Really, you can't make this stuff up.

Hope you guys are still doing OK down there and keep us updated.

Ron

Duffel blog is satire.

We are doing well. Can't say the same for the rest of my little town. I went wading through knee to waist high water for a few hours today looking for people to help. I did not find many ways to be useful. I have no boat, lifted truck, or anything. I was willing to carry people, animals, goods, to safe places, but most had gotten out ahead of the flooding. I did rescue some cats though.





These two houses are houses that I looked at purchasing 2 years ago when I was house shopping.

 

Some live with this every year.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/0...n-flooding-kills-1200-displaces-millions.html

 

Duffel blog is satire.

We are doing well. Can't say the same for the rest of my little town. I went wading through knee to waist high water for a few hours today looking for people to help. I did not find many ways to be useful. I have no boat, lifted truck, or anything. I was willing to carry people, animals, goods, to safe places, but most had gotten out ahead of the flooding. I did rescue some cats though.

This one looks like an overly realistic HouseBoat, just floating down the river.





And this guy looks really serious for just rescuing a cat, was he clawing you?

 

Yeah, but it took some thought and you have to admit it was pretty humorous stuff. I wonder what the draft is on a destroyer?

Ron

 

Duffel blog is satire.

We are doing well. Can't say the same for the rest of my little town. I went wading through knee to waist high water for a few hours today looking for people to help. I did not find many ways to be useful. I have no boat, lifted truck, or anything. I was willing to carry people, animals, goods, to safe places, but most had gotten out ahead of the flooding. I did rescue some cats though.

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These two houses are houses that I looked at purchasing 2 years ago when I was house shopping.
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I know Duffle Bag is satire but it was a good story. The quotes were pretty funny.

That said the humanitarian outpouring has been really terrific and I am sure the cats appreciated your efforts. More important is you were out there wading around looking for people who needed help, boat or no boat. That in itself is pretty cool.

Ron

 

With the threat of hurricanes and flooding in Texas, I find it ironic that more and more development is being approved.

More development means paving over more bare, flat land and all the water that used to soak into the ground now has to run somewhere. Houston used to be open land and now 100s of square miles are now paved over. Now the city is flooded and the place is a complete disaster area.

It's high time for the federal government to get rid of flood insurance and let people accept all the risk of building where they shouldn't be building.

 

And this guy looks really serious for just rescuing a cat, was he clawing you?

YES.
Imagine you're a cat; you hate water. The bathtub is your worst nightmare.
Then one day your people leave you all alone and then your house turns into a giant bathtub.
Your food bowl is floating in the water. You're scared, hungry, pissed off, and then this weird stranger comes in and abducts you from the floating couch you've clutching for the past 24 hours.
Yeah they scratched the crap out of me and one of them bit my hand.

 

It's high time for the federal government to get rid of flood insurance and let people accept all the risk of building where they shouldn't be building.

let's get rid of life insurance too, since it's 100% guaranteed you will die.

 

With the threat of hurricanes and flooding in Texas, I find it ironic that more and more development is being approved.

More development means paving over more flat bare land and all the water that used to soak into the ground now has to run somewhere. Houston used to be open land and now 100s of square miles are now paved over. Now the city is flooded and the place is a complete disaster area.

It's high time for the federal government to get rid of flood insurance and let people accept all the risk of building where they shouldn't be building.

Approval? What do you think that place is? California?

https://qz.com/1064364/hurricane-ha...ed-urban-development-and-wetland-destruction/

 

let's get rid of life insurance too, since it's 100% guaranteed you will die.

Life insurance is not available for people who engage in high risk behavior.

If you live in an area with a lot of thunder and lightning storms and you run out and stand under a tree every time a storm comes through, it's sure bet your life insurance would be cancelled in a jiffy.

By the way, many are wondering how the state and federal governments are going to handle a severe earthquake in S.F. or L.A. The idea that earthquake insurance will bail out a major urban disaster is a complete joke and State Farm lost a cool $Billion in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake.

 

Life insurance is not available for people who engage in high risk behavior.

"Not available" is a sweeping assumption. Many (Most) standard life insurance policies do not cover certain activities but saying "not available" is just plain wrong. Life insurance is available for people with high-risk jobs or hobbies, it is just more expensive.

 

With the threat of hurricanes and flooding in Texas, I find it ironic that more and more development is being approved.

