Deluge hits same place
Posted on 07/07/2002 3:29:56 PM PDT by MeekOneGOP
Deluge hits same place
'What are the odds it would happen again?'
07/06/2002
NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas - George Kapidian knows that lightning can strike the same place twice. He just didn't expect it to happen so quickly.
Friday morning, the Guadalupe River rose 20 feet, raging out of its banks to tear off Mr. Kapidian's garage door and run chest deep into his lovely brick home in northern New Braunfels.
Mr. Kapidian, 72, bought the house only last August. He knew it had been built on the foundation of a house washed away by the disastrous flood of 1998.
"We thought, 'What are the odds it would happen again?' Bam! Then the rains came," he said. "This is a big disappointment."
Dozens of homes in the charming riverside neighborhood in New Braunfels about six miles downstream from Gruene were awash to their rooflines Friday after Canyon Dam, gorged with rain from four days of thunderstorms, spilled torrents of water over its spillway for the first time in its 37-year history.
One such home, a wood house built on 8-foot stilts owned by Linda Coble, washed away Friday morning. Incredulous residents watched it float downriver past the Common Street bridge.
More than 50 people gathered along the roiling brown waters of the Guadalupe, taking photos as the river swept the house away. The water churned violently, carrying away tree branches, tires and other debris.
"It's just gone," said Dan Ackerman, who lives on higher ground in the neighborhood. "It got washed away in '98 and they rebuilt it. But it's gone again."
Ms. Coble's house had been built on the foundations of a stone home destroyed when the Guadalupe blasted out of its banks four years ago after record rains over a 24-hour period.
Ms. Coble was able to get most of her valuables out of the house and loaded onto a rental trailer. She later took shelter with family members, neighbors said.
In October 1998, when the skies opened up and dumped about 20 inches of rain on the region, the Guadalupe went on a rampage.
This time, after four days of continuing rainfall, Canyon Lake became engorged with upstream runoff. A new round of thunderstorms Thursday was too much.
Normally, the Guadalupe runs at an average flow from 300 to 500 cubic feet per second. By Friday afternoon, as 6.59 feet of water flowed over the spillway in a torrent, more than 61,000 cfs of water flowed through the Guadalupe.
"We're anticipating a flow of 84,000 cfs through New Braunfels by Friday night," said Comal County Judge Danny Scheel. "At the peak of the 1998 floods, the flow was 120,000 cfs. If we get a substantial amount of rain, it will be just like 1998."
Thursday and Friday, officials ordered about 200 to 300 homes along the Guadalupe to be evacuated. Many of those same residents had been washed out in the record-breaking floods of 1998.
"In 1998, many of the homes affected were outside the 100-year flood plain line," Mr. Scheel said. "They were victims of circumstance. Now, it seems, lightning strikes twice. And it's not over yet."
Many residents, who found life along the river too valuable to give up on, took a chance that Mother Nature wouldn't strike again so quickly.
"That barricade is about has high as it got in '98, so I think my house is safe again," said Trudy Wendler, whose pink brick home barely dodged the flood four years ago.
She points as chocolate-brown water laps five feet or so beyond an orange-and-white striped barricade that sits in the street only one house away from hers.
"It's been a little scary but the flood in 1998 was the worst ever and I've lived here for 17 years and in New Braunfels all my life," said Ms. Wendler, 80. "A lot of people got washed away, and they built again. Now they have to go through all that all over again."
Ms. Wendler doesn't plan on leaving anytime soon. "This is a really lovely part of town when the weather is good," she said. "I don't want to leave. This is my home."
A few blocks away at the Kapidian home, Mr. Kapidian and his wife, Mary Ann Kapidian, are now engaged in salvaging her mother's furniture from the flooded home next to theirs.
As a light rain falls, neighbors join in to wade through knee-deep water to remove heavy oak furniture. Other neighbors assist by covering tables, chairs and glass-front chests with blue tarps.
At Mrs. Kapidian's feet sits a small collection of wedding photos, family portraits and other framed photos. Her husband, a retired damage estimator for State Farm Insurance, lights a cigarette and sighs.
"The police came knocking on the door at 7 a.m. Thursday, saying we had to get out ASAP," he said. "That stretched to the afternoon, so we had enough time to get our important papers and some photos, and move out some of our valuables. But the other stuff ..." he gestures with his hands, like shaking something away.
That "stuff" includes woodworking tools, a new refrigerator and a new large-screen high-definition television that is now soggy.
"We're from California, but we moved here to be close to her mother," Mr. Kapidian said. "I fell in love with the place. It's really a great place to live. The question now is: What will we do next?"
