I lived in SE Texas for ten years, including Port Arthur, Orange and Houston. I had two cars flooded at different times. My first year there, we experienced a 100 year rainfall twice, four months apart. That was 15 inches of rain in 24 hours. I’m sure the 100 year rainfall and the 500 year rainfall will have to be redefined given climate change. I feel very sorry for the people whose homes have been ruined. But to keep fixing a house that flooded is the very definition of insanity, isn’t it?
3
I'm certain more tax cuts for billionaires and corporations plus more drilling for oil will resolve this situation pronto.
2
Meanwhile, our leaders twiddle their thumbs, do almost nothing about flood control, and agree with their voters that ANY solution would be too expensive and raise taxes. I myself years ago watched a Dutch presentation on how part of the problem could be addressed and the politicos there only muttered about how expensive it was. Southeast Texas needs a flood control czar that could overrule the petty and short sighted interests of our local politicians (and yes, raise taxes to pay for the necessary public works), and once and for all take decisive action to deal with this. Harvey drenched an area that went from Beaumont to La Grange down to Corpus Christi. We all continue to be at risk, and continue to be penny wise and pound foolish.
2
Oh they'll be fine. Trump will save them, throwing paper towels to them or whatever else they need. Texas voted mainly for Trump, am I right? Texas re-elects Cornyn and Cruz, right? So they'll be fine and dandy I'm sure, thoughts and prayers from me but not one charitable donation until they start voting intelligently.
3
Read this very moving description of a woman, recovering from surgery, who died during Hurricane Harvey. Her husband phoned over and over and over for help, and got none, until it was too late:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/31/reader-center/hurricane-harvey-emergency-response-lessons.html
The confusion among 911 and other first responders, mistakes made, all added up until it was too late to save this woman, wife, mother......
2
Unlike some cities, Las Vegas, for instance, which have no ostensible reason for existing where they are, Houston does have a reason to be there, sort of. It is near a historic oil patch and has a natural port. It is a logical location for industrial infrastructure such as refineries. However, that doesn't mean it makes sense for all those people to flock there, half or more living in poorly planned settlements (perhaps 'planned' is an exaggeration) prone to regular flooding. As the effects of climate change intensify and the oceans rise, places like Houston will make less and less sense. Rural Western Pennsylvania is an excellent place to live, especially now that the winters are getting milder.
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Texas is not noted for land use planning. Sooner or later the price has to be paid. And climate change may be a contributor to the misery. Good land use planning as well as planning based on climate change predictions is a must to minimize the effects of natural disasters. Texas is not Bangladesh or Pakistan. It should do better when it comes to dealing with heavy rains.
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@Bob Gee, I dunno, I think you got a point... Houston looks a lot like Bangladesh might look like, if Bangladesh had oil.
2
Its crazy that we will use federal money to re-build homes that were just re-built. At some point we have to stop building in these places that are going to be flooded regularly because of our changing climate. In Cananda, home owners are no longer able to re-build and re-build and re-build with federal money. The government is instead buying these home owners out of the impacted neighborhoods. If homeowners chose instead to rebuild they sign away future compensation from the government in event of another natural disaster. Its harsh, but realistic.
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@Alicia H It is harsh. I agree with you that certain areas should not be allowed to rebuild. Nevertheless, you also have to put things in perspective. How many areas can handle 42" of rain in 24 hours or 4"/hr for sustained periods? Much easier for hilly areas to perhaps handle (although, I recall landslides when I lived in SoCal).
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@Fernando
I think the point is that it's not just a one time thing; 42" of rain in 24 hours is going to happen every couple of years moving forward.
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@Alicia H Texas has few zoning plans and seems to generally allow developers to build where they choose even putting schools and nursing homes next to dangerous chemical storage facilities. Maybe it is time the communities in Texas start protecting voters with actual zoning plans. Ironic that Trump's land grab for his wall will be a precedent for communities to take land from individuals for a state or national "need".
Times are changing and storms with significant rainfall seems to be the new reality.
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Is this the point at which Texans and all the other oil state die-hards who've been religiously lying and denying climate change these past 40 years finally decide to give in to reality?
