Plan B Forum

The US state of Texas is bracing for potentially catastrophic flooding and winds as Hurricane Harvey intensified on Thursday and cruised toward a late Friday impact near the coastal city of Corpus Christi.

The National Hurricane Centre described Harvey's sudden strengthening as "astounding." The storm is expected to strike as a Category 3 hurricane - meaning with winds greater than 178 km/h per hour - making it the most powerful storm to make landfall in the United States since Hurricane Wilma in 2005.


Despite the increasingly alarming forecasts, officials in Corpus Christi as of Thursday evening had held off on ordering mandatory evacuations of the city, which includes a great deal of low-lying land and a barrier island. "I'm not going to risk our police and fire people trying to drag somebody out of the house if they don't want to go," Mayor Joe McComb said at an afternoon news conference.

The surprise hurricane is poised to be the first major test of disaster response for the Trump administration, whose appointee to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency - William "Brock" Long - was confirmed in June.

"With Harvey now strengthening at a faster rate than indicated in previous advisories, the intensity forecast has become quite concerning," the National Hurricane Centre wrote in a Thursday morning advisory. "Harvey has intensified quickly this morning, and is now forecast to be a major hurricane at landfall, bringing life-threatening storm surge, rainfall, and wind hazards to portions of the Texas coast."

Hurricane Harvey, hours from landfall, becomes Category 4 storm

(CNN)Hurricane Harvey, just hours from making landfall on the Texas coast, has intensified into a Category 4 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph, the National Hurricane Center said Friday evening.

The center of the storm is just 45 miles east of Corpus Christi and Harvey has begun its expected slowdown. It is moving to the northwest at just 8 mph.

Hurricane-force winds were already hitting coastal cities; one observation station in Aransas Pass reported sustained winds of 74 mph and gusts up to 96 mph, the hurricane center said.

Harvey threatens to douse as much as 40 inches of rain on residents in some areas of Texas along the Gulf of Mexico.

Harvey was expected to make landfall by early Saturday, but the heavy rains and strong storm surge that worry forecasters and government officials arrived during the afternoon. The harsh winds arrived shortly thereafter.

The combination of wind and water could leave wide swaths of South Texas "uninhabitable for weeks or months," the National Weather Service in Houston said.

Such daunting language hasn't been seen by CNN's experts since Hurricane Katrina, which left more than 1,800 people dead in 2005.

A hurricane warning is in effect for about 1.5 million people, with another 16 million under a tropical storm warning, the weather service said.

"Texas is about to have a very significant disaster," said Brock Long, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

HOUSTON — The Latest on Hurricane Harvey as it takes aim at the Texas coast (all times local):
8:40 p.m.

An elected official in the Texas Gulf Coast town near where Hurricane Harvey is expected to reach land says residents who chose to stay should write their Social Security numbers on their arms.

Patrick Rios, the mayor pro tem in Rockport, told KIII-TV of Corpus Christi earlier Friday that Harvey “is a life-threatening storm.”

He says those who stay “should make some type of preparation to mark their arm with a Sharpie pen,” implying that they should make it easier for rescuers to identify them.

Local officials along the Texas coast urged residents to take precautions and, if they were in the direct path of the storm, to evacuate. Thousands of people have headed north so far.

I have zero confidence in FEMA right now

New, Respected FEMA Chief Faces First Major Challenge With Hurricane Harvey

urricane Harvey is the first test of the Trump administration's response to a natural disaster. And much of that responsibility falls on the shoulder of the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, William "Brock" Long.

Long was confirmed as FEMA administrator by the Senate in June, just a few months ago, but he is not exactly a stranger to the agency. He was a regional manager there during the George W. Bush administration, and he went on to serve as Alabama's emergency management director.

His Trump administration colleague, homeland security adviser Tom Bossert, gave Long a strong endorsement during a White House briefing Friday. "We couldn't have picked a finer leader," Bossert said. "He's had state director experience; he's had FEMA experience. He's absolutely the top of the top."

In Alabama, Long oversaw recovery efforts from tornadoes and the BP oil spill. Barry Scanlon, who worked at FEMA during the Clinton administration and is now a private consultant, says Long is well-regarded in the field.

"He's got the relationships throughout emergency management, throughout the states," Scanlon says. "He has the respect of the people who do this every day, which is vitally important."

Long was an emergency management official in Georgia, where he served as the Statewide Planner/School Safety Coordinator for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency from September 1999 to November 2001.[2] He worked for the Federal Emergency Management Agency as Hurricane Program Manager from November 2001 to January 2006.[3] Long was the Southeast Regional Director for Beck Disaster Recovery from February 2007 to February 2008.

Long headed the Alabama Emergency Management Agency from 2008 to 2011 under Governor Bob Riley and developed the state's response to the H1N1 influenza. During the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, he was the State Incident Commander for the Alabama Unified Command.[4]

In 2011, Long joined the emergency management consulting firm Hagerty Consulting, where he was executive vice president.[5]

President Donald Trump nominated Long to be administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency on April 28, 2017.[4] On June 20, 2017, he was confirmed by the United States Senate with a vote of 95 to 4.[6]

Guinevere wrote:Family of mine, by marriage, are in Corpus. The forecast I saw last night indicated up to 2 feet of rain.

And Miss Lois, if anyone remembers, is in Houston.

Really hoping this speeds up and zips through with minimal harm. I have zero confidence in FEMA right now, either.

Lord Jim wrote:

I have zero confidence in FEMA right now

I don't know...

The new FEMA director, Brock Long, looks like he's got a pretty solid background in emergency management, and he was confirmed 95-4:



The Tonkin resolution was passed:

Passed the House on August 7, 1964 (416-0)
Passed the Senate on August 7, 1964 (88-2)

Harvey spawns 'catastrophic' flooding in southeastern Texas

(CNN)"Catastrophic" flooding paralyzed sprawling Houston and other deluged towns in southeastern Texas as Tropical Storm Harvey pummeled and drenched residents and first responders.

"Stay put," the National Weather Service advised.

One of the two fatalities in the ferocious storm occurred in the Houston area when a woman drove her vehicle into high water, city police said. Police said they believe the car became inoperable or the water was too high to pass through. The victim got out of her vehicle, was overtaken by water and drowned.[I believe the technical term for this is "Death by stupidity"]

The death occurred amid dire warnings to the region's residents:

A flash flood emergency was in effect for parts of the Houston area. The National Weather Service and local officials are advising Houston-area residents to avoid traveling. Three to 4 inches of rainfall were reported in the region in one hour's time. The storm spawned tornadoes and lightning, with extensive damage reported.

The National Weather Service said maximum sustained winds are near 45 mph with higher gusts and some weakening is forecast over the next few days. The tropical storm, forecasters say, in the latest advisory "is likely to become a tropical depression by tonight.".

Some weakening is forecast during the next 48 hours, and Harvey is likely to become a tropical depression by Sunday night. But authorities say now is not the time to relax.

"It's going to last four to five days," Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said Saturday night. He urged drivers to stay off the road.

"This is Day One," he said.

The slow-moving storm is expected to drop 15 to 25 inches of rain over the middle and upper Texas coast through Thursday. There could be isolated storms that reach 40 inches of rain."

"Rainfall of this magnitude will cause catastrophic and life-threatening flooding," the weather service said.

Perhaps Canute [Newt = Knut = Canute - geddit???] Gingrich will visit the shoreline this a.m. and save the day?