Here we go again - Houston is flooding

Posted by: Blast

Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/28/09 06:35 PM

We've had over a foot of rain in the last ten hours, many roads are blocked with high water, many people are stranded. At 11:0am Spring creek (my favorite stream) jumped it's banks 1/2 mile from our house. We aren't in trouble yet, though I may end up staying at work for a few extra hours. The DW will let me know when it's safe to come home.

Wait a minute... confused

-Blast
Posted by: Stu

Re: Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/28/09 06:47 PM

Blast,
Just GOD's way of letting you know you and the kitties need a bath. smile
Stay safe
Stu
Posted by: paramedicpete

Re: Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/28/09 06:47 PM

Blast,

Please stay safe and make sure you remind family, friends and co-workers to: “Turn Around – Don’t Go Through".

Take Care-
Pete
Posted by: benjammin

Re: Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/28/09 06:52 PM

Yep, I just heard from a friend/coworker down there. Some of those underpasses on 610 are downright deadly when it rains big. People who don't realize it drive right into them at freeways speeds and disappear. I recall being there in 92 when it flooded bad and the only thing that wasn't were the canals on the southwest side of town, along N/S Braeswood blvd.

Houston's tough to make weather safe. If you build to average terrain, you're gonna flood, if you build to high ground, you're gonna get hit by all the lightning in the area.

I like a place where I can go underground and not get flooded out like a gopher.
Posted by: Blast

Re: Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/28/09 07:33 PM

Quote:
Please stay safe and make sure you remind family, friends and co-workers to: “Turn Around – Don’t Go Through".


Yep, that's my plan. Luckily Molly's Pub is uphill from where I work. grin

I've lived here for 12 years. It took me less than four months to figure out the water gets DEEP on roads here and so I'm constantly surprised when people drive into the water and end up drowning, usually with a car full of kids, too. frown

-Blast, with a toothbrush and change of clothes in his filing cabinet.
Posted by: Stu

Re: Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/28/09 07:47 PM

Originally Posted By: Blast
[quote]-Blast, with a toothbrush and change of clothes in his filing cabinet.

What?? No Makers Mark in there???? You gotta be kidding me! grin
Posted by: Meadowlark

Re: Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/28/09 09:08 PM

Ack. Stay safe....
Posted by: ironraven

Re: Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/28/09 11:02 PM

Originally Posted By: Blast
Yep, that's my plan. Luckily Molly's Pub is uphill from where I work. grin


Slightly new meaning to the term "high ground". *laughs*

Stay dry, stay safe.
Posted by: Blast

Re: Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/29/09 12:21 AM

Update, You know it's going to be bad when you see news choppers circling up ahead of you. It took me 90 minutes to go what normally takes 20 minutes. The freeway and feeder roads leading past the front entrance to my neighborhood were drowned under three feet of water and traffic was backed up for miles and miles. Luckily I know a back way.

No water got into our house but two neighbors a few houses down ended up flooded along with an entire cul-de-sac behind us.

High ground. ALWAYS build on high ground.

-Blast
Posted by: TrailDemon

Re: Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/29/09 12:54 AM

with all the storms i see on the news in texas, it makes me wonder if theres' any place in texas that doesnt get flooded.;)

is there any dry land in that state?
Posted by: Desperado

Re: Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/29/09 01:36 AM

Originally Posted By: TrailDemon
with all the storms i see on the news in texas, it makes me wonder if theres' any place in texas that doesnt get flooded.;)

is there any dry land in that state?


Yeah, there is down by Fort Bliss. It is called a desert for a reason....
Posted by: Desperado

Re: Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/29/09 01:38 AM

Blast,

Is the water up over I-45 where it passes over the bayous? I may have to come that way in the morning. Last major flood I remember I seeing the water OVER the guard rails on the bridges.
Posted by: Blast

Re: Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/29/09 02:00 AM

No, I-45 itself is only flooded just south of The Woodlands, but many off-ramps and underpasses are under water.