How about ex-Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson and Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. Cornyn and Cruz and all the others liars? Do they sheepishly duck their heads at the local cafes and barber shops?
At which point do the locals turn to these climate criminals and say, "Well, what about it, Rex?"
How many loud and proud Trumpists will finally lay off the phony volcano/sunspots/historical pattern hooha and the "American Exceptionalism" KoolAid and start admitting that maybe we'd better get serious real fast about alternative fuels and technology and making friends with the world instead of building walls against them?
What about it, Y'all??
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@IRememberAmerica You speak as if somehow the world can instantly move away from fossil fuels. That's not possible. Many are not denying climate change. Go speak to people versus living in your partisan bubble.
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@IRememberAmerica Rex Tillerson acknowledged climate change and supported a carbon tax
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@Fernando Poster is talking about Texas, not “the world”. Face it, you backed a GAME SHOW HOST who believes in “thoughts and prayers”. So grab those bootstraps kid, you’re on your own
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This catastrophic flooding around Houston can no longer come as a surprise. This is what happens when developers have free reign and the local governments fail to stop building where it does not belong.
I feel for these people (like those on the Outer Banks), but I don't want my taxes going to rebuild these areas: It is time for them to move and let nature take over because with climate change things are only going to get worse.
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@BMD
I agree. The National Flood Insurance Program should be a "one and done" system, whereby if there is a second flood-loss event in a recognized flood zone the property owner is on their own.
Politicians and the Federal Gov't who deny climate science have placed the burden on taxpayers to pay for the stupidity of people who do not have the sense to move out of areas that are increasingly becoming inhabitable. These officials need to be removed/voted out of office to protect public welfare and the public good.
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@BMD
You are right that developers have free reign. This whole country has grown the way it has because developers and greedy or ill-informed local officials have heir way before the citizens are fully aware of what is at stake. It has been a sad thing to see this beautiful country and its towns and villages turned into strip malls or worse.
And now we all get to pay the consequences because of the climate change deniers. Stupidity is tough to deal with and our education system isn't being helped by being starved for funds by people like Betsy deVoss.
Greed says it all, and I am so sorry for all the flood victims. We have known for decades that natural flood control works and over-development and levees, etc. don't.
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@BMD
The Texas model of light-touch regulation and business above all is what put so many homes in flood-prone areas.
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I find myself conflicted. I admit to being somewhat smug that the U.S. region most responsible for U.S. climate change denial is repeatedly taking it on the chin (Houston and Louisiana, with their abundance of petrochemical bought politicians). But my heart goes out (I guess you could say it “bleeds”?), for all of the good people of TX and LA that through no real fault of their own (except for the politicians they continue to elect), have to bear the physical, mental, and financial brunt of these more and more frequent disasters.
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@JDL my heart seriously bleeds as well. Thoughts and prayers for Texas.
@JD They keep voting for it though don't they?
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Four disasters in 14 years in Beaumont-Port Arthur. Alicia, Ike, Harvey and now Imelda. People there might consider moving to higher ground. Or get out of Dodge...
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@Mike C. Maybe start by voting the climate change denying oil company boot lickers out of office...
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If only the NYTimes still used maps, we could see what areas had the worst flooding. I guess I'll check USA Today.
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To paraphrase Upton Sinclair, it is difficult to get a state to understand that fossil fuels are destabilizing the climate when it's economy depends upon not understanding it.
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Rather than FEMA dollars (which are paid for with our taxes too), those who don’t live here could assist us by not using gasoline, natural gas, or petroleum products. This would eliminate the jobs that keep attracting people from all over the world. Hence, reduction of development, less concrete, less traffic. So stop moving here so we can reclaim our natural wetlands and prairies!
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I live in the Beaumont area. We had little to no warning on Wednesday morning that this would be anything other than a heavy thunderstorm. The rapid intensification of the storm happened over the course of a couple of hours, and the school districts did not cancel school until the wee hours of Thursday. My family is always hurricane prepared, and we watch the weather. However, most of us were caught completely off guard by the severity of this storm. We expected about 10” of rain. No evacuation requests/orders were issued.
I am not a climate change denier. I do not vote for those that are. I am tied to this area by my husband’s job or I would leave for a bluer part of the country. In a heartbeat.
