How many people visited Oregon? I saw where a million were expected to according to some people.
Houston metro area has six times that many. Not even remotely the same. Never mind all the other differences.
Maybe this article is wrong, deb, but if it’s not, it sounds pretty bad.
Except my point is that you don’t have to evacuate everyone, just those in areas predicted to flood. Seems they’ve had plenty of opportunity to figure that out.
But I think making any suggestion for even partial evacuation is going to be futile in this forum, so I will stop suggesting it.
Ok, whatever you may think we really didn’t want Houston evacuated and I don’t think most people did. This was crazier than anyone could have imagined. Stop bickering about it and help! Houston has done a LOT to prevent flooding. It has been so much better than when we moved here in 1981! Add all the suburbs and Galveston to the mix and there are a tremendous amount of people to evacuate. Texans try to help themselves but this time we will need some help. The city I live in and everyone has done a wonderful job. We have had helicopters flying over looking for people to help. Boats on the main street by our house helping people. We have not flooded yet but are surrounded by water and it is pouring and the water is rising. Many houses in our neighborhood are flooded, subdivisions to the north and south of us have flooded. We are moving what we can upstairs and waiting. People have been evacuated in areas that are flood prone. Several cities and subdivisions are under mandatory evacuations. You need to live here and have been under an evacuation to understand. With more warning yes, we would have. This got bad WAY too fast.
Best of luck, @momofcarly, and kudos to the many many Houston heroes helping out with the evacuation in every conceivable watercraft. Rowboats and kayaks and little bitty boats with 1/2 hp motors are out there. I saw a pic of a guy on a paddleboard rescuing a little kid. Amazing. Look for the helpers indeed.
@momocarly Good luck you you! It is really easy to second guess these things. Areas that never flooded before or flooded once in a blue moon are now flooding. That is happening where I am in Virginia. Flood plains have been reconfigured, (which effects insurance rates), there are different building codes for new construction, some houses have been elevated, etc. So sorry that the flooding has been so extensive in Texas.
That would be a good start, along with updating the flood maps to reflect reality. Six storms of the same magnitude in 28 years sound more like “four year” than “hundred year” storms.
Thanks to all who’ve sent positive thoughts (re post 89).
So here’s my update - 2 days and as of now rainfall @ 20.96" We haven’t flooded and hopefully won’t. My husband went to the ER by ambulance this morning, which is a good thing as he really wasn’t doing well. I think he’ll be better off there.
General info and thoughts:
Called our local police station for info on how to get to a hospital (non-life threatening condition) and EMS came to determine husband’s condition. Time between call and first responder - about two minutes. He’s my neighbor but still … ambulance within 5 minutes.
Our usual hospital was inaccessible so we ended up at a different one. Staff has been there since Friday morning and all were exceedingly wonderful.
Voluntary evacuation - well, yeah, anyone who wanted to leave Houston could. Mandatory evacuation - umm, no. IMHO, the Mayor was right with the proviso that no one predicted - or could have - this mess.
Now it needs to stop raining - really!
Sympathies to all who are dealing with Harvey. (I almost feel guilty for not flooding - yet.)
@momocarly I hope things get better soon.
@ignatius what wonderful response to your call for medical attention!! Glad to hear your husband is under supervision-
And, great, really great you haven’t flooded!!! Ya really don’t need that now
Ignatius, best wishes for your DH. Hope they can keep him comfortable and reduce his worries. Glad EMS was able to get him quickly. Take care of yourself, too.
Now the news is reporting that New Orleans could have significant flooding from the storm. This keeps getting worse.
Thinking about how to prevent people getting stuck in floods the future, I was wondering if flood insurance premiums could play a role. Can people even buy flood insurance in areas that are highly prone to flooding? Or are the premiums very very high? I would think that not being able to get insurance or having to pay a high price would discourage building in those areas or people from returning to certain flood prone areas.
And I do recognize that some of this flooding is new. In some areas it has never flooded before.
@Lizardly To my knowledge, that is already the case and I’m sure insurance companies will get increasingly selective in pricing and location going forward.
I suspect many people either had no flood insurance, or very little. There were issues after Katrina, I recall, where people were trying to prove the problem was wind damage and not flood damage, because their insurance wouldn’t pay. The only way to get flood insurance is through the federal government as a separate policy, I believe. I wonder if they deny anyone?
We were required by our mortgage company to have it. When we paid off the house, we had the option to drop it. We kept it. Dh asked me Saturday, “We did keep it, right?” The policy wasn’t that expensive, IMO.
@busdriver11 You are correct in that most flood insurance comes through the federal government program bought through insurance agents although some is available through select private insurers. I was just reading on wiki that only 20% of homeowners in flood areas have flood insurance! Plus, if you don’t get private, the coverage is pretty low with 2 separate policies, one covering residence up to $250K and one covering personal property up to $100K.
And yes, the government requires it for mortgage holders in flood areas. Which makes me wonder about that 20% rate. Does that mean everyone else doesn’t have a mortgage?!
Flood insurance is optional for us because we are outside the 100 year flood plane. This area has NEVER flooded before. I would say 90% of the areas flooding this time have never flooded. By the way we have always bought the optional flood insurance and glad we have it. Our neighbor doesn’t and is scared to death. Tonight for us I think will tell if we flood or not.
Oh my God, I can’t imagine how awful and stressful it would be to not have flood insurance. Not only the possibility of losing all your possessions and your home, but all the money that you have put into it. And would the bank owning the mortgage come after you for what you owe them, also, after losing whatever investment you had in the home?
Awful. But I am very glad that momocarly has it at least, that is one less stress.
The flood maps are constantly changing due to construction. Neighborhoods which have never flooded before are now impacted by new neighborhoods built upstream. I have to wonder about “100 year flood”, “500 year flood”, etc, because we seem to get these every 10 years.