After one elderly uncle in Mississipi had a tree fall on his house during Katrina, now I'm worried about another elderly uncle and some cousins in Houston. I'm not as worried about them now as I was yesterday morning, when the storm was 175mph and headed straight for Galveston, but even so...
They waited too late to try to leave, and my uncle and one cousin live within a few blocks of each other in Northwest Houston, according to Mapquest (I've never been to Texas),inside the beltway in what looks like someplace very close to a place called Jersey Village. Would you happen to know if that's a flood prone area or what sort of part of town that is?
Jersey Village is at 290 and Jones Rd. I may be wrong, but I don't think it's flood prone.
It's not to far down the road from me on 290. Parts of Jersey village were underwater during Allison, but I know they've done some MAJOR flood control work since then.
That is a very nice part of town, many miles away from the water and the flooding. Seriesly.
Don't get me wrong, they'll get some 70 mph winds tonight, but that's not quite even hurricane force.
Now the trees could still fall and hit buildings and they should almost certainly expect to lose power tonight, but they're in no danger of destruction by windspeed alone or flooding.
Parts of Jones Village may be in a 500-year floodplain, according to this map:
http://www.houstontx.gov/category5.jpg
It won't get hit by any storm surge, since it is 100 feet or more above sea level and well inland. There are two small streams in the area that can cause localized flooding, though.