That said, the ports of Houston and Beaumont are pretty important to the nation. So is I-10 as it connects Florida to California. Thus, communities have been built around them. After Harvey, many areas that are known to flood in hard rains were not allowed to rebuild houses. I expect that many more of those zones will be announced soon.
The Beaumont area is capable of taking 10” of water over the course of a day. In fact, we’ve grown a little used to it. We are NOT capable of taking 20-40” in 12 hours. There are places that are currently flooded that did not flood with Harvey simply due to the fact that the rain was so overwhelmingly concentrated. My house is on a small hill, and we are dry. With sadness, today we were once again watching airboats with our neighbors on our road.
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@Jessica Jansen
"... I live in the Beaumont area. We had little to no warning on Wednesday morning that this would be anything other than a heavy thunderstorm. …"
Stop looking at the tree, observe the forest. What happened in Beaumont has been predicted for at least 3 decades. I'll go out on a limb and make a prediction: it is going to happen again at least one (but likely many) more time in your lifetime.
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"Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."
Just how many times does eastern Texas have to flood before people admit climate is changing?
Shame on climate deniers.
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And this is the best it's going to be, ever again.
Every time we set a new record for rain/floods/whatever, all we can look forward to is: next year it will be worse.
But sure, keep rolling back emissions regulations. Let's use every last drop of oil on Earth before the lights go out forever.
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As a resident of Houston I am shocked by these comments. Very few people expressing Christian concern and demonstrating grace. One commenter even suggested that FEMA funds be withheld. Unbelievable. That is what is wrong with America. We need to return to being a community of faith and caring.
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I live in the Beaumont area, and I understand some of these critiques. It is harsh, but we did this to ourselves. The people that represent us withhold assistance for areas of the country that also need disaster relief. They work to subvert policies that would enable good stewardship of this land that we are fortunate enough to have been born to.
I used to attend and work at a church.
Sunday morning Christians have driven me away from the faith community. Especially those who refuse to listen to science, turn away refugees, cast aspersions on those who are different than they are, and are pro-birth instead of embracing very pro-life ideas that provide care for people from the cradle to the grave.
So, if people say things like “thoughts and prayers” in a sarcastic way, it hurts but I get it.
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@William Kiper where was that “Christian concern” when Trump was yabbering about Mexican rapists, Obama’s birth certificate, and Democrats who “hate America”?
Perhaps you need to be reminded of the Republican mantra: ten worst words in the English language are “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you”
So grab those cowboy boot straps and pull! It’s “Everyman for himself”, just like the religious-right likes it!
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@William Kiper - We cared enough to vote for people who would do something about this and we cared enough for our tax dollars to go for things like FEMA funding. Right wingers told us to go pound sand. We're getting tired of caring.
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I . think that the name Imelda is poorly chosen since it reminds one of Imelda Marcos and suggests that it is raining shoes.
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@Norman Canter, M.D. I live here and I think it’s a good name.
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Honestly, shoes; cats; dogs. What’s really the difference??? :-)
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Land use planning is socialism at its worst. Wait, I need FEMA support and subsidies to rebuild.
LOL
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Huh. If only scientists had warned us.
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Thoughts and prayers to all those in Texas...however, I don't think any FEMA money should be available until Puerto Rico is rebuilt as they are Americans too.
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@CKA we pay taxes therefore we pay for those benefits! How dare you say that about an area thats been affected twice by flooding!
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An Inconvenient Truth (2006) warned of a future with more violent tropical storms due to global warming. I wonder if it is now legal to show that movie in Texas, Florida, and North Carolina?
I found the movie credible at the Time and dramatically so now. Hence, I find news of those underwater due to more violent tropical storms nominally interesting. Along with their antipathy to federal action, I also find federal flood insurance under these conditions an absurd waste of federal tax money. Let's good off that road to socialism before it floods again.
Thoughts and prayers for the flood victims.
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Don't think it is a Republican or democratic problem. As long as cities and states allow bldg to happen in flood zones, this will keep happening.
