Hurricane Harvey

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

Well, It stopped being funny when they started talking about Category 3….

As forecast the eye should come to a halt and head back out to sea about 15 miles from my house. Good thing I have those handy fire starters.

Seriously though, everyone is in full emergency mode here. Water will be the last service we lose and that is what is selling out in the stores. As long as I have enough for my coffee in the morning, no one will have to die.

Forecast is for up to 20" of rain. So 100 mph winds and lots of water? Maybe I'll go into the Oak firewood business. All the coastal towns have mandatory evacuations and Victoria, the closest big town went mandatory at 5:00 PM today.

I'm sure our county goober heads will follow suit by morning and I'll have to listen to those loudspeakers blaring around as I'm trying to board up windows in the rain.

Wish us luck. We're hunkerin down.


Alan

[hunter63]

My niece and her husband....also her mother (ex SIL) are across the bay from Corpus Christi........
She has already headed out to a friends place inland a ways.

Her husband is on the Fire Dept....so is staying , I guess....
That had all moved down there a couple of years ago....niece, husband, her mother/BF...husbands M and F....

We will see.....

Keep your head down and good luck.
Keep us posted if you can

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

That area may get some wind if the eye goes north of CC (which it appears it will do) but thankfully they will miss the main storm surge. It's not going to be any fun but it won't be as bad as Rockport and Port Lavaca are going to get. All surrounding counties are under mandatory. Goliad County is the only one left that is still voluntary. I suspect that by morning that will change.

#3 son (Firefighter/Paramedic Victoria FD) got relieved this evening. They may (probably will) have to go back on tomorrow evening.

Alan

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

I wouldn't wish this off on anyone, but, I wouldn't wish it on me either. The latest forecast has the center of the eye going precisely over my house. It loops around just north of Goliad, then to the west and them back northeast. We're high here But I've got four big oak trees and if it loops around and the eye goes over us I don't see how I can come through it with the four trees still standing. The ground will be saturated and the wind is going to blow from every direction… If I had any sense I'd be out there first thing in the morning putting them on the ground.

Alan

[kyratshooter]

I have to deal with the occasional tornado but I can really not imagine the stress you are under with this particular hurricane.

I am in north KY and when Ike came through ten years back the rain had dissipated but we still got the wind with a sustained flow of 70-80 mph. Took all the shingles off half the roof and blew trees down all over the place and that was just the worn out edge of a depleted storm.

You hang in there.

[crashdive123]

Stay safe. Check in with us when you can.

[Rick]

Stay safe, Alan. You guys are in my prayers.

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

I got all the hatches battened down, took a shower, washed a last load of clothes, #1 wife cooked supper… I started at 4:30 this morning and I feel like it's 6:00 PM instead of almost 2:00. It's going to blow for sure but I'm not seeing the rain predicted. That's a good thing.

Alan

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

It appears to be losing a bit of strength and the eye has gotten much bigger. I hope it continues to weaken.

Alan

[rebel]

Next week you can probably find a good deal on generators.

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

I have three now. But, you are correct.

Alan

[hunter63]

I got two after Y2K+1...,..... 5K Colman's for $250 each...was $700 buck machines....
Just stay safe...

[rebel]

The news is sayin' it's going to cat 4. Hang on.

[rebel]

I lived on padre island for a year and a half. Good times. I hope things go well for y'all.

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

It's getting more hurricanish but we've still got power and wifi.

Alan

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

Lights are flickering a bit so it may not be long until power is out.

Alan

[LowKey]

Check back in on the flip side. It looked really bad on the news this morning. Cat 4.

[kyratshooter]

The news is really making a headline out of this one.

Gators in the streets, buildings flattened.

"Uninhabitable for decades!" was one term I heard.

300,000 people without power, but how many of them are still present after the evac? Of course grid down is a temporary condition after a hurricane and will be brought back on line with time.

I have not heard of bodies floating in the flooded streets, gangs roaming and shooting at helicopters or widespread looting yet.

