OT: It Sucks to be Houston Right Now

Looks like they are going to get a total of over 2 feet of rain from this storm. That's a lot of rain. I'm not sure what would happen if that happened here. The lake has three spillways that can discharge over 40,000 cfs each, but that doesn't sound so big in the context of so much rainfall. The top of the dam is 15 feet above normal level which I believe means the dam would be topped before houses were flooded on the lake. But I don't know what would happen downstream. That kind of rainfall would cause massive flooding all over. Even if my house isn't flooded, it might be impossible to get in and out on the roads.

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Rick C 

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Reply to
rickman
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Water management costs money and is not very highly visible until the sh*t hits the fan. So it is not very popular amongst politicians.

Reply to
Rob

You're not in Houston. Your area has never once received that much rainfall in its recorded weather history, not even cloe. Why on Earth are you sweating it? You must be some kind of anxiety hound.

Reply to
bloggs.fredbloggs.fred

They would have to overdesign a 1000 year event by a factor of 4, which will not go over well with the people holding the purse.

Reply to
bloggs.fredbloggs.fred

East Coast states like New jersey and Massa2shits get flooded regularly because they *never* actually attempt solution to problems. Got to keep the populace subservient to government "saving" them every few years.

Here, in AZ, Scottsdale streets used to flood every time someone drank too much beer.

In the late '60's they wised up and completely bridged the Indian Bend Wash, deepened it and extended it all the way to the Salt River, and made it into a recreational area... a really nice park... must be something like 15 miles long.

Thus "100 year floods" (which, BTW, occur about every 5 years ;-) don't even get noticed.

Likewise the downtown area of my home town of Huntington, WV, was wiped out by Ohio River flooding in 1937. They promptly built a flood wall with drop-in gates at any streets reaching to the river edge. Voila! No more flooding.

Out here in the boonies of farm-land AZ Empire Boulevard flooded just recently due to run-off from an adjacent farmer's field. I notice that the county (Pinal) has already bermed that field (or forced the farmer to, who knows?), so no more flooding. ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

You are one weird dude.

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Rick C 

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Reply to
rickman

But usually after a big event where a lot of money was lost, there are some initiatives to improve the situation. Call in the Dutch!

Reply to
Rob

Massachusetts flood loss statistics 1978-present show an approximately equal amount of insurance payouts as West Virgina over the same time period, a state with 1/5th the population that's friggin' landlocked!

Texas will be right up there with Louisiana's _20 billion_ after this one I'm sure

Reply to
bitrex

Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama account for fully half of all flood insurance payouts over the past 40 years, almost like the overwhelmingly Republican leadership of those states don't give a f*ck and haven't for decades.

Socialize those costs and let everyone rebuild on my dime just to have everything knocked down again 5-10 years later, over and over. "WE WILL REBUILD"

Reply to
bitrex

You do know Houston is not a coastal city?

Reply to
bloggs.fredbloggs.fred

Do you really think that water management applies only to coastal cities??

Reply to
Rob

bitrex can always be counted on to respond with statistics falsified to suit his leftist twist.

_Huntington_ is perhaps 5% of WV's population. The rest of the state floods because of narrow valleys blocked in by mountains... and it rains a lot in WV.

AFAIK Huntington is the only city in WV with flood walls. ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

coastal cities don't flood much, the sea drains freely, you have to go below the sea level or inland to get a decent flood.

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Reply to
Jasen Betts

The Dutch still know the most about designing flood countermeasures.

Most of their dry land depends on it to remain safe. The highest point in Holland is in a nondescript parking lot near the Belgian border. (a bit like four state corners but with even less appeal)

Depends a lot on tidal range, phase of the moon, wind strength and direction that can lead to tidal surges. UK often has >15m tidal range.

London is protected from surges by the Thames barrier - it isn't on the coast but in the tidal zone and a very high tide stops water escaping down river. They are having to use it a lot more often these days.

All bets are off if you are below sea level and coastal defences breach.

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Regards, 
Martin Brown
Reply to
Martin Brown

ote:

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ich will not go over well with the people holding the purse.

Apparently that whole section of Texas is trying to reach the Gulf through Houston. This is not the first time it has flooded. There was an even worse flood in 1935, and there were floods before that. The problem with Houston is overdevelopment, lack of development regulations, lack of flood barrier development, just being Texas dumb as usual. And look at these flood insur ance payout stats:

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Reply to
bloggs.fredbloggs.fred

ote:

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Bye Jack

Reply to
jack4747

I suppose the ten trillion gallons of coal slurry left lying around is a joy to mop up.

Reply to
bitrex

It's not that simple. A river has a given width and there is a given drop in elevation. If more rain raises the level of water upstream, that raised level will flow down river against the obstructions until it reaches the sea. It is only at the sea where there is no further obstruction that the level is not rise.

In spite of being next to the sea New Orleans flooded because the level of water in the river and lake Pontchartrain rose above the canals. I did not matter that it was below sea level except that instead of being a few feet under water second stories of houses were underwater.

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Rick C 

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Reply to
rickman

That is why you need to call in the Dutch! But seriously, it would probably have been unrealistic to prevent this type of flooding.

Reply to
Rob

this flood appears to be only ankle deep.

I did not say _mean_ see level

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Reply to
Jasen Betts

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