Posted on 08/26/2017 4:39:50 AM PDT by NautiNurse
Hurricane Harvey made landfall near Rockport TX about 10:00PM CDT Friday night. Top sustained winds were 130mph. Rockport High School sustained heavy damage when a portion of the roof collapsed. A senior housing complex collapsed. The Rockport courthouse sustained major damage with “a cargo trailer halfway in the building.” Multiple tornadoes reported in the Houston/Galveston areas. There are reports of scattered structural fires and a shooting was reported in Corpus Christi. Residents along the San Bernard River were advised to evacuate and most TX Gulf coast counties are under flash flood watches.
Many locations are under a boil-water notice. Power outages are widespread. President Donald Trump promptly granted a Disaster Declaration to Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s request. More than 700 members of the Texas Army and Air National Guards, Texas State Guard and the Texas Military Department have been activated and are positioning themselves throughout the state ahead of Hurricane Harvey and its anticipated landfall later this week. Ahead of the storm, FEMA sent supplies from its warehouse in Fort Worth to a staging point at Randolph Air Force Base near San Antonio.
Mash image to find lots of satellite imagery links
Public Advisories
Severe Weather Watches and Warnings TX
NHC Discussions
NHC Local Hurricane Statements Corpus Christi
NHC Local Hurricane Statements Galveston
Buoy Data near Harvey
Thread I: Potentially Catastrophic Hurricane Harvey Approaches Texas Gulf Coast
I lived in the Baytown/Crosby area (which is east of Houston) for over fifty years and I can’t recall any flooding threat which compares to this.
That pic is sort of a worst-case scenario, isn’t it? Prayers up for Houston and the surrounding area.
For readers not familiar with Houston, the Addicks Dam is just west of the ‘H’ in Houston on that radar map.
The Barker Dam is just south of I-10 from it.
99% of the time their reservoirs are empty, they’re strictly for flood control and at this rate they will be full by tomorrow and have to release into the Buffalo Bayou or fail.
They’re just large grass covered mounds of earth with a gate to spill into the Bayou.
When they were built in the early 40’s it was just open prairie, now the areas around them are very developed.
Houston OEM
@HoustonOEM
24s
City of Houston EOC is activated, helping coordinate the multiple emergency operations occurring this evening. #hounews #houwx pic.twitter.com/fQkPl7hATb
...
Also, all bus and rail service is suspended, per OEM.
Yes, sir, it is. But beyond worst case. Now in nightmare scenario.
Those bands are solid water. Was in a band earlier today. At first it was a mist, but then it got raining good. Almost a wall of water. When you get in a band you will be there for at least an hour. Every inch of Houston has just gotten at least half a foot to a foot. Just in past few hours. More coming.
TXDOT spokesman is begging people to stay off the roads in Houston tonight.
Addicks dam is now at 90' and is currently rising at just under a foot an hour from the Harris County website.
The spillway is at 118'.
When it releases into the Buffalo Bayou, which goes through downtown Houston, and is already supposed to be at record flood stage tomorrow...
Spillway is at 108’, typo...
So, an hour and a half until she spills over. And there looks to be a lot more than that left in that arm. This is scaring the heck out of me and I'm at the other end of the country. Stay safe, all!
I have a brother/family in Kingwood. Any direct reports from there? He didn’t email us an update tonight.
KHOU reporting large house fire on Terramar Beach far west end Galveston Island. Could see flames from highway.
I wonder what scenarios the engineers are thinking about tonight...
Sorry, got my maths wrong. 18 hours. Still bad, but it’s something.
Think that would be more than 18 hours. Basically if this storm moves east slowly, the dams will over flow by tomorrow late evening.
Fort Bend County emergency management was just on KHOU, they're saying Barker Dam is about to top.
Heaviest rain I was ever in was in Asia during the monsoon season. Six inches in 24 hours. That's nothing compared to this.
Yeah. May have to evacuate in difficult conditions. Unfortunately all these disaster planning scenarios seem to fail when implemented under real disaster conditions
Worse case scenario for flash flooding. We have been dealing with these thunderstorm lines all summer in West Texas. But these are much bigger and longer.
Whoa...
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