LET'S ALL HELP HOUSTON!

This was a 1000-year flood, after two 100-year floods, in ten years.

Already insurance companies are pulling out of some areas once covered in the NE due to storms there a few years ago. This will happen with increasing frequency. And I've seen a number of people who said this is their third flood and they are leaving Houston for good. One women interviewed moved to Houston after losing everything in Katrina. People and insurance companies will only tolerate this so much before leaving the gulf coastal areas for good. You don't build homes that are going to get wiped out every decade. And if you do, don't come asking for tax dollars or FEMA money.

Btw, having natural marshes and land barriers help to reduce the intensity of the storm. This is one reason Katrina was so bad. Many of those homes were built on previously existing land buffers.

Also, your logic is flawed and based on a false premise. The odds of a 1000 year flood next year are no different because we had one this year. The odds are 1:1000 just like this year. Beyond that, it may be more likely than normal due to weather patterns. On top of that add climate change. We might see 1000 year floods every 10 years in some areas.

Houston is a great example of what we can expect from climate change.

 

I don't believe in socialism at all. The use of government funding to help in disasters is a form of it, but that is not my choice- that exists in part because of other people's ideology and promotion of dependence. I think it is inadequate and well as a way to force people to do something they may not choose to. One of the effects are to cause some people to believe all the help should come from government- so there is no need to help personally.

I'm one of those guys who steps up to help people when I see they genuinely need it, and I don't wait until I'm asked. Nor do I accept reward- I simply say, "Pay it forward'. However- I won't leave people in dire need out of indifference, and I don't ask about politics before or afterwards.

 

True; the odds of a certain storm level do remain the same year to year- just as the odds in gambling. Every year the odds of a 1000 year flood are 1000 to one. However, winning the lottery today is no indication that it will happen again soon.

There are a great many controls being used to consider drainage issues; I ran a construction business, and I've seen a lot of them. Not perfect, of course, but the issue is not ignored. As for blaming it on climate change- I don't know anyone who can reach that far and not be guessing. Climate has been changing in both minor and major ways since time began. I don't think the ice melted 20,000 years ago because of industrial emissions, but it did melt, and we don't really know why.

Insurance companies- insure against risk. If the risk or cost increases, they raise premiums and do just as well. A few years back we had lots of damaging hail- so premiums changed and deductibles grew. They don't run unless regulations make it impossible to profit. They exclude themselves from flood risk everywhere- mountain tops included. Flood insurance is government subsidized, but most homes damaged in Harvey do not have insurance that covers their loss- and their mortgages are still binding, even if the house is totaled. You may not be aware that Federal aid does not rebuild private homes; the best help on that level might be low-interest loans. There will be a lot of bankruptcies and difficult financial times to come for those people.

 

Here's another way to help:

Send items directly to the food banks emptying their shelves to help in Texas from online retailers:

San Antonio Food Bank, 5200 Enrique M. Barrera Pkwy , San Antonio, TX 78227 (210) 337-3663. This food bank is in emergency response mode to support the local and statewide needs resulting from the aftermath of the Hurricane.

Central Texas Food Bank, 6500 Metropolis Drive Austin, TX 78744 (512) 282-2111. This food bank is preparing emergency food boxes for distribution in the shelters.

Both food banks stand ready to receive your support. Please share this information with your field components. The food banks need the following items:

• Hand-held snack items such as granola bars
• Baby food and diapers
• Pop-top, ready-to-eat items
• Shelf-stable pantry items such as peanut butter, tuna and soup, cereal, canned fruit and fruit cups
• Bottled water
• Cleaning supplies (bleach, non-bleach, paper towels, etc.)
• Personal hygiene items (toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc.)

$100 more in food and water is now on it's way.

 

Good news, and good advice. They need everything they can get!

 

If people are worried about how their money is spent, order food and water yourself online and ship it directly to the food banks.

That way you know your money is going to food and water for these poor people.

 

I am not asking anybody to pay anybody else's bills. You are.

 

Get this. Just one affected county in Texas has received as much water in the form of rain, as goes over Niagara Falls in 15 days.

It was trillions of gallons. I didn't hear the exact number of gallons

 

Just seems to me, much of the spending/ R&D/planning etc., tied up in getting to/inhabiting Mars & such, could / would be better spent doing tge same things here, on our planet/in our own country's deserts, & other such inhospitable areas, as well as those areas in High Risk Zones is all.

 

For the price of the Iraq war, we could have mostly converted the US to carbon-neutral alternative fuels.

According to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report published in October 2007, the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could cost taxpayers a total of $2.4 trillion by 2017 when counting the huge interest costs because combat is being financed with borrowed money.

Why do Republicans always want to do nation-building overseas but not here?

The NASA budget is about 16 billion a year. So taking that over 16 years, we spend about 30 times as much on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as the entire NASA budget. Of that16 billion, less than 4 billion is dedicated to the Mars research.

That said, going to Mars is dumb. We get 1000 times the bang for the buck from robotic probes. And when someone makes a mistake on a robotic mission, no one dies. It makes more sense to dedicate the money to advanced propulsion systems research. If we could get to Mars much faster, it would be far more practical to go there.

 

You got me.

I've always stood on the principle of Remove the Plank from my own eye, before I try to remove a speck from another's.

 

Haha, it really ticked me off because I was working on alternative fuels from algae, and could see the light at the end of the tunnel. For a trillion dollars we could be nearing the end of our reliance on oil and the resulting CO2 emissions.

I-10, somewhere in Texas

 

I'm not sold on GW being caused/sped up significantly by Man's actions bro., or that we can do much about severe problems that will come when our climate/poles change again.

 

https://www.youcaring.com/victimsofhurricaneharvey-915053


JJ Watts youcaring fundraiser for Harvy. Over 9 million already collected in just a few days.

 

Very nice answer. I would have just said that if mother nature wants to deliver a kick in the balls, she's gonna take a swing. Our only response to the kick can be to recover and better learn how to respond to the next one.


I think Louisiana and Texas took all of the good and bad lessons from Katrina and made good on their promises to do better the next time. I'm willing to bet by the time the next storm comes through, coordination and responses will be even better with the lessons from this one.

 

If anyone saw the Maddow show yesterday, where she outlined those crazy Zoning Laws in Texas, and that explosion in 2013. I mean, what type idiot allows they Chemical Plants store these thing near Schools and Residences.

Now they're sitting around waiting for one to go BOOM ...

They also interview a family in Huston who's home has been Flooded 18 times since the 70s ... WTF does it take?

Even in Illinois they stop rebuilding Homes along the Mississippi River.

 

Of course, everyone everywhere is doing something wrong everyday in one way or another- it's only a matter of time until Captain Hindsight rings your doorbell to tell you why you are the victim of your own stupidity. Of course, he is only a monitor that tells you it's your own fault, he doesn't actually fix anything. Nobody pays any attention to him.

"In America we can say what we think, and even if we can't think, we can say it anyhow."
(Charles Kettering)

 

Well, no one has to tell me not to Build a Home next to a Chemical Factory or send my kid to one nearby ...

Nature and Murphy has their methods ... who am I to get in the way.

 

And that is because you are smarter than everyone else.

 

No ... simple self preservation, all animals have that.

 

Done.

 

Except humans, who think they are so smart that they do not need to learn from mother nature.

 

AND- a big thanks to you!

 

Mammy Nature has taught us a lot, but are we listening? Because I know we're not learning.

 

If history teaches us anything, it's that we never learn from history.