Hurricane Harvey

[lakecat]

Is anyone here from Texas dealing with Hurricane Harvey? I know that midnight_spell360 is from near Houston, which is flooding now. I searched and didn't see any posts about this yet. I hope you can stay safe and dry and that everything will be OK for you. 

[babayaga67]

My roommate's daughter lives in Houston with her dad. She was rescued off of her roof this morning.

My grandfather fell and broke his hip outside this morning. My Granny had to call an ambulance to get him to the hospital, which is on lock down, so they kicked her out after she saw that he was taken care of. Her roof is leaking so she put a bucket down to catch the water, but since she just had spinal neck surgery two weeks ago she isn't supposed to lift anything yet so she empties it out one ladle at a time into the sink. Her house hasn't flooded, yet. She said that it looked like it was going to come inside by tonight.

They are getting CRAZY rain all over the place down there. I hear that the rest of my family is fine, though there is some concern about how the cars are going to come out of this.

[jellysundae]

D:<

I'm worried for Midnight now, hope they and their family are making it through this ok.

The sheer intensity of US weather freaks me out because we just don't get the same level of extremes here in the UK.

[lakecat]

5 hours ago, jellysundae said:

D:<

I'm worried for Midnight now, hope they and their family are making it through this ok.

The sheer intensity of US weather freaks me out because we just don't get the same level of extremes here in the UK.

I had meant to post this thread topic a day earlier. I think he was last on Saturday morning. I would have felt better hearing from him then. 

As for weather extremes in the U.S., yes, we have them. I'm not sure how much of it is due to the size of the country, or its exposure to two oceans and a gulf plus Canada. I wonder if you can tell if continental Europe has more weather extremes than the British Isles do? Or is it less than the U.S. because Europe is only exposed to one ocean and maybe the Mediterranean Sea is milder than some large bodies of water are? Can you recall any hurricanes affecting Atlantic coastal Europe?

Babayaga67, please keep us updated on your family down there. My prayers go out to them too. 

[jellysundae]

2 hours ago, lakecat said:

I wonder if you can tell if continental Europe has more weather extremes than the British Isles do?

It most certainly does! The UK's climate's fairly unique for its latitude, I think, the combination of the prevailing warm south-westerly Atlantic winds and the gulf stream keep our climate mild and wet, while the rest of Europe on the same latitude's blanketed in snow.  The UK's on the same kind of latitude as Newfoundland, but we certainly don't have the same kind of weather!

Sometimes our bad weather guardians let us down and the frigid easterly winds from Siberia sweep in and do their worst with us, and then the UK freezes solid like the rest of Europe, and we can't cope with that AT. ALL. because we're not the least bit used to it.

On average we get a bit of snow in February, just an inch or two, if it settles it'll hang around for a week or so and that'll be it 'til next winter.

I...hmm...I don't believe hurricanes are much of a thing in Europe. Looking on Wiki there's a lot of severe "windstorms", but not much called hurricane, I wonder what the difference is?.

Considering what these "storms" manage to do to us, I don't fancy getting hit with anything worse D: The UK would be washed away!

Really REALLY hope Midnight's not online simply because of storm-related power loss and so on, and nothing worse. Be safe and well, my friend.

 

[balloongal247]

Hurricane is a type of *tropical* cyclone, so it can really only be in warm water areas, though one might drift north a bit after forming.  Asian and Pacific island coastline has a lot of issues with the East Pacific tropical cyclones, which I think they call typhoons.  Hurricane is also defined by the circular pattern of the wind, classified by the wind speed.

Part of the reason Harvey is being so bad is that it's settled just off of really warm water, so it's in a perfect position to just funnel gulf water into Houston.

[babayaga67]

I hope that midnight is okay too. @midnight_spell360, when you get back on please let the nosy, I mean caring, people on TDN know how you are!

My Grandfather had surgery this morning and I am still waiting to hear about how that went. I do know that the doctor performing the surgery had to catch a helicopter because he couldn't drive to the hospital with all of the flooding. My Granny broke her phone last night, so she is having trouble updating anyone about what's going on. Her house did not flood (yay!), and she said that most of the water had receded overnight during a lapse in the rain.

The rest of my family are doing fine. I know that my mom hasn't had any flooding in her house (she lives in cypress, north of Houston), and my sister said that she was doing fine too (she lives in conroe, also north of Houston).

[midnight_spell360]

@babayaga67 Sorry I haven't been on consistently. I had let ppl on The Kindness Project know how I am and just made it over to see what I could catch up on here at TDN. 

Day 3 of Harvey & I am blessed that I live in that tiniest green patch that you saw on the Doppler Radar of Harvey coming in at Rockport/Corpus Christi  which is 150 miles away from us-and I am fine and not having flood water in my street, yard, or house BUT if I were to travel 15 minutes in any direction from my house- I would be in flood waters. I had a lot of friends who had their homes flooded and at least 2 friends who had to be boat rescued, so it is bad...but I am good.  