NOLA is allowing people to rebuild in 9th ward. Slidell, ditto. The state should have granted funds to land owners as long as the land could be returned to mother nature, and not built on again. When you take away the buffers which mother nature needs, you are asking for flooding. Florida has flooding in many low lying areas repeatedly, only to allow rebuilding. Same on the coastal areas in tx. People wanted cheap land and look where that got them.
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I wish no person or place ill, but the karma of this second recent catastrophic storm/flooding event in the very heart of the oil and gas business should be noted. This area has also sent more than a few climate-change deniers to Congress.
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Hope all folks effected are safe, but, and not to be insensitive, but folks have known about this storm for long enough to evacuate. Particularly in low lying and flood prone areas...It never ceases to amaze how folks don't take this sort of thing seriously and put responders in significant danger rescuing.
1
At least Texas is one of the states that backs Trump's claim that climate change doesn't exist. Think about how much worse this flooding could be if it were caused by global warming, like the world's scientists say it is. So, for Texans, this is just another of those Trump's "acts of God".
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How about if I act like your typical climate change denier? ("This can't be real because it's dry as a bone where I live?") When are people going to realize that our planet is changing because of us?
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Texas is going to need a state income tax to assist their climate refugees. My blue state tax dollars should not go to any state that doesn’t have a state income tax but is drowning in denial.
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New normal, even if the GOP says it is not. GOP 'Grand Oblivious Party'!
Vote them out if only to save your own families for years to come.
7
Raking, especially around oil refineries should solve the problem. Maybe Texas can borrow James Inhofe's snowball and bring it to the next State Senate session.
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These are the serious issues of our time that we as a society and government should be tackling. Instead, we are constantly distracted by useless rubbish from our president. By the time we decide to put an adult in charge and focus on climate change, I fear it will be too little too late.
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This is the 5th 500 year flood in 5 years. Of course climate change is to blame. All the politicians who deny this obvious truth are responsible. How anyone could vote for any of these fools is beyond me.
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@Ezra please stop with the false equivalency. It’s not “politicians” that are the problem, it’s REPUBLICANS
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Isn't Houston the place where the spill over for the dam was where developers built some of the newer houses? Spill overs should not be where people have mortgages. There should not be people living in spill overs. Houses should not be rebuilt in the path of climate change. Texas is due for some new leaders that won't just sit there and take the money from developers and the oil industry.
4
I remember when Texas didn't want to help NJ with "Sandy" hurricane relief.
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Climate change is only part to blame for the continued flooding in Houston. The more contributing factor is the lack of proper zoning and planning. Since Harvey the county has allowed massive warehouses to be build many of them constructed near residential communities. Now neighborhoods that have never flooded are experiencing water run off that would have been absorbed within those once wooded areas. You would think that after all the past flooding in the Houston area that things would change. We are now having so call 100-year floods every few years.
10
This was predicted by climatologist after Harvey. Building in the flood plains as has happened so much in Houston has created a permanent problem. It is just a matter of when not if for this to repeat itself. I feel sorry for those effected but it time to elect public officials who recognize climate Carnegie and are not in the back pockets of developers.
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@Steve
Sorry for the typo should be climate "change" so much for auto correct.
1
As long as a climate change denying demagogue holds people captive - as long as religious fundamentalists keep them from science, we are not facing the reality our very own lifestyle is creating. Wind, solar, stationary hydrogen need developing now in for an entirely new infrastructure of energy. And - the world would follow. But we must lead. To lead we must elect new leaders, not those owned by the fossil fuel industry. It is either this - or facing increasingly harsher weather related realities with no hope in sight.
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Houston, New Orleans, Miami, the NC Outer Banks, portions of Manhattan . . . How long can we afford to repeatedly subsidize the reconstruction of homes and businesses in these areas that are in permanent flood zones and will be permanently lost to the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico within years due to irreversible climate change? I do not want another dime of the already outrageous Federal taxes I pay to go toward this. These people should have their move subsidized once at most by the Federal government. After that, they should receive no further assistance, because it is by their own choice or denial that they lose their home or business again.
19
@James. Such drama. Weren’t these areas forecast to be gone by now? And by the way, I don’t want to,give any assistance to California.
