Tipped over...just like Guam
“The boat, named the Lake Conroe Queen...”
Obviously a gay boat.
We had a storm “pop up” like that yesterday in Charlotte. We were on the interstate. Couldn’t see 20 feet in front. People pulling over to the side...some just stopping in the middle of the interstate. There were clouds, some lightening/thunder earlier...but nothing to indicate that kind of storm was coming. If we’d been on a boat though, I would’ve been looking for life preservers.
From the pictures it looks to be more of a barge than a boat as it is flat-bottomed. This being the case, it is, with two decks, top heavy and thus unstable in rough water. This is not going to go well for the owners nor for the Captain on the boat.
Prayers for those involved and the person who died.
Masks?
Everybody wants to be up top.
You have to look hard on that lake to find places more than 6 feet deep.
Interesting.
My band played last night between Lufkin & Nacogdoches, I drove through that storm getting there about 20 till 5. Conroe is 85 miles southwest. Storm was moving southwest, according to other guitar player’s weather app. Circling clockwise, actually, and generally moving southwest. About the right time frame for the front of it, south of us, to hit Conroe 3 hours later.
People were stopped on the side of the road, Hwy 59, 4 lane, because they couldn’t see. I almost stopped, slowed down to 30 in a 75mph zone. Wind was pretty tough, sky before I drove into it black dark 4 hours before sundown. Looked just like the sky that coughed up a tornado 10 minutes later 20 years ago. Hwy 59 goes through Conroe, or close.
Rain stopped, sky cleared up and we played, outside, till 10pm. Under a big carport, so we did have some cover...
Had to be the same storm.
Conroe is a shallow lake, not much of it deeper than 6 or 7 feet at most. Boat that size can’t handle that lake with a draft of more than about 3 feet, it would hit bottom all night. Can’t get close enough to a shore to load unless it sits light in the water. Or you ferry people out in small boats.
Being a commercial boat that has done this before, they probably turned broadside to the wind trying to turn around and head for cover.
But why wasn’t someone watching the weather? Boats and storms are not good buddies. For a commercial boat like that, a good weather report should be top priority.
That said, I’ve been caught in sudden storms on Rayburn, in a 12 foot flat bottom, but Rayburn is a lot bigger lake with a reputation for sudden no warning squalls. It’s also 100 yards from where I sit. I’ve been put on the bank to wait it out under my poncho more than a dozen times...but this was a really big storm, at least 30 miles across, and not a squall that popped up without warning. I only drove through a 5 or 6 mile section of it, on the leading southeast edge. A large section south of us and a much bigger one northwest, according to the radar we watched.