Houston conditions

I lived in Houston from age 5 till a few years after college. Ive seen rain, but nothing like this storm. Normal year rain is about 50 inches TOTAL and that is enough to keep things fairly green, with extra watering in the summer. Its not normally a drought area like parts of west Texas, and there are rivers in central and east Texas. They have gotten 50 inches of rain in 4 days. Lots of street flooded, people out of their homes and in shelters or in some cases stranded.
The 2 major airline airports, Hou Hobby on the south, served by Southwest and a great small airline and gen av airport, is open just to emergency flights, at IAH on the north , open for helicopters only with a TFR, at West Houston about 2000 ft of runway open for helicopters but taxiways flooded and 4 in of water inside terminal. Sugarland on the sw reported as flooded too, didnt talk to them. Galveston has one runway open and partial taxiway. Some let up in the rain this afternoon. Winds have been steady at 30 to 40 mph.
This storm didnt have extreme winds to devastate everything or drive water like that, but there has been loss of life from driving into flooded areas, a family of 5 , a policeman trying to get to work. One bright spot, is people helping each other often strangers. In a part of the south were police and minorities can conflict, it was good to see a young white cop carrying an African American lady with an infant in her lap through waist deep water. Another photos was of folks from La. with a boat rescuing a grandmother. One photo was of a man in a wet suit stand up paddling a surf board with a small boy perhaps 4 years old on the front, high and dry.A furniture store open their doors to hundreds, said they had lots of spare mattresses and could give everyone a blanket and a meal.

News reports are that 80% of homeowners dont have flood insurance. Lots of cars that are submerged are going to be ruined also. Years ago I had a plane at Galveston briefly in someone else's hangar. They advised me to move it before hurricane season. I was a bit offended, thought they just wanted their hangar back, but I did as asked and weeks later a major hurricane hit with a lot of flooding damage to hangars and airplanes., so I was lucky in that respect.

I found an easy way to donate a quick $10 to the Red Cross by texting HARVEY to 90999.

People are seriously hurting and I hope everyone who 'can' make a small donation, does make one to a safe organization like the Red Cross or Salvation Army etc.

here is just one of the many news articles:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/u...s.html?mcubz=0

Today Fox news aired a live rescue from inside a Blackhawk helicopter. Pretty amazing as they first hoisted a mom and daughter up, then a boy and his dog, and finally the dad...

I lived on the Gulf Coast for 30 yrs and flooding shouldn't surprise anyone. It's a regular event. Despite years and years of warnings, low lying, flood prone areas continue to be developed and there is no shortage of people are willing to live there. Very few will leave Houston which means another heavy rain event combined with a storm surge that hinders drainage will produce similar results.

If a mortgage company doesn't required flood insurance, not many people bother with it. They are just playing the odds. Even when flood insurance is required, only the absolute minimum to meet the requirement will be purchased, which is mostly useless.

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Originally Posted by martymayes

I lived on the Gulf Coast for 30 yrs and flooding shouldn't surprise anyone. It's a regular event. Despite years and years of warnings, low lying, flood prone areas continue to be developed and there is no shortage of people are willing to live there. Very few will leave Houston which means another heavy rain event combined with a storm surge that hinders drainage will produce similar results.

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Article I read said, "This is the third straight year that Houston has endured a devastating, once-in-a-lifetime flood...."

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Originally Posted by martymayes

If a mortgage company doesn't required flood insurance, not many people bother with it. They are just playing the odds. Even when flood insurance is required, only the absolute minimum to meet the requirement will be purchased, which is mostly useless.

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After the Seattle area's last major earthquake, my wife decided we needed earthquake insurance. We had no damage, but with a volcano visible from our rear windows, it does kind of seem like a good idea.

The premium isn't that bad, but the deductible is tremendous...about $100,000-$200,000, IIRC. Really comes into play only with major damage. I wonder if the flood insurance in those prone areas is the same way....

Ron Wanttaja

Ron,
My wife did the same exact thing.. Living in the Yellowstone caldera and the increase in frequency and intensity of quakes we purchased some as well. I keep trying to explain that if the caldera lets go enough to collect on the insurance that there will be nothing left and no place to rebuild it.
Rick

Flood insurance isn't very expensive and doesn't have high deductible. I do seem to recall you can't make a claim every yr, if you want a house where it floods regularly have to build accordingly, e.g., put the house on stilts or build a levee around it.

What really makes me sad is how unprepared people are. I mean I got flooded in one time for about 5 days and nobody came to rescue us. Just did what ya had to do until the water receded.

Flood insurance is incredibly expensive. My premium is $2700 a year and that comes with a rediculous deductible.

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Originally Posted by martymayes

Flood insurance isn't very expensive and doesn't have high deductible

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Since everyone else knows that seperate flood insurance and the accompanying deductible is stupid expensive and stupid high, I would like to suggest that Marty tell us via PM or here as a post who his insurance company is so we can all save a lot of money. Thanks.