A Tribute to Houston

[4est_4est_Gump]

This struck me, maybe because I have lived in the Westheimer/Gallaria district:


https://spectator.org/the-modest-glories-of-houston/


Enjoy!

 

[Lancecastor]

I saw people up to their ankles in water.

Weak disaster. Bah.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

I could post a ton of photos showing people trudging through waist-deep water, but I'll let the dead, swept away and drowned, do my talking for me...

 

[Lancecastor]

All i saw on cnn was black people in ankle deep water being "rescued" by suburban white guys on jet skis.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

I'm not about to let you bait me.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

...

People, in short, have been helping each other out. The reason used to be called “fellow feeling,” the attitude of sympathy or empathy: the dropping of a tear, the extension of a hand to another in need of it. The embedded attitudes of the human race are on display in Houston, unmarred, mostly, by the garish brand of politics we take for normal in the early 21st century.

The Dallas Morning News tells of a pickup driver with “a boat and supplies and a determination to help. It was a scene that played out across the Houston area Sunday, as residents using boats, rafts and anything else that floated turned into rescuers.” The driver in question had covered 75 miles to see what he could do. He said, according to the News, “he wanted to help because people gave him a hand when he experienced a hard time earlier in his life.” It was payback time.

Whether in payback mode or merely acting under a generalized sense of obligation, volunteer rescuers poured, so to speak, into Houston streets, looking for challenges they quickly found. It was a little like Dunkirk during World War II — the miraculous and deservedly legendary rescue of trapped British and French soldiers from a French beach by civilian craft of every description: large, small, tiny, minuscule, the rescuers drawn to the task by a remarkable sense of duty. Their country’s soldiers, plus allies, were in peril. That was it: the whole rationale for setting out in defiance of German air power; the whole prospect as uncertain as it was dangerous. And yet it worked.

...

The human animal is a funny animal: brave, cowardly, argumentative, placid, concerned, indifferent; not infrequently, all at the same time. The human animal requires no artificial stimulus, no Twitter bursts. A sense of right, a sense of wrong; a sense of must, a sense of mustn’t, guides, and directs and steers. It is called for lack of a better phrase the natural law: the law written on the heart, unrepealable by circumstances, for all the distractions and rabbit trails down which events and mundane concerns may lead it.

William Murchison, American Spectator

 

[jaF0]

 

[Lancecastor]

No bait; houston was designed to flood, which is why the smart people all calmly left for their cottages and alaskan cruises before the rain started.

Those are the stories that should be on the "news".

Instead, they show the losers in a continuous video loop.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

I've discussed that in other threads.


It's a place where one inch of rain is a disaster. I remember our complex parking lot flooding on more than one occasion. It is however, usually not this relentless.





Yes, those with the means...

 

[Ishmael]

I've discussed that in other threads.


It's a place where one inch of rain is a disaster. I remember our complex parking lot flooding on more than one occasion. It is however, usually not this relentless.





Yes, those with the means...

Pretty much. I was in Houston for a trade show in '84 when a weak tropical depression hit. A few inches of rain, rain that no one would pay much attention to in FL literally paralyzed the city. It took me 4 hrs to get from the airport to the 810.

Ishmael

 

[RobDownSouth]

I've discussed that in other threads.
It's a place where one inch of rain is a disaster. I remember our complex parking lot flooding on more than one occasion. It is however, usually not this relentless.
Yes, those with the means...

Hey Chief, I live in Houston, we've had 25 inches of rain over the past three days, and my streets aren't flooded. Perhaps things have changed since you last lived here.

The Galleria area where you claimed to have lived is directly south of Buffalo Bayou. When the bayou overflows, those roads get flooded.

The main problem is this is the second "100 year flood" in 18 months. The Addicks reservoir was damaged during the last flood (they kept the flood gates closed at full capacity for 8 weeks afterwards) so they absolutely had to open the spillways this time. They added three feet of water to already-flooded Buffalo Bayou by design.

