contractors can't get to their house, for say a broken water line, because they can't find gas? And secondly, is anybody going to complain louder than the person who fills there tank when the needle drops just below the F line on their gauge?

nooshinjohn

Smart Water sounds pretty stupid to me... just sayin.

halen

nooshinjohn wrote: »

Smart Water sounds pretty stupid to me... just sayin.

Didn't you west coaster Cali folks ban bottled water?

BlueFox

No.