-Blast
Posted by: benjammin

Re: Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/29/09 02:04 AM

"is there any dry land in that state?"

Yeah, El Paso.

Posted by: benjammin

Re: Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/29/09 02:06 AM

"but many off-ramps and underpasses are under water."

yep, that's what I'm talking about.
Posted by: leemann

Re: Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/29/09 03:09 AM

Blast you stay safe hope everything goes well.

Lee
Posted by: SwampDonkey

Re: Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/29/09 03:25 AM

Dangerous Times Blast, Take Care of youself and the family.

Mike
Posted by: aloha

Re: Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/29/09 05:08 AM

Blast, you and your family stay safe. And that goes for the rest of you too.
Posted by: stargazer

Re: Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/29/09 08:04 AM

Blast,

Now you can try launching that canoe from your living room laugh laugh I am only kidding, please take care and stay safe.

STARGAZER
Posted by: Desperado

Re: Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/29/09 11:08 AM

Originally Posted By: Blast
No, I-45 itself is only flooded just south of The Woodlands, but many off-ramps and underpasses are under water.

-Blast


So I-45 is closed???? I really don't want to come to Houston via Austin!

This may just be the excuse I was looking for to not have to come that way. It was business not fun.
Posted by: Blast

Re: Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/29/09 11:37 AM

The waters have drained off I-45 by The Woodlands and it's now open. There are still bad underpasses though inside Houston.

-Blast
Posted by: kd7fqd

Re: Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/29/09 11:42 AM

Blast I'll send you and your family a raft if need be. LOL

B-safe

Mike
Posted by: Desperado

Re: Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/29/09 11:44 AM

Thanks,

Looks like the meetings are off anyway. Seems one of the "wise men" involved believed his self advertisement and drove into some water a little too deep for his range rover. Since "his" car couldn't make it, obviously no one else should be out either.
Posted by: benjammin

Re: Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/29/09 12:55 PM

"There are still bad underpasses though inside Houston"

I believe there was one underpass on 610 on or near the exit you take to go to the Galleria where I watched someone actually disappear into the water. I know it was over on that side of 610 somewhere. Absolutely treacherous, and you'd think someone would be smart enough to at least post signs.

IIRC, the big concrete canals are probably the safest place to be when it floods in Houston. Huge canals, but the water level never seems to even get close to the top. I never saw more than a few inches in the bottom of the Braeswood canal. Now the streets, those will fill up over the curbs.

Reminds me of sitting on the porch out in west Texas (Lubbock), during a thunderstorm, watching the river go flowing by on what was a cobblestone street an hour previous. Man, I kinda miss sitting in the front porch swing during a storm with Grandad, munching on salted tomatoes and peppers, listening to him tell me about catching mustangs.
Posted by: Shreela

Re: Here we go again - Houston is flooding - 04/29/09 10:40 PM

We flooded less with this flood than our first two floods earlier in the week -- what a sentence! We drained sometime between late night and the next morning (when the north/nw area were so flooded during rush hour). There was only a few inches at the lowest parts while we watched the early news with the reporters on the feeders standing in water, with numerous vehicles stalled, including one SUV, and even an HPD cruiser!

I read elsewhere some were saying the flooding was worse than TS Allison 2001, but I got water in my house from Allison, and only flooded 1/3 up the driveway with this most recent flood. I guess it all depends on the area of town we're in.

http://www.hcoem.org/HCRainfall.aspx
You can click on areas and enlarge them, and change the time in the dropdown box. My area got between 8-18 inches in the last month (my exact area isn't represented, so I'm going by surrounding areas which vary a lot; I'm guessing we probably got around 9 inches).

Public water was contaminated after TS Allison, but I didn't hear anything one way or the other about water safety after any of our 3 floods. I'm washing water containers today for yearly hurricane preps just because I was thinking about that (and the slight chance of problems *if* we are affected by a pandemic).