Hurricane Harvey

[Wyrd of Gawd]

News is reporting two deaths near Corpus and hundreds of high-water rescues in Houston.

What a damn shame. I really feel for those who had no choice but to stay.

I do not understand, for the life of me, how some people chose to stay in their homes with how this hurricane was being covered. People knew what was going to happen. Evacuation orders were announced. There was time to get shit together and get the hell out. And if they say they don't watch the news, then all they had to do was look around them and see people boarding up windows, buying up supplies, packing their cars, etc. This isn't rocket science and we don't live in the Dark Ages. People just knew period. Sure... if a person had absolutely no way of evacuating, they're sorta screwed and they have to stay, but when a person has the means to leave, why stay? I just don't get it. Why can't more people execute common sense when it comes to these types of disasters? 

Rescuers have to stay. It's part of their job. And I understand that because not everyone has the means to evacuate and rescuers have to be there to assist, if necessary. But if people have vehicles, can safely get to higher ground or go somewhere else until all threats of harm are gone, then fucking go. It's really selfish to want to stay because you're "excited" at the thought of "surviving a cat 4-5 hurricane". And really - let's be honest. Those who choose to stay are doing so, in part, because of the excitement that this storm brings. Let's not lie about that. We all know that's one of the big reasons why. People wanna record shit in this day and age and are willing to put not only their own lives, but other people's lives in danger just for a bit of video in the hopes that it will "go viral". Please. If a person is willing to be that stupid - rescuers should first focus on those who had no choice to be there instead and leave the fools to figure it out for themselves. 

I'll probably get told I'm being insensitive but IDGAF at this point. I have a very good friend of 30+ years as well as numerous other friends in my life who risk their lives every day rescuing people from disasters. Disasters, I might add, that people really had no time to prepare for like car accidents and fires. They have loved ones who would just be devastated if anything were to happen to them on the job. Why intentionally put yourself in harms way, so that you can ask someone else, to put their own life in harms way because of your own ignorance? It's just not necessary if you are able to get the fuck out of town. I swear. Consideration for others' lives is a rarity now a days and common sense is all but gone because people just don't care about the consequences that their own actions bring to other people. 

More deaths will probably be reported and what's really sad is that some of those might have been prevented if those people had just left when they had the opportunity to do so.

People have to stay in their homes during such disasters in order to restore life to the city.  If everyone left then the city would become a ghost town.  People have to stay in order to maintain and get the infrastructure up and running.  You may have noticed that the schools will open September 11 so all of the teachers had to stay in town as well as the students.  There's a master schedule that has to be followed.  The kids have to graduate on time to keep the colleges and universities fed with new inventory.  Imagine the chaos if the students and teachers aren't in school on time because of the flood.  

Old and sick people should seek safer ground during floods but they usually rely on family caregivers and those people have other commitments that they have to honor.  So basically the only people who can easily leave are healthy retired people who have guaranteed sources of income and good transportation.  Everyone else is pretty much stuck.  Business owners and key employees can't leave.  They have to be on hand to get things operating again.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

Since the consensus is that it's impossible to stop a house from getting flooded what's the suggested plan of action when hundreds of thousands of buildings get flooded in a hurricane?

[Anomalocaris]

Since the consensus is that it's impossible to stop a house from getting flooded what's the suggested plan of action when hundreds of thousands of buildings get flooded in a hurricane?

Have flood insurance.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

Since the consensus is that it's impossible to stop a house from getting flooded what's the suggested plan of action when hundreds of thousands of buildings get flooded in a hurricane?

Have flood insurance.

Can the typical homeowner afford the extra $100-$200 a month for flood insurance?

[Anomalocaris]

Have flood insurance.

Can the typical homeowner afford the extra $100-$200 a month for flood insurance?

He/she can less well afford replacing his/her house and all the contents.

[Fireball]

Have flood insurance.

Can the typical homeowner afford the extra $100-$200 a month for flood insurance?

The real answer is to analyze the geography and weather patterns and live in a place that doesn't have flooding (for example) problems. This information may not be obvious, on first examination, though, when one moves to a new area (like 100 years ago!). Example. If you grew up in "Tornado Alley", maybe you are used to the threat; furthermore, your family is there. Are you reticent to leave? Yes. Is your life going to be endangered in the future from other tornadoes? Yes. I quite frankly don't understand that mentality. If I had been born in Tornado Alley, I'd've been long gone from that area. OK, Houston had a seriously bad episode. Would I go back and rebuild my house after what just happened? HELL NO. You know it can happen again. I'd abandon my loss and move on. I know how tough that is, but what the hell else would someone do, and not expect further travail in their life?

[pocaracas]

I think that started in the 80s ... goddamned feminists!

Yeah, I posted that and then thought... When was Hurricane Andrew? Wasn't that a bad one?

Hurricane naming... Basically, they use a list that's recycled every six years and it has both male and female names:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames.shtml

If a particular hurricane becomes newsworthy, that name gets pinned to that year and they have to replace it on the list.
The list runs in alphabetical order, each year starting with a name that begins in A.
So, Mr. Andrew was the first hurricane of the year.


Also, cool bonus fact:
Hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons are all the same weather phenomenon; we just use different names for these storms in different places. In the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific, the term “hurricane” is used. The same type of disturbance in the Northwest Pacific is called a “typhoon” and “cyclones” occur in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean.

[Edwardo Piet]

What about whirlwinds and twisters?

[Joods]

We call those tornadoes here in the west.

[pocaracas]

What about whirlwinds and twisters?

Those are land based and are mostly made up of air and dust. A different phenomenon, though similar.