A Meter of Rain

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by slow&rusty

James where do you live?

East of Eldridge, just of West Little York.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Anybody know anything about the Missouri City/Stafford area? I have a friend