A moment later, he answers his own question. "You know, it may sound stupid, but we'll probably tear it all down and rebuild," Mr. Kapidian said. "In California, you get used to living with earthquakes, mudslides and other disasters. We can do that just as easy in Texas."
E-mail dmclemore@dallasnews.com
Well, ok. Come on down!
Hope ya'll are A-Ok in FLA....
Thank goodness (in this case)......
Here is an article from Google search.....
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/front/1485456
July 7, 2002, 5:32PM
 Associated Press Fred Maxwell removes mud and debris from his flood-damaged home in New Braunfels today. Maxwell's home was flooded Friday when the Guadalupe River overflowed its banks because of recent heavy rains. |
Associated Press
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RESOURCES
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 Video: Floods ravage TexasVideo courtesy of AP. (Requires Real Player)
• • Texas weather: Forecasts and satellite images from the National Weather Service. • Flooding and road closures across the state. • Houston weather: Local advisories from the National Weather Service. • Tips: Be prepared for flooding. • |
"The devastation is extensive," he said at a news conference after the tour. "I mean, what you see with both film and still photography, it doesn't really show all of the damage that's occurred. Obviously when the water goes down we're going to see the impact on residential property is going to be substantial."
Perry's request for the 17 additional counties, including several that were hit by a surprise flood Saturday morning in West Texas, was in addition to the 13 counties President Bush already has declared federal disaster areas.
Perry made the request after flying over the swollen Guadalupe River in a Blackhawk helicopter with other state and federal officials, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
During the tour, Perry saw standing houses that were islands around a sea of roiling, muddy water. There were numerous uprooted trees and overturned vehicles.
Perry said the death toll had risen to 12 people, up from the eight that were reported killed in the flooding as of Saturday. Details on the additional four fatalities were not immediately known.
 Associated Press A damaged roof painted with the Texas flag sits along with other debris in floodwaters from the Guadalupe River today near New Braunfels. |
"Ninety-nine percent of the time it's a beautiful part of the state. We get these floods in here and it gets pretty rough looking. I suspect that the vast majority of them will clean up, rebuild," Perry said. "It isn't going to be painless. It's going to be a tough process to go through."
The floodwaters were now flowing toward the Gulf of Mexico, pouring into more houses and forcing hundreds more evacuations south and southeast of the city.
Meanwhile, about 200 miles north in Abilene, heavy flooding continued after a surprise storm dumped a foot of rain on Saturday.
Several creeks were transformed into torrents that cut through the West Texas city, leaving many residents scrambling to get out of their homes.
West Texas authorities were warning residents not to wade or drive through the snake-infested waters.
"We have been extremely fortunate and extremely pleased that we had no reported injuries. The way people act, it's surprising," Abilene Police Sgt. Kim Vickers said. "They just choose to ignore the warnings and barricades."
The National Weather Service office in San Angelo said there was a strong chance that several more inches of rain could fall on Abilene and the surrounding area today.
William Ayres, a spokesman for the Texas Division of Emergency Management in Austin, said Sunday that some people who had been evacuated from South and Central Texas were returning to their homes, but that the overflowing rivers remained perilous.
"The waters are still swift," he said. "It's still a very dangerous situation."
Steve Dean returned to his house on the banks of the Guadalupe River in New Braunfels. To his surprise it was still there with only a little water on the floor.
The house stands on reinforced stilts rising up from the foundation of a house destroyed in the record flood of 1998.
"It's not as bad as what we thought," said Dean, whose neighbors saw their homes torn up and carried away on Friday and Saturday. "I thought when the water started getting up higher, it take (the house) off those concrete columns."
The Guadalupe and other rivers originating in the Hill Country were flooding cities and croplands downstream along a lowlying coastal plain leading to the Gulf of Mexico.
The San Antonio River flows south from the city of San Antonio through a broad expanse of crop and ranch lands before emptying into the Guadalupe near the gulf. Large numbers of cattle were believed to be isolated or drowned along the river, which will crest 30 feet above flood stage in Goliad.
Mary Jane Martin, a spokeswoman for the Goliad County Sheriff's office, said fewer than two dozen houses were expected to be flooded in the county.
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A betting man who counted on Luc instead of the Word. And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away.
Perhaps if Bush repents of wanting to divide Israel by supporting a Pali state in the middle of it, God will repent of pouring out judgment in the middle of Texas.
The prettiest part of Texas is in Kerrville, Hunt and Ingram. But I'd build on the limestone side, and run steps down to the river, rather than live on the grassy, floody banks. Through most of this riverbed, you have the two sides--a limestone cliff on one, a low grassy bank on another.
