There are places flooding right now that I didn't think could flood. In addition, the army core of engineers had to open the dams for a controlled release of 8,000 cfm into an already overflooded bayou to prevent the levies from 2 reservoirs blowing their banks. They say that this will make the flood water around that bayou rise another 4-6 inches per hour. They told people in certain communities to evacuate before they opened the dams. I am still ok where I live. Somehow.
He is in the gulf and rapidly strengthening. And now New Orleans is getting flooded, because of course it is. This has the potential to be the worst natural disaster in US history. I hate to say "probable," but.....
That's an awful photo. But, just FYI, in case anyone was wondering, just hours after that photo was posted with a request for help, those residents were evacuated and airlifted to safety.
Well to be fair, that picture isnt from the flood. Someone had put on a Frank Sinatra record a few minutes prior.
That photo should win a Pulitzer. Pure disaster combined with the doesn't-give-a-fuck iron attitude of seniors. The one woman in knitting on the couch, she's had it way worse.
My sister's ex husband works in that nursing home as a cook. Fortunately everyone survived (so far), and they've all been evacuated.
Real question: evacuated to where? It sounds like one of the first & biggest challenges here is going to be getting a handle on exactly how much is damaged. Also, isn't Houston the 4th biggest metro area in the US behind NYC, LA & Chicago? Estimates of $25b will be laughable. I read that they "lost" 54,000 acres of green land in the past 12 years to development, so that water had fewer places to go into the water table, and that much of this area has "frustratingly diverse" building codes, so it'll be difficult to assess what's damaged beyond code. I'm sure there will be plenty of blame to go around, but Jesus this looks awful.
We are the 4th largest in the US. About 4 million in the Houston area including the immediate suburbs and even more in the greater area. Our development has been the biggest problem because they built right onto the flood plains. People have nice homes right on the bayous and no one ever anticipated that they would all blow their banks and turn major roads and highways into rivers. I'm also concerned about disease outbreak if there are bodies left behind. We have had a major flood each year for the past 3 years and this one is the worst in history.
They evacuated them to the nearest piece of dry land and then.... not sure. Various emergency responders tried to help out and it turned into a clusterfuck. That was the last I heard. The issue is, trump has not yet appointed heads for all these emergency responder groups. Not trying to put it all on him or turn it political, but when you have no one organizing you and helping plan the movement of resources, people just kinda look at each other like "fuck it, I got med training and a boat, where you need me?"
On a completely unrelated but exceedingly humorous note, y'all remember when I was cutting BBQ wood with a hatchet, missed the wood and cut my finger to the bone? Yeah, life happens and babies and NICU and those priorities first, so finally got around to getting it x-rayed. Turns out I also dislocated it and broke it. Because apparently my stupidity has no chill.
I have a hard time believing a head of any kind of organization like that would have any appreciable impact on the effectiveness of that group during a crisis... they would be there for press conferences, as a show of concern from the powers-that-be, and to take the fall if shit doesn't work later. I tend to think that the boots-on-the-ground leaders are well entrenched and doing what they've been training to do.
The only thing I blame Trump for in this situation are the series of self-serving, tone-deaf tweets during the situation. The local people who run shit do a much better job than a national figurehead. The Cajuns and rednecks around here have been waiting their whole life for these moments. Boating through town saving lives. Its awesome.