The only one-inch disaster ever seen in Houston was between your legs.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Pretty much. I was in Houston for a trade show in '84 when a weak tropical depression hit. A few inches of rain, rain that no one would pay much attention to in FL literally paralyzed the city. It took me 4 hrs to get from the airport to the 810.

Ishmael

The 610 loop used to be the worst, even when it was dry...

 

[Bigspurt]

One thing for sure is that this storm was "just a little old tropical depression" and therefore got no respect. Katrina crossed the tip of Florida and moved into the gulf as a Cat 1. We all know what happened there. This storm is different in that it didn't move much and still hasn't.
I hope they have those pump stations up and pumping in New Orleans or there will be some serious Katrina like damage there again.

ACOE is going to suffer the wrath of an angry president if there are failures and we all know how he doesn't hold back.

 

[Ishmael]

The 610 loop used to be the worst, even when it was dry...

I meant the 610, oh well. Both the loops are nightmares at rush hour. When I had to drive through Houston I always stayed on 10 right through downtown. Piece of cake as long as there wasn't some big accident. Same with Atlanta, stay away from that loop.

What I remember most was the underpasses for the surface streets. Instead of elevating the limited access roads higher they had dug a 'dip' under the overpass, which became swimming pools with any amount of rain.

Ishmael

 

[Ishmael]

One thing for sure is that this storm was "just a little old tropical depression" and therefore got no respect. Katrina crossed the tip of Florida and moved into the gulf as a Cat 1. We all know what happened there. This storm is different in that it didn't move much and still hasn't.
I hope they have those pump stations up and pumping in New Orleans or there will be some serious Katrina like damage there again.

ACOE is going to suffer the wrath of an angry president if there are failures and we all know how he doesn't hold back.

The track, when it moves, has it going right up the Mississippi River. A lot of people other than Texans are going to be affected by this storm.

Ishmael

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

I meant the 610, oh well. Both the loops are nightmares at rush hour. When I had to drive through Houston I always stayed on 10 right through downtown. Piece of cake as long as there wasn't some big accident. Same with Atlanta, stay away from that loop.

What I remember most was the underpasses for the surface streets. Instead of elevating the limited access roads higher they had dug a 'dip' under the overpass, which became swimming pools with any amount of rain.

Ishmael

My buddy and I, on the way to a seminar held by his teacher, got caught on the interstate in Atlanta, in a fucking jeep, in one of the worst downpours I have ever witnessed. We were blind, deaf and trying to keep moving lest of of those idiot drivers rear-end us...

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

PS - I read 610...

 

[RobDownSouth]

My buddy and I, on the way to a seminar held by his teacher, got caught on the interstate in Atlanta, in a fucking jeep, in one of the worst downpours I have ever witnessed. We were blind, deaf and trying to keep moving lest of of those idiot drivers rear-end us...

I drive on I-610 regularly, and drove on I-285 in Atlanta for 20 years.

Traffic must scare you boys.

Try Boston traffic sometime...that's the ONLY traffic in the USA that gives me pause.

 

[Lancecastor]

Toronto's 401 is it.

The Busiest Highway in North America. Is not in California. It's the King's Highway 401 in Ontario, specifically the part that travels through Toronto. Almost half a million vehicles per day pass through the busiest part of the route along sixteen lanes of traffic.

 

[jaF0]

One thing for sure is that this storm was "just a little old tropical depression"

It was a Category 4 Hurricane at landfall and remained above Tropical storm level for days and still is.


As far as the PUTZ, the only ones that will gain are his own contacts and those of his cronies, like Abbott.

 

[Wrong Element]

I drive on I-610 regularly, and drove on I-285 in Atlanta for 20 years.

Traffic must scare you boys.

Try Boston traffic sometime...that's the ONLY traffic in the USA that gives me pause.

Any city like Boston that didn't grow up around the car is a nightmare, which is why the best way to handle Boston is to find a place to park and take the train everywhere. Philadelphia is pretty bad too.