You better check on your Mom in Cypress, because my friends there have shot videos where they had flooding and Conroe is 10 minutes up the road (I-45) from me and the Sawdust Rd Exit (which is between my town, Spring, and Conroe) is under water tonight. I so hope that they are okay! Please everyone keep praying for all of us in Houston bc it is supposed to keep raining until Thursday.

[babayaga67]

@midnight_spell360 Thank goodness! I am so glad that you are safe!  Thank you for taking the time to say hi and let us know you are okay.

I haven't actually spoken to anyone except my grandmother, and she broke her phone last night so she has been having trouble talking to anyone. I haven't had any updates on anyone down there since this morning before my grandfather's surgery, so I have no idea how any of them are doing.

I have a lot of friends down there, and I hope that they are doing well.

Stupid hurricane!

Again, @midnight_spell360, I am glad that you are alive!

[jellysundae]

So glad our Texan TDNers are ok!

So Harvey is hanging around like an unwanted house guest right now?

[lakecat]

9 hours ago, midnight_spell360 said:

Please everyone keep praying for all of us in Houston bc it is supposed to keep raining until Thursday.

Good to hear from you, Midnight! Glad that you're OK. Do you know if your location will stay high and dry or will you be flooded eventually?

[jellysundae]

@midnight_spell360 How's life post-Harvey? Did you manage to avoid the flooding in the end?

[midnight_spell360]

14 hours ago, jellysundae said:

Did you manage to avoid the flooding in the end?

Yes, jellysundae, thank God, no flooding but some roof/water damage. On Friday (my holiday) we drove over to help one of my mother's former student salvage what she could from her flooded out first floor apt. (She was the one who had to be rescued by boat and made it out with her sick mother & 3 small kids). We brought boxes (should have brought plastic tubs), sheets that we didn't use anymore- Cars, Rainbow Brite, etc., so after wrapping up her glassware, she can use them for her kids, and we surprised her with 3 Eid Gift Bags for her kids. Poor young lady just was overwhelmed and cried, "OMG! I forgot it was even Eid Ul-Adha! (We only have 2 holidays, this one is called the Big Eid-but of course, she had so much too worry about that she was grateful to have something nice to take back to her kids bc all their clothes, toys, anything paper or material could not be salvaged). The other important thing we learned about this, wear GLOVES for the clean-up bc my mom got an eye infection probably bc the flood water mixed with sewer water and e.coli stayed all over everything in the apt. I showered as soon as we got back but mom didn't shower until after she made dinner (she washed her hands but we think she touched her eye while picking up things in the apt.). 

 I will be going to my school on Thursday to make basic home care boxes for hurricane victims to take to shelters. I go back to school on Monday, Sept. 11th, while some ppl call it Patriot's Day- a lot of ppl use that day to hate on Muslims. I'm hoping with all the help that many of our mosques provided that this year it won't be so tense. Anyway, it's all good. Thanks for asking & sorry I haven't been on a lot.

A burned out home is surrounded by floodwaters in Spring, Texas, on Aug. 29

Photographer: David J. Phillip/AP Photo

[jellysundae]

Hey, we're all just glad you're ok. I wonder how long it's going to take before things get back to normal...for people like me, reading about disasters in a different country it's like it's basically all over now. But of course for the people affected by their homes being destroyed...it's a life-changing event. I wonder just how much it alters people's outlook when they lose all their possessions and have to start again, I can't wrap my head around it myself.

I'd not considered September 11th becoming a hate on Muslims day every year...I should have done, shouldn't I? Again I think it's because over here, in a small rural town in the UK, I'm removed from the situation. I hope you're right and that some people at least will learn to see through their prejudice.

Oh no, and I just see online that Harvey's friend Irma is heading for the US now...Florida's gonna be taking a beating this weekend. :-/

[balloongal247]

5 hours ago, jellysundae said:

Oh no, and I just see online that Harvey's friend Irma is heading for the US now...Florida's gonna be taking a beating this weekend. :-/

Yes, yes we are.  They still aren't sure exactly the path that it will take, and thus whether ALL of Florida will be hit hard, or just 90% of it.  Also not entirely sure how hard yet.  We'll find out in the coming days where and how hard it turns north.

[jellysundae]

1 hour ago, balloongal247 said:

Yes, yes we are.  They still aren't sure exactly the path that it will take, and thus whether ALL of Florida will be hit hard, or just 90% of it.  Also not entirely sure how hard yet.  We'll find out in the coming days where and how hard it turns north.

Is there an exodus starting? My sole experience of hurricanes in Florida is an episode of CSI: Miami, if that gives you any idea of how much I don't actually know!

People boarding their windows up, that's all anyone seemed to be doing in that episode, but then what else can you do, other than flee, or hide in a cellar if you're on high enough ground which Florida doesn't have much of, does it? How do you guys prepare?

[balloongal247]

I think the keys and very south Florida might have had a mandatory evacuation.  I'm in the 10% that may escape.  Mostly the grocery stores are crowded and running out of bottled water.  My sister is more likely to get hit, and she's planning to go stay with a friend to the northwest that should be out range.  If we don't get hit here and she does, she may stay with us after her friend.