1
@James
This is not an isolated incident but part of overall climate change. Why do the people most affected continue to vote for Trump, who denies it? This is a puzzle to me Poor people suffer the most and Trump could not care less about them.
9
Perhaps the Texas Legislature should spend time on preparing for "climate change" and stop its War on Women's Reproductive Rights.
Clearly there is neglect by a state government which should be prepared for seasonal flooding and for providing shelter for residents. Texas voters should consider holding Texas Republicans accountable for their failures to protect them and to provide assistance from regular flooding.
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I just drove through this storm. Harvey references are spot on. All the retention ponds are near capacity and roads are filled with water.
We have been here over 20 years and this is the first time I have seen storms with this much rain three years in a row.
The Texans have themselves to blame for the sprawl, the Hwy-99 that acts like a 40 mile long dam, and for state govt that does not support any climate change efforts.
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I live here in Houston and today's heavy rain was just like Harvey. Only difference is that Harvey's rain continued for 5 entire days! We are experiencing flooding all over the city and East of here Beaumont got hit hard. It's been raining for 5 hours now. The only silver lining is the temp is 73 compared to mid 90s.
16
I feel for those affected by this flooding. Hopefully many of these people will call for their state and national leaders to take climate change seriously because at some point FEMA will be out of money to help.
I live in Texas and power my home and two cars with solar. The savings is over $500 per month so it makes economic sense and environmental sense.
Start embracing renewables and stop supporting one of the many causes of climate change burning of FOSSIL FUELs.
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@J. R. Are you planning to tell India and China to,stop using fossil fuels?
@J. R. - My Republican father had solar panels on our house in the early 80s.
It's a shame that common sense and responsible behavior have become so politicized that people refuse to do things that will benefit them merely out of spite.
9
@Jackson what’s with the rhetorical question ?
I used to live in Houston where I still have many friends.
God bless them.
42 inches of rain even in one year is a lot of water.
In 24 hours - it's simply unbelievable.
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@Neil
The annual rainfall in New Jersey is typically around 46 inches.
In 1966 Buffalo Springfield sang:
There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear..
Although that song went on to describe civil unrest, I think it now works to describe Climate unrest.
14
I don’t know how people thought climate change was going to affect them, but this is what I envisioned - storm by storm, (or fire by fire) neighborhood by neighborhood, slowly abandoned as people can’t rebuild fast enough between events that come more and more often.
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Benjamin---2 words, Benjamin...Climate Change!
(adapted from the film, 'The Graduate', 1968.
16
Didn't Governor Perry hold a prayer session for rain in Texas a few years ago? It's time to get Perry back on the horn to Jesus and let him know the rain can stop now.
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This is another reminder that our state’s leadership is unable to function in 2019. They were elected in part on a promises that 1) they would be good stewards of our resources and infrastructure 2) that they (specifically the governor down through the attorney general were “tough on crime”). And look. We’ve had two mass shootings, and now this. Meanwhile our attorney general is wasting our time and resources on some suit against google. Instead of like, you know, being tough on the criminals that are buying assault weapons. And our governor seems to have no proactive plan for climate events. Hurricane season, like Christmas and the Super Bowl comes ONCE a YEAR. Stop acting surprised when it happens. BE PROACTIVE, invest in our infrastructure. It’s not hard. And we have really good schools here, we even have several with really good engineering and public administration programs. Come on. There’s no excuse for this, it’s embarrassing at this point.
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@Mau Gmz Climate change and Republican government do not go well together, it seems. You get what you vote for in Texas. I.E., government that doesn't work, because that's the Republican philosophy of governing. Mess it up until it fails, then crow "See, we were right. Big government is bad".
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@Mau Gmz: 1. Why not first vote out those who deny the climate changes. With that you are more likely to get funding for any of the related infrastructure. 2. Why just ban assault weapons for criminals only, why not for every one? There is not need for assault weapons for anyone in a society (except for military).
2
@Mau Gmz. You’re absolutely right about that. The majority in our State Legislature is hopelessly inept, and I don’t think most of them are bright enough to realize just how inept they are. They constantly harp on the wrong things (keeping the transgendered from using the restroom), and fail to address what really matters (school funding, healthcare, our infrastructure). The only saving grace of the Texas Government is that Greg Abbott is in a wheelchair, so at least the State Lege hasn’t botched up our Accessibility laws like they have most everything else.