If I had to drive in Houston or Dallas on a daily basis, I'd go insane. Although one thing I will say for Dallas is that there are so many different highways, there's usually some sort of workaround if the route you intended to take is fucked up in some way.

I haven't had the pleasure of driving in Atlanta, but I've heard all the stories. The footage that we see anytime they get a half-inch of snow is always amusing.



Since these 100-year floods are becoming an annual thing in Houston, that implies (at least) one of three things: it's a fluke; the climate is changing; the sprawl-y, "fuck zoning" way the city has developed is making a bad situation worse. They might want to come up with some answers, because the Gulf isn't going anywhere.

 

[RobDownSouth]

Any city like Boston that didn't grow up around the car is a nightmare, which is why the best way to handle Boston is to find a place to park and take the train everywhere. Philadelphia is pretty bad too.

If I had to drive in Houston or Dallas on a daily basis, I'd go insane. Although one thing I will say for Dallas is that there are so many different highways, there's usually some sort of workaround if the route you intended to take is fucked up in some way.

I haven't had the pleasure of driving in Atlanta, but I've heard all the stories. The footage that we see anytime they get a half-inch of snow is always amusing.



Since these 100-year floods are becoming an annual thing in Houston, that implies (at least) one of three things: it's a fluke; the climate is changing; the sprawl-y, "fuck zoning" way the city has developed is making a bad situation worse. They might want to come up with some answers, because the Gulf isn't going anywhere.

The construction in Dallas on highways is God awful right now, it's not pleasant.

The annual 100-year-floods are getting tiresome. Much of it is the "Fuck Zoning" chicken coming home to roost. We have arterial roads (50 mph) go from 4 lanes down to 25 mph two lanes through residential neighborhoods...it's surreal.

The Corps of Engineers recommended 200 yard buffers from the spillways and catch basins but developers built zero lot line homes right up to the boundaries. Libertarian best-use-of-propitty at its finest.

The Houston traffic has gotten much better in the past five years, they've substantially improved the major three North-South roads (and especially the interchanges). They built the giant Sam Houston Beltway AND the Highway 99 outer beltway which has been a Godsend but people won't use them because they are toll roads. I use them all the time because my time is money (and I have an expense account).

Houston has always been fucked geographically because Canadian winds blow unobstructed down the central plains until they hit the warm air mass over the Gulf of Mexico. The result is rain. LOTS of rain.

 

[RobDownSouth]

Toronto's 401 is it.

Jeez, forgot about that one. Attended a conference once in Toronto, had three hours to drive from the airport to the convention center, barely made it. 401 is a freaking parking lot.

 

[Lancecastor]

I'm loving Melania's High Water Boots!

http://assets.vogue.com/photos/59a589a4a3509217d2d2a90b/master/w_780,c_limit/00-lede-melania-stilettos.jpg

 

[zipman]

The construction in Dallas on highways is God awful right now, it's not pleasant.

The annual 100-year-floods are getting tiresome. Much of it is the "Fuck Zoning" chicken coming home to roost. We have arterial roads (50 mph) go from 4 lanes down to 25 mph two lanes through residential neighborhoods...it's surreal.

The Corps of Engineers recommended 200 yard buffers from the spillways and catch basins but developers built zero lot line homes right up to the boundaries. Libertarian best-use-of-propitty at its finest.

The Houston traffic has gotten much better in the past five years, they've substantially improved the major three North-South roads (and especially the interchanges). They built the giant Sam Houston Beltway AND the Highway 99 outer beltway which has been a Godsend but people won't use them because they are toll roads. I use them all the time because my time is money (and I have an expense account).

Houston has always been fucked geographically because Canadian winds blow unobstructed down the central plains until they hit the warm air mass over the Gulf of Mexico. The result is rain. LOTS of rain.

I can't believe Houston has no zoning laws. I just read that the wetlands have been completely built over down there and that made the flooding worse as there was no drainage.