Big5er and Other Folks in Texas

[SuiteSuccess]

You guys be safe and get out of there if necessary.  Prayers will be with you.

[GlennWest]

I'm in Baytown and Phil just up the road a few miles. We will be on the dirty side of the storm. Not much wind but a lot of rain. We should be fine. Be lots of flooding and basically just stay off road. 

[I'mdonewiththis forum]

I spent last winter in Port O'Connor, Tx. Looks like they are gonna get the bad side of the hurricane along with 35+ inches of rain! I can't even imagine anything even close to that!

[SuiteSuccess]

1 hour ago, GlennWest said:

I'm in Baytown and Phil just up the road a few miles. We will be on the dirty side of the storm. Not much wind but a lot of rain. We should be fine. Be lots of flooding and basically just stay off road. 

Still be safe Glenn.

[Sculptor]

We have room for HDT and fiver parking, but it's a long drive.  Give me a days notice or so.

[Big5er]

Thanks Carl...and others. Unfortunately it's the nature of the I can't leave, I can't leave. I "should" be off the next 3 days, but it ain't happening. All days off cancelled and back to work at 6am for what we have been told will be at least 5-7 days of 12 hours shifts....that sure screws up the marathon, binge watching of Game of Thrones I had planned for the weekend 

Like Glenn said we are on the far east side of town and are "only" expecting 10-15 inches of rain over the weekend. The other (west) side of the county is expecting 25+.

[Broncohauler]

Dang Phil  

15 inches is a ton for my CA self.be safe brother.

[Pete Kildow]

Phil watch out for those floating Dr Pepper trucks. And I agree you guys should be off. But I'm sure they will pull everyone in for this .

Pete

[Big5er]

BH, thank you. I plan to stay as safe as possible. Unfortunately safe AND dry seems to be out of the question. 

Pete, I've been out in this crap for a few hours and haven't seen a Dr. Pepper truck yet. I did see a Coke truck but I let him float on by. Gotta save my energy for the DP truck. 

[GlennWest]

Phil we out here on the bay and I just can't say how bad we feel for you. It is really raining. We staying inside. Water high in the bay. We watching it rise.

[Brad & Jacolyn]

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[Brad & Jacolyn]

1 hour ago, Big5er said:

BH, thank you. I plan to stay as safe as possible. Unfortunately safe AND dry seems to be out of the question. 

Pete, I've been out in this crap for a few hours and haven't seen a Dr. Pepper truck yet. I did see a Coke truck but I let him float on by. Gotta save my energy for the DP truck. 

Hey Phil, Glad to hear that you are OK even if you are wet. Stay as safe as you can manage. Have you managed to paper train the pups yet? I'm sure they don't want to get wet either.

 

Brad  

[adept99]

Hey Phil;

Just make sure you have your Dinorasorus (see logo) floaty fully inflated for those all important under rig inspections.

Just kidding, be safe.

Paul & Paula

 

[Big5er]

1 hour ago, Brad & Jacolyn said:

Hey Phil, Glad to hear that you are OK even if you are wet. Stay as safe as you can manage. Have you managed to paper train the pups yet? I'm sure they don't want to get wet either.

 

Brad  

Brad, have you ever seen a dog walk along the top of the curb? To go poo? I hadn't...until today. The parking lot was flooded and the grass was too. Dred walked along the curb, squatted over the grass and took care of her business and never stepped in the water. 

I don't need to paper train my best girl. Now, if I could just keep Daisy out of the water. She loves puddles, just runs and jumps into them. She is loving this weather. What an idiot 😀

We have had a bit over 6 inches of rain since last night and here it comes again. I think I'm gonna need those floaties that Paul was talking about.

[SuiteSuccess]

Phil,

You still hanging in there?

[VegasFlyer]

On 8/26/2017 at 9:55 AM, Big5er said:

Brad, have you ever seen a dog walk along the top of the curb? To go poo? I hadn't...until today. The parking lot was flooded and the grass was too. Dred walked along the curb, squatted over the grass and took care of her business and never stepped in the water. 

I don't need to paper train my best girl. Now, if I could just keep Daisy out of the water. She loves puddles, just runs and jumps into them. She is loving this weather. What an idiot 😀

We have had a bit over 6 inches of rain since last night and here it comes again. I think I'm gonna need those floaties that Paul was talking about.

Meanwhile, at the surface of the sun....it was 109 degrees yesterday.  Nearly time o throw a steak on the hood of the truck, for dinner.

Stay safe Phil!

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

8 hours ago, SuiteSuccess said:

Phil,

You still hanging in there?

Texted him a little while ago... staying dry is impossible but his truck and RV are high and dry.  He said he needed the kayak instead of the patrol truck....

[Sculptor]

Facebook video link

 

Just a bit of encouragement.  There is help on the way if you go by this video.

 

[Steve from SoCal]

I am watching coverage in Houston, it looks like Phil is going to need a submarine to patrol the freeways.    The amount of water is just amazing.     One thing that give me faith in humanity is the folk who went out to help their fellow citizens.    While the Fed, State and Local resources are out in mass, the regular people that came out to help their neighbors is remarkable.      