More development means paving over more bare, flat land and all the water that used to soak into the ground now has to run somewhere. Houston used to be open land and now 100s of square miles are now paved over. Now the city is flooded and the place is a complete disaster area.

It's high time for the federal government to get rid of flood insurance and let people accept all the risk of building where they shouldn't be building.

Have you ever been to Houston? It's not like other cities. Very spread out. You can get away without having a car in most large cities. Not in Houston. You can't normally just walk down from your 3rd story flat and go across the street for groceries. You have to get in your car and drive 5 miles past a lot of GRASS and other buildings to the store. That's the norm. The city is/was well engineered for flooding but there are some things to consider. In order of relevance:
#1 The areas which flooded the worst got up to 50+" of rain in an unprecedented "perfect storm." I don't think there's a city on earth designed to handle that.
#2. The areas most prone to regular flooding coincide with the areas which have suffered the most subsidence (Houston is literally sinking more each year).
#3. yes, Houston is growing, more concrete, less ground to absorb water.

 

https://apnews.com/07268e3b87154bd1...on-watches-dams,-levees;-forecast-offers-hope

Meteorologists said the sprawling city would soon get a chance to dry out.

When Harvey returns to land Wednesday, “it’s the end of the beginning,” National Hurricane Center meteorologist Dennis Feltgen said.

Harvey will spend much of Wednesday dropping rain on Louisiana before moving on to Arkansas, Tennessee and parts of Missouri, which could also see flooding.

But Feltgen cautioned: “We’re not done with this. There’s still an awful lot of real estate and a lot of people who are going to feel the impacts of the storm.”

The National Weather Service predicted less of an inch of rain for Houston on Wednesday and only a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms for Thursday. Friday’s forecast called for mostly sunny skies with a high near 94.

 

Proud to announce that my country is beginning to help Harvey's victims, in whatever small way it can:

http://www.snappytv.com/tc/5639192/3681493

 

Organic peroxide plant in danger.
http://www.arkema-americas.com/en/social-responsibility/incident-news/

https://www.reuters.com/article/storm-harvey-arkema-idUSL2N1LG229

Richard Rowe, who is chief executive of the company’s North America unit, told reporters the company expects chemicals on site to catch fire or explode within the next six days. He said the company has no way to prevent a fire or potential explosion near the plant that is swamped by about six feet (1.83 m) of water.

 

Why being on the road during a 'evacuation' can be more dangerous than staying in place.
http://www.khou.com/weather/harvey/...hile-trying-to-escape-harvey-floods/468579903

Found:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/30/us/van-family-found-houston-flood/index.html

(CNN)A van carrying six members of the same family has been found in the river where it was last seen Sunday, authorities said.

The bodies of Manuel Saldivar, 84, Belia Saldivar, 81, and their four great-grandchildren were found inside the white cargo van, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said.
"We have a total six confirmed dead," Gonzalez said in a news conference Wednesday. "Our worst fears have been realized."

 

That could get real ugly real fast. As the flood waters recede they will likely give up their dead, additionally there is no way to begin to know what has leached into the water from where. Guessing this could be real bad in industrial areas. Just feel bad for everyone stuck in this.

Ron

 

I have been watching the coverage since before landfall.
I am shocked and saddened by what all those folks are going through.
I am uplifted by the tremendous outpouring of help and support.
I am afraid because I know that there is much more to come and for a very long time.
I am angry because I know that coverage of what should have been done but was not done will make me suspect the sincerity of the coverage.

Sometimes I think that, most of all, I am humbled. Humbled because of how incredibly powerless we sometimes are.

 

https://apnews.com/07268e3b87154bd1...on-watches-dams,-levees;-forecast-offers-hope

Once the sun comes out and the temperature gets up in the 90s in the flooded areas, the MOSQUITOES will be the next problem!!!

And in Texas, the mosquitoes are so big that the airport is charging them a landing fee when they get on your skin and bite.

 

That could get real ugly real fast. As the flood waters recede they will likely give up their dead, additionally there is no way to begin to know what has leached into the water from where. Guessing this could be real bad in industrial areas. Just feel bad for everyone stuck in this.

Ron

Without a storm and flooding, the Ganges River in India is normally a toxic stew of industrial waste and sewage.

Yet 1000s go swimming in it everyday.