Batten down the hatches

[RayThom]

Mar-a-Lago destroyed by Irma? If that happens I'm confessing all my sins and rejoin the catholic church. (Or join whatever church that offers true salvation and peace with the Lord.)

Proof positive that God exists.

Hallelujah!

[Scooter]

Let's not do a Pat Robertson here. It's going to take a good chunk of the rest of Florida with it if it destroys Mar a Lago, and those people don't deserve it even if they did vote for him.

[Jarlaxle]

I'd be quite happy if it stayed in the Atlantic.

[BoSoxGal]

Of course nobody wishes for a hurricane to landfall - but c'mon, they do. This one is very likely to, either at the Florida coast, or further up at the Carolinas' coasts. It will be interesting to see how things play out with another big hurricane hit and federal response required. Hell, if it prevents Trump and the GOP from passing massive tax cuts for the rich which result in draconian cuts to FEMA and other federal agencies, perhaps it's God's will.

By the way, while all eyes are on Houston and Russiagate, Montana is experiencing its worst drought and wildfire season in almost two decades, with over 600,000 acres already burned and no rain forecast for the next month or more. FEMA is providing some assistance, but the President thus far has refused to declare Montana a federal disaster area, which would open the door for much more federal assistance. Poor Montana - those dupes voted hard for Trump, and now he's giving it to them hard up the ass.

[Scooter]

Houston officials were warned they had a problem — they didn't listen

When presented with sweeping evidence in 2016 that Houston was a "sitting duck" for the next big hurricane, the former head of the Harris County Flood Control District dismissed the report, saying scientists "have an agenda" and that "their agenda to protect the environment overrides common sense."

Now, 39 people are dead, more than 44,000 homes are destroyed or heavily damaged and about 325,000 residents have sought federal emergency aid as a result of Hurricane Harvey.

The scientist who raised the alarm a year ago watched the waters rise and eventually force him out of his own flooded house.

"It's an emotional issue, because all of our warnings from our research projects have come to fruition," said Sam Brody, a marine scientist at Texas A&M University. He has studied flooding for 15 years and is one of the authors of Rising Waters: Causes and consequences of flooding in the United States.

Concrete vs. water

Brody's research found that decades of unchecked development in and around Houston had left the water with nowhere to go.

Houston was founded on a swamp in the 1830s. The city is built low and flat along coastal bayous, and has always struggled with flooding.

But there was a natural buffer that kept the worst at bay: Prairie grasslands, which absorbed water in almost supernatural quantities. The problem is Houston has spent decades paving over those grasslands and building strip malls.

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the U.S. and home to NASA and the Johnson Space Center. This is the city that put a man on the moon, but many now describe it as a concrete island floating on top of a swamp.

City officials built a series of concrete culverts they said would divert the water.

"A lot of officials think you can engineer your way out of that problem and fight concrete with concrete," said Kiah Collier, a reporter with The Texas Tribune. She was one of the reporters behind the Peabody Award-winning series Hell and High Water, which warned that water would win the fight against concrete.

Reporting this week from a neighbourhood devastated by flood waters, Collier told Day 6 that officials never took the report seriously.

"They were either flippant or frustrated," said Collier.

Now, she's watching as the predictions she reported on come true. Collier can't help but think back to the apathy of city officials who were warned this was coming but did nothing.

"Seeing the human side of it, the human impact is really emotionally jarring," she said.

The economic impact will be jarring for the entire country. By some estimates, this disaster will cost $190 billion. That would make it the costliest disaster in U.S. history, surpassing the costs of both hurricanes Katrina ($123 billion) and Sandy ($60 billion.)

[MajGenl.Meade]

The article, Hell and High Water is well worth reading. However, it too was written in 2016, the same year that the scientist issued his deadly warning, which means those dramatic alarms could have no possible effect on measures to prevent the 2017 damage from Harvey.

Post-2008 Hurricane Ike, the article makes clear that nothing substantive has been done to mitigate the risks that Ike highlighted. Scientists and politicians alike expressed concern at the failure to move forward with coastal protection. The emphasis seems to have been on extending Galveston Island storm walls because the perceived risk was a catastrophic storm surge that would hit the Houston shipping channel which in turn would inundate the city. No one (apparently) considered the possibility of grossly overwhelming rainfall.