I am waiting to see how the emergency services react and with what efficiency. That is always a concern and every event is a test of their ability.

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

Well it pretty much sucked here. The wry passed within five miles. Rockport got hit hard. CC too. Still no power or water. I've got a battery Pac that charges the cell phone. A lot going on. To much to type on the phone.

Later. I haven't heard of any deaths but we can't get much news. Everyone behaving around here.

Alan

[rebel]

It might be a while before things are back to normal. Stay safe.

[shiftyer1]

I'm outside of lockhart tx, we've had 40 mile winds and around 13 inches of rain as of 6:30. It sounds like the rain will continue for the next couple days. I made it home about an hour ago.......I won't be able to get out for a couple days i'm sure. Not sure how I got down the driveway!

Ya'll stay safe on the coast!

[rebel]

I just read that because of the hurricane, gas prices are expected to go up 50 cents tomorrow.

[kyratshooter]

Watching the news tonight it appears things are going to be rough for a while.

It will take weeks before the water drains from those lowlands.

Just as expected the Texans are pitching in to help each other until full scale relief arrives. They probably will even after it arrives.

And just as we expected there are some acting like a deer in the headlights. They never expected "this"!

One thing that I noticed that I never thought I would see again. A whole news broadcast where the president was not slammed every other sentence, no purposefully embarrassing questions were asked of the politicians in charge and the attitude was as positive as possible. Very encouraging.

This is one of those things that happens that makes me wish I could go down there and help, but I would probably be more problem than help. I doubt that my 12 foot john boat and 50 year old motor would be much use to them.

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

Texans are their own relief. Well be through with the crisis and back to normal before "help" arrives from the Feds. Our entire street, save one or two, was out today cleaning up the whole thing. Then we had BBQed chicken.
We've got a few more houses to get to tomorrow, and then we're done.

Houston could take a while. To bad the storm didn't go north to Austin.

Alan

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

Those 12' Jon boats are the ones that can get around in neighborhoods.

Alan

[hunter63]

Texans are their own relief. Well be through with the crisis and back to normal before "help" arrives from the Feds. Our entire street, save one or two, was out today cleaning up the whole thing. Then we had BBQed chicken.
We've got a few more houses to get to tomorrow, and then we're done.

Houston could take a while. To bad the storm didn't go north to Austin.

Alan

Well done....we are pulling for y'all.
I was comforting to see dogs were being included in the rescue efforts.

[Rick]

Glad to see you back online. Glad everyone made it through okay.

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

Cell service has been good.

Houston is getting washed away.

Alan

[Phaedrus]

I'm glad you came through it okay. Hopefully things will get back to normal soon.

[kyratshooter]

I heard on the news tonight that enough water has fallen during this storm to fill the Grand Canyon.

I have seen the Grand Canyon and that seems a stretch.

[Pop Alexandra]

Prices will get back down in a couple of month, don't worry.

[Rick]

There their are those that try to help out during a crisis....themselves. Thank you Best Buy.

https://media.tmz.com/2017/08/29/0829-best-buy-expensive-water-3.jpg

[kyratshooter]

Harvey arrived here at about 7am.

Steady heavy rain with 20mph wind and temps in the 50s. Feels like November.

We have been on flood watch since Wednesday. I don't see water yet, but I live on top of the hill and I have not been out of the house all day.

It pounded my son all day and night yesterday. He lives in Nashville and they were getting 2" per hour for much of the day. Heavy flooding down there.

[rebel]

http://raygano.com/what-i-have-learned-from-hurricane-harvey-pt-1/

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

I have been putting together a list much like the one in the article. I'll post it when I'm done. As prepared as I was, I was still short in some areas.

Alan

[LowKey]

Rick, I like your Best Buy guy there, gun on hip guarding overpriced water...

[natertot]

Breaking down the cost of that water per bottle, still cheaper than most tourist areas.

Glad to hear you're safe Alan. Keep you're head above water and your duck floatie nearby.