Harvey & Houston

[A12pilot]

Hey Folks,

Just wanted to stop in an give everyone an update down here from our end. We are VERY VERY fortunate to be safe and dry and having only lost power for a few hours here and there. Kelly and I are both home for this and not out on the road. We still have water, food, and safe from the flooding. On a statistical scale, it's reported that this flooding passes a theoretical 1000yr record. You can't even imagine flooding on a scale like that and it far passes Katrina in leaps and bounds. Houston is the 4th LARGEST city in the US. The area covered by the flooding is just unimaginable. Here are some photos by our house since I can't get anywhere else due to flooded and impassable streets.

These first four photos show the level of the water from the bridge that crosses a bayou about 1/2 mile from us. You can see in the first two, it's still below the bridge. This house is located right beside the bayou and that photo was taken before the bridge went under water. The other two photos are of the bridge totally submerged. The house that only had three feet of water in it is now totally submerged.

Cheers

Dave

[A12pilot]

These pictures show the other bridge that's further up stream of the submerged bridge. As you can see, it's right up to the bridge bottom. The one shot of the overflowing manhole cover is a block away from that bridge. The rainfall runoff from up top the hill can't go down the sewer into the bayou and is backing up and out of the manhole.

The next two shots are the clubouse in my community and the roads that lead to it. I'll post up a map of all this so it can be better understood how close it is to us. The clubhouse is under water and that intersection is impassable now.

Cheers

Dave

[A12pilot]

These photos show the clubhouse pool. There is an olympic sized pool there somewhere as well as tennis courts and a large parking lot. This was taken right before the street flooded in the latter photos. You can see that intersection is now fully flooded and I wasn't able to get further down due to the high water.

There's also an aerial shot of the park that's down the street from us on Cypresswood. It's about 7ft under water and there are several appartment complexes, subdivisions, and senior living centers on that road. All have been evacuated.

Cheers

Dave

[tom406]

Oh my. I hope your fortunes continue to improve. Thank you for the update and good luck.

[A12pilot]

This is my friend who lives on my street, Cypresswood, but further down by Bush airport. We've been texting back and forth and last night the water approached his house and he had 6" inside. By this morning, he had 4ft and was rescued by boat. Water continues to rise.

The bridge photo shows that overnight, the water rose another couple feet due to the debris field present. It actually has receeded a bit, but not much. The important thing is it's not increasing right now. We're still supposed to get rain today, albeit lighter, but that's not helping.

That bottom pic is the radar returns Sunday during the worst. It was wave after wave of this. I can't believe we had power throughout the storm but we weren't hit by the winds. That helped. Tornado warnings every :15 minutes. It's not over yet, but I think the rainfall total in our area was 26"+....some areas surpassed 3ft of rain. It's just not possible to think about that much rainfall!!!!!! To note, that shot of the bridge across the bayou, right behind the trees to the right are $500K+ homes....all flooded out.

Cheers

[A12pilot]

Here's a map I sketched out to show family and friends how close it is to us. Sort of labeled a few of the picture shots and where they were taken with the "star" symbol. Everything to the right of those green lines is flooded.

Despite the devastating floating, massive displacement of people, and unfortunate circumstances of this catastrophic event, it's just so refreshing to see everyone helping out when needed. The shelters are receiving donations fast and furious as people can get to them to drop off supplies. Several folks from Austin bought boats and headed this way to help. Shelters are civil, no rioting, and everyone is helping out where they can.

Everything is bigger in Texas and that includes flooding.... but it also includes hearts!

Cheers

Dave

[earntaz]

Dave -- our prayers are with you and yours. It appears there is help arriving not only from all of Texas, but other States as well. TAZ

[Woj]

Amazing Dave. Thanks for the photos and updates. Glad you guys are still dry. Also happy to see that in this politically charged nation, that some of that rhetoric has toned down and folks are helping out and taking care of each other down there. I can't imagine what the clean up for this will be like. Phil W.

[m22mike]

Thanks Dave, your very fortunate. Take care and say Hi to Kelly.

Mike

[RPOLS3]

Glad to hear you are OK, hope it stays that way.