Here is hoping this ends sooner rather than later, my thought are with the folks of South Texas.

 

Steve

[Big5er]

Another day done, and we are still here. The girls are making do with the dry spot under the trailer for a restroom. My feet are killing me after 12 hours of wet socks. Yesterday I kept changing socks but after a while the boots are so wet it doesn't matter. I live near the bay (Galveston and Trinity) so the water recedes quickly, when the rain takes a break, only to rise again when the next band of showers move in. I almost got trapped once when a road went from no water to almost impassable in a matter of 2 minutes. Thank goodness I have a 4wheel drive F250. The guys with patrol "cars" have been stuck time and time again, for the last 2 days. 

Thanks for thinking about me y'all. I do appreciate the thoughts and kind words. There are areas that got hit worse with higher winds but we are getting all the rain. 

Plenty of pictures to be found....and we are expecting 3 or 4 more days of this.

 

The second picture is the underpass right down the street from my house. 

[chirakawa]

55 minutes ago, Steve from SoCal said:

One thing that give me faith in humanity is the folk who went out to help their fellow citizens.    While the Fed, State and Local resources are out in mass, the regular people that came out to help their neighbors is remarkable.      

 

Yes, most of Texas is inhabited by people with the old frontier attitude.  They're pretty resourceful and when they see a need, they get out and do it instead of waiting for the gubment to come help them.

[GlennWest]

I have been in and out of Texas for some years now. One thing I can say, they will kill a thief and not think twice, but that same Texan will give you the shirt off his back if you are in need. 

[Hewhoknowslittle]

51 minutes ago, Big5er said:

Another day done, and we are still here. The girls are making do with the dry spot under the trailer for a restroom. My feet are killing me after 12 hours of wet socks. Yesterday I kept changing socks but after a while the boots are so wet it doesn't matter. I live near the bay (Galveston and Trinity) so the water recedes quickly, when the rain takes a break, only to rise again when the next band of showers move in. I almost got trapped once when a road went from no water to almost impassable in a matter of 2 minutes. Thank goodness I have a 4wheel drive F250. The guys with patrol "cars" have been stuck time and time again, for the last 2 days. 

Thanks for thinking about me y'all. I do appreciate the thoughts and kind words. There are areas that got hit worse with higher winds but we are getting all the rain. 

Plenty of pictures to be found....and we are expecting 3 or 4 more days of this.

 

The second picture is the underpass right down the street from my house. 

Turn around don't drown.  

Hope I can see you next week.

Roger

[RickW]

Phil - Glad to hear you are safe.

Good news is it appears the eye of the storm has moved more than expected overnight.  This is shifting the storm more to the east, giving some relief to the greater Houston area.  Rainfall projections over the next 72 hours are now dropping for the Houston area but increasing for the southern LA areas.

NWS/USACE are now saying this is a 1000/yr flood event.  Last night two different flood control lakes operated by the USACE had to start releasing water in order to start releasing pressure and prevent a possible failure.  Projections are that it can take up to 2 months for some areas to recede and people able to return.  Not sure about the Houston area but here in the Dallas area Oct/Nov is the wettest part of the year.  If it is the same for Houston this is not good.  Typically here lakes are low this time of year so they have no problems with storing water and preventing flooding.  If Houston is the same, all lakes will still be full as the wet season starts, so the potential for more flooding would be possible just when they think it is all behind them.

To give an idea on the resources being provided from around the state, my local FD currently has 15% of our first responders reassigned to the rescue effort.  Almost every FD in the greater area have also provided similar levels of staffing and equipment.  We have crews assigned to 2 different task forces.  The first one deployed Thursday afternoon and the second one deployed on Saturday morning.  

The first task forces (750 ambulances in this task force) most recent assignment was the evacuation of patients from a community near the coast to a facility 115 miles to the north.  They spent most their day trying to find a route to their destination with patients on board.  Every time they found a route, they were cut off by high water and had to retreat and make new plans.  By the end of the day they had to find new destinations for all the patients requiring them to split the patients up to multiple different locations.  The important thing is they are safe.  The task force had to regroup and spent the night at a Buckee's and are waiting for their next assignment this morning.

Our other task force was assigned to a community Southeast of Houston/Northwest of Galveston.  The community they are assigned to has lost 2/3 of their fire stations to flooding.  Including some of their equipment.  Our crew has been assisting answering 911 calls with the local department for the past 6 hours.  With the sun coming up they are expecting to be out in the community answering calls all day.

Back home we have everybody being required to work overtime to cover the shifts for the personal assigned to rescue operations 300 miles away.  I am sure at some point in the next few days, plans will be made on how to rotate out the crews currently assigned with fresh crews.  Again this is just my local FD.  All the FDs in the area are also experience similar situations both locally and with personal assigned to the areas affected by the storm.

Thoughts and prayers are with everybody who lives in the effected areas and all the first responders both local and from other areas working this disaster.

[Big5er]

I hope nobody wants to go east through Houston. This is I-10 East at the 785 exit looking toward the San Jacinto river at 5pm today. 

That levee looking thing in the middle is the concrete retaining wall between the westbound and eastbound lanes.