Posted on 06/16/2015 6:48:13 AM PDT by thackney
Tropical Storm Bill hurtled toward the Texas coast from the Gulf of Mexico early on Tuesday with heavy rains and strong winds, the National Weather Service said, weeks after floods killed about 30 people in the state.
Flash flood watches were in effect for central Texas and the Houston area, regions where floods last month swallowed thousands of vehicles and damaged homes.
The storm was projected to hit the coast at Matagorda Bay and churn through central Texas toward Austin.
Heavy rain had already drenched parts of Texas over the weekend, pushing already high rivers closer to overflowing their banks.
Around Houston, the fourth-largest U.S. city, 10 inches (25.4 cm) or more of rain could fall by Thursday, and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, a world-renowned cancer treatment facility, said it was postponing surgeries.
School districts in and around Houston suspended classes. A handful of flights were cancelled at Houston's Hobby Airport but commercial air traffic across the region was operating normally, officials said.
Voluntary evacuations were called for some low-lying areas south of Houston.
Traffic in the Houston Ship Channel, the biggest U.S. petrochemical port, was stopped on Monday to protect vessels from rough seas, officials said.
Flooding could snarl work in Texas oilfields. Also, more than 45 percent of U.S. refining capacity and half of U.S. natural gas processing capacity is located along the U.S. Gulf Coast.
(Excerpt) Read more at rigzone.com ...
Oh. Wait. This is a weather event?
Yeah. I hear the only damage so far is that women’s clothes have been torn off by the wind.
Hurtled?
This storm is moving at 13 mph.
That, and tee shirts have gotten wet in the nipply cold.
Yuck. Don't much like the heat without the sunshine.
It looks like Bill is tracking very near where they had FR’s TexasCowboy Memorial Shoot a couple of weeks ago.
fyi/comment
Women and minorities hardest hit......................
Yep.
We were blessed with good weather for the shoot.
So far, it seems that the local media have blown this thing all out of proportion.
Thanks, 'gunner.
Tropical Storm Bill, the bent one.
2 years of mild summers, they have bottled up a lot of anticipation for one of these to report.
I swear to God, my husband is no where near there.
About a month ago the whole city of Houston flooded, with very little hype before the fact.
Now we’ve got reporters at every underpass providing feverish reporting of puddles and drizzle, for shizzle.
Yep, although some of the flooded areas were torn up for 6-12 months of construction and still have obstructed drains.
Building up and “out” to the property lines has reduced surface area for water to be absorbed through the ground. And many “in-town” neighborhoods have seen dramatic rise in population density. All that waste has to flow somewhere.
You’re right. Been 24/7 news coverage by a whole lot of drama queens. Reminds me of the Weather Channel. Filled the car up last night, along with a gazillion other people. Some stations were running out of gas in the Houston suburbs. Reminded me of Ike. Did my regular weekly shopping run at the grocery. Saw people with entire carts full of bottled drinking water.
Wonder what they will do if/when a real hurricane hits. Good grief.
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