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Around the same time as Harvey, New York State opened the first part of the replacement for the old Tappan Zee Bridge. That project cost about as much as it would take to repair and improve the Barker and Addicks reservoirs in Houston, and build a much needed third to help alleviate the bayous. But while New York’s State Government is on the ball with this sort of thing, Texas’ isn’t.
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@RonBlood: would that we could vote all these imbeciles and their redundant staffers out of office in Austin. But it’s not so simple. These guys have taken partisan gerrymandering to an art form!
5
As a former resident of Beaumont, this breaks my heart.
10
Yikes. It sounds awful. It also sounds like the rain is coming down faster and even more intensely than Harvey, which "parked" over parts of Texas for days. I'm hoping there is no loss of life.
7
Imelda center went right over my home, but we are not on the wet eastern side thank goodness. The National Weather Service has done an outstanding job predicting flooding and issuing warnings which come straight to my cell phone. No one should be injured or hurt by this storm because warnings have been everywhere, continuous, and early enough to prepare or get out of affected areas. Yes, people cannot undertake their usual non-storm activities and it has been more than an inconvenience, but it is not the end of the world either.
7
Ok. Does this tell y'all maybe you should consider voting for someone who doesn't deny climate change? Stay safe Texas, and vote Blue.
136
Yeah because you know who doesn’t deny climate change? The actuaries that work for my property insurance provider. I’m sure they’ve even accounted our bad drainage systems.
30
@Mau Gmz Funny how the Pentagon, the CIA, the Defense Department, and insurance companies all recognize climate change... guess they're all a bunch of hippies.
I guess those organizations and institutions are just too darned left-wing for my wife's American, Republican, climate-change-is-a-hoax, relatives in Florida.
I hope sanity prevails.
11
@Mikeyz Houston does vote blue and, as a reminder, just because Texas lights up red on the maps you look at doesn't mean 100% of the state voted Republican. As a native Houstonian, it was maddening to see a lack of empathy from fellow liberals when Harvey devastated my beloved city. I see it's happening again this time around. I promise you that most Houstonians want to fight climate change just as much as Bostonians.
9
Margie Carroll had a far different experience than I did, I had to have flood insurance before I closed and it was issued on the spot, for 1.25% per year of the home's appraised value. I suspect her home was NOT insurable for flood due to prior damage and she is the victim of a real estate scam.
10
@etkindh1 She might not be in a flood zone! In that case she would not be required to have flood insurance in place at closing.
1
She might have paid cash for the house. Not needing a mortgage, why would the sellers care if she had flood insurance?
@Kay Tee:
I read after Harvey that flood insurance in Texas is VERY expensive.
We live in Florida and pay for flood insurance every year, though we have not yet used it. Some things in life are "no brainers".
Stay safe, everyone.
This is what the future looks like in the parts of our country that get wet - they'll get wetter. Storms hold more water, then drop it. Tropical storms are moving slower and seem to stall more often, dumping more rain on one spot. A good time for state and local governments to seriously consider what their lax zoning regulations will cost them going forward.
Yes, Imelda is just one storm. So was Harvey in 2017.
Yet in 2016, NOAA reported "In late April 2016, record rainfall fell in the Houston area, and some areas received nearly a season’s worth of rain in one night. The deluge led to deadly flooding, and nine counties were declared to be in a state of disaster."
August 31 2016, a Dallas Morning News headline: "August 2016 ties 1914 record for wettest August in Texas
Downpours throughout Texas this month have boosted August 2016 into the record books, tying a 1914 record for August rainfall."
The year before? Same paper, December 30, 2015 "2015 was Texas' wettest year on record" Records go back to 1895. That article quoted an article in the Chron:
"I've called this year's climate 'Texas' wild ride," state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon told the Houston Chronicle. "We recovered from one drought, then had another one, then recovered from it. Texas had its wettest month ever, and its wettest storm ever, and the wettest storm was not in the wettest month."
Nature is sending a message. Warming has effects.
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