My house is pretty much entirely second story.  The downstairs is just a garage and a room that's like a studio apartment, all one room with a bathroom, that we use for guests and storage, and that room is on the high side of the yard, a few feet up, so we are pretty safe from flooding.  Hot water heater is a few feet up off the ground, air conditioning unit is about 14ft off the ground.  The house has hurricane shutters, which are a fancier way to board up our doors and windows.  They are attached to our doors, and if it comes here we'll just have to figure out how to close and attach them....  Our house has an automatic whole home generator (14ft off the ground) with a large propane tank, so we should be able to have emergency power for like a month or two in a worst case scenario.  My area was hit hard with a hurricane about a decade ago, and so previous owners were preparing for major hurricanes when they rebuilt.   I guess if it starts to come here, I'll wash the bathtub to fill it with water, and fill up all my pots and pans and vases and stuff, in case we lose potable water.

[jellysundae]

Sounds like you should be pretty safe then Are houses in your area built with the basement as a garage mainly from lack of space, or is flood defence part of the plan?

I'm thinking of the houses in San Francisco that are built that way, there it's definitely from lack of space, lol. Seems a totally sensible way to build to me, especially in areas where parking's a problem, which let's face it, is pretty much everywhere!

I wish they'd build like that here in the UK, but I can't see that happening because it's not a method that's used here, I think they only happen in mews homes in places like London, but mewses are alleys housing the stables and carriage houses that belonged to the big 18th century homes lining the fancy residential streets, converted now to garages and tiny homes. No new homes are built that way as far as I know.

Real shame, because they're super pretty!! Though new ones wouldn't be anywhere near so charming, I'm sure!

 

[midnight_spell360]

@balloongal247 I don't wish a hurricane on anyone, and especially someone who just had a baby? Late congratulations on your new addition.

The crush of ppl might deplete the water but my mom directed ppl to check out the distilled gallons they have in the baby aisles, for bread- if regular and frozen bread are out check the Nan & Flatbread/Pita usually near the Cheese section, for eggs- if all the regular eggs are out- Egg-Beaters or powdered eggs and if Milk is out, Soy milk (which 1/4 cup of soy milk acts as a substitute for 1 egg in recipes) or powdered Milk can be used.

Sometimes all the batteries run out at the big Dept. Stores-  hardware stores will have the "D" batteries & flashlights too. Prepare the best that you can- put your documents in ziploc plastic bags if you don't have a safe, same for Insurance papers, passports & birth certificates, and your medicines. Good Luck & I hope that none of this becomes necessary for you to use! God be with you! 

[balloongal247]

Basement implies that it's below the ground, at least partially often in the case of garages on a hill, it's not.  The garage is ground level, and then the house is 14ft up off the ground.  In my area, it's fairly common to elevate houses up an entire story and have parking beneath, often enclosed as a garage, sometimes not.  It is because of flooding.   We rarely have basements this far south.  And here our water table (ground water) is too high.

I have no human babies.  I adopted a new dog in May.  But I only started talking on TDN forums in July, so I don't think I would have announced her as a new addition.

Flax seeds or chia seeds can also act as egg replacement.  1tbsp in 1/4 cup water

@babayaga67 had a baby about a month ago.

[jellysundae]

1 hour ago, balloongal247 said:

I have no human babies

Oh hell, please forgive me, but the first thing my idiot brain thought on reading this was that you have alien babies...

Does the average Floridian keep emergency supplies in case of hurricanes? I know I would, I guess it's a fairly small percentage who do the panic buying when something nasty's on the way?

[balloongal247]

I don't think most people keep emergency supplies on hand all the time, because then you'd have to keep throwing things away as they expire.  Though the experts of course say you should always be ready.  Quite a lot of people have been panic buying.  I don't think there's any bottled water left in stores in the whole state.  I think stores are running out here, and they were only briefly saying it *might* hit here.  The things you buy once like generators, people probably either have or buy just after a storm when they see how much they needed it.  I think until a year ago, it was 10 years since Florida had a direct hit with an actual "hurricane" not just a tropical storm.  We build to try to withstand hurricanes, and then we just pay attention to the weather when they start saying a hurricane may be headed our way.  Most of the time we get plenty of notice, and even with Harvey, where it suddenly intensified and then just had the worst possible combination of everything, while there wasn't as much notice about how bad it'd be, scientists have said for months, if not years, that there are going to be more named storms, and more of them are going to be major (cat 3+) hurricanes, because the oceanic temps are rising.

[jellysundae]

Ah yeah, that's the trouble with supplies isn't it, gotta use them eventually or they go to waste.

Think Florida's going to end up uninhabitable in a few thousand years?

[balloongal247]

I think all of Earth will probably be uninhabitable by humans in a few thousand years.  The question is how much of it will be uninhabitable in a couple hundred years.

[jellysundae]

10 hours ago, balloongal247 said:

I think all of Earth will probably be uninhabitable by humans in a few thousand years.  The question is how much of it will be uninhabitable in a couple hundred years.

Yeah, I was being a bit overly optimistic saying a couple of thousand, wasn't I!

Some idiot with their finger on the big red button will likely make all this a moot point soon enough anyway.