Could the city government of Houston either afforded or been capable of building (and yes, it does involve concrete) protection against hurricane driven surge? Should they have taken jackhammers to all the parking lots that paved those water-absorbing grass plains that used to be there? Did they have legal authority over some of the areas that would have to be worked on - Galveston Island for one?

There is a rather self-serving note in the article pointing out that in the case of Houston people talked about preparing for a 100 year hurricane. Self-righteously, the authors point out that the Netherlands built a dike system against the possibility of a 10,000 year storm. This completely and conveniently ignores the difference between a hurricane and a North Sea storm.

My point is not that city, state and federal pols weren't too slow to take sufficient precautions. The point is that the article is not above slanting arguments to falsely maximize willful culpability.

It all begs the question of what (since 2008 and all the subsequent alarms) could in reality have been done and who would pay for it - which of the city, state, federal fund-sources should have been allocated? And what is a good plan? Sea walls against storm surge would still leave Houston under water today - as was the case in 2008, there was hardly any surge and that wasn't the problem anyway.

[Burning Petard]

Gen'l, your point also ignores that this flooding in Houston was all RAIN. Not wind driven storm surges.

snailgate

[MajGenl.Meade]

Not getting you there, Flaming Bomb of Gastropod Egress.

My post very much made that point - rain not surge; walls no use for that - stating:

The emphasis seems to have been on extending Galveston Island storm walls because the perceived risk was a catastrophic storm surge that would hit the Houston shipping channel which in turn would inundate the city. No one (apparently) considered the possibility of grossly overwhelming rainfall.

and

Sea walls against storm surge would still leave Houston under water today - as was the case in 2008, there was hardly any surge and that wasn't the problem anyway.

[Scooter]

[Lord Jim]

[RayThom]

"Oh, no, not that shit? Thanks, but I'd rather starve."

Tragically funny, however.

(I do think this photo is staged or photoshopped.)

[Lord Jim]

"Oh, no, not that shit? Thanks, but I'd rather starve. prefer cannibalism as a last resort."

Another possibility...

[BoSoxGal]

That's not vegan food; this is vegan food:



That other stuff is processed crap for people who still crave solid & liquid flesh.

[Bicycle Bill]

That's not vegan food; this is vegan food:



That other stuff is processed crap for people who still crave solid & liquid flesh.

That stuff's not food; that's the stuff that food eats!
(although I will admit that I do enjoy a trip through the salad bar before demolishing a nice sirloin or ribeye steak)

-"BB"-

[BoSoxGal]

Do you know why all the colors in the produce section are so pleasing to your eyes? That's your primal brain begging you to eat for health & longevity - a rainbow of veggies and fruits means a cascade of fantastic phytonutrients! Much better for you than the monotone palette of the meat isle - where all the 'red' meat is colored by additives, anyway.

[rubato]

Awwwwww additives! Now I'm really hungry!

[rubato]

It is true that little could have been done in one year, or nine, to mitigate the harm but denying reality means that it will never be done. Houston is in the wrong place and all housing built in low-lying areas should be condemned. They should also regulate pumping of groundwater so they stop making more low-lying areas.


Yrs,
Rubato

[MajGenl.Meade]

That's a possibility. But condemning people's property in that fashion would require rehousing them. Who is to pay for that? In the end, it might be more economically sound but what about all the other people located in areas that a big hurricane can easily make homeless? The Carolina coast for example.

In a way, it's a bit like Lincoln considering purchasing all the slaves in the south in order to free them rather than have the expense of the war. Practical but not politically feasible.

[rubato]

That's a possibility. But condemning people's property in that fashion would require rehousing them. Who is to pay for that? In the end, it might be more economically sound but what about all the other people located in areas that a big hurricane can easily make homeless? The Carolina coast for example.

In a way, it's a bit like Lincoln considering purchasing all the slaves in the south in order to free them rather than have the expense of the war. Practical but not politically feasible.

Not My. Problem

The people of Texas and Houston can decide to reimburse them or not. If they were really such rugged individualists they would refuse reimbursement. The federal flood ins program should condemn areas where flooding is highly probable, refuse to insure them, and require that purchasers, residents, and mortgage holders be notified. I would be content for a market who was so informed to set the value on such properties. The people who I've there should be informed at least annually so they can make better decisions about fleeing.

[BoSoxGal]

Florida Gov. Rick Scott declares state of emergency ahead of Category 4 Hurricane Irma