1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
I recall about a year ago when Houston was hit with a storm and flood after the U.S. Supreme Court Refused to Hear Ten Commandments Case. A photo was taken of a statue of an angel blowing a trumpet on the front of a church as lightening dashed all about. As I recall, the photo was at the time of Allison (which means "truth) and the storm occurred right after Truth was rejected by the U.S.S.C.
Excerpt:
One person tried to convince me the other day that the Teimani pronunciation of the word "Gog," is to say the "g" (gimmel in Hebrew), the same way we do when we say "George." Then, something happened to the "r" (raish in Hebrew) sound along the way, though I can't remember what. But, when he was finished, we had "Gog m'Gog" (George Bush Jr., son of George Bush Sr.).
It was a nice try, but for all we know, it is true. After all, it is unusual that the son should be president two terms later, just when another conflict in the Middle-East and Asia has quickly duplicated his own father's dilemma. And, it is even more unusual that the son should have the same name as the father, "George."
How we take subtle historical coincidences for granted, and brush them off easily only because they are not blatant enough four our liking. It's like taking an exam in school, and then getting up and going over to the examiner to complain, "Hey! I don't like this question. It doesn't indicate enough what the answer is!" You have to appreciate that point, because it could have happened during Clinton's era, but didn't, as if it was waiting for George Bush Jr. to get into the White House, something he did only after great controversy. We forgot about that one already, didn't we?
From a Torah point of view, such "suspense" is always a sign that Heaven is directly involved in the event in question, and that we, the Jewish people, are being given a chance to wake up and doteshuvah. The results, we are being told, are being made dependent upon our choice. Not that I'm saying that Al Gore would have been the better choice. Apparently there is a tradition that the Great Wall of China was also called the "Wall of Al Magog." Isn't his father's name George, also?
Previously we quoted the now well-known source that has been making the rounds since the September 11th attack:
I will show you, but not for now, for these things will only come to be at that time, some after that time, and some in the Days of KingMoshiach. "A star has gone forth from Ya'akov . . ." (Bamidbar 24:17). This teaches us that in the future, The Holy One, Blessed is He, will build Jerusalem and one star will spark within seventy pillars of fire, and seventy sparks will receive light from it in the middle of the sky. The other seventy stars will be swallowed within it. It will give off light and blaze for seventy days. At the end of the sixth day, it will become visible at the beginning of the twenty-fifth day of the sixth month. It will be gathered in at the end of seventy complete days and be visible in the city of Rome, and on that day, three great walls will fall and great hall will fall, and the power of that city will die. (Zohar, Balak, 212b)
RABBI WINSTON'S WEEKLY PARSHA PAGE
- Parshas Lech-Lecha
Parshas Lech-Lecha
The Madrid Conference Middle East Peace Conference ... Spain
Mr. George Bush, President of the ...
Madrid Conference
...at the same time...
Coast Guard Perfect Storm Images
The Real Perfect Storm Coast Guard Images From October 1991 A special From Coast Guard News. ...
The Perfect Storm
Ezekiel 38
18 "And it will come to pass at the same time, when Gog comes against the land of Israel," says the Lord GOD, "that My fury will show in My face. 19 For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken: "Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel, 20 so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.'
***
1 Peter 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
Excerpt: The Man In The Box (Noah's Ark)
Not being a ship, then, there was no steering mechanism, no rudder, no navigational controls or source of power other than the Divine guidance system. Noah built the box, but G*d steered it. To counteract the feeling of helplessness that Noah must have felt, a skylight was built into the roof to let him feel connected to Heaven even if he couldn't see it for the rain. It was a symbol of hope, of tikva, that the whole earth had become now one mikva, one giant pool of water, consisting of forty (time) units of rain, paralleling the mikva's forty units of volume (seah). The Talmud tells us that the volume of a mikvah is also the volume which could contain 5760 (chicken) eggs. With the spillover of violence with the the New Year 5761, the waters of the mikva are now overflowing, threatening a new flood over all the earth. Not a flood of water which G*d promised would never reoccur, but a flood of fire.
As Adam was ten generations from Noah, who was ten generations from Avraham, mankind needs to incorporate the peace blueprint of the Ten Commandments for her survival. Mankind is ever moving to greater independence, greater autonomy, incorporating G*d's will as its own will, but out of choice rather than coercion. Teshuva exists. Teshuva literally means to return, to come back from the abyss. Noah's generation chose to ignore it. We must learn not to repeat their error.
As Noah looked through the skylight, trusting that all will be good in the end, so too, we must look heavenward and trust in the same.
Shabbat Shalom. Good Shabbos.
Midrash Tanchuma, Qedoshim.
The waters of the mikva spilled over on Rosh HaShana 5761. It started on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and it will engulf the world.
Matthew 24:37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
1 Peter 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God:
The violence started on the Temple Mount...
The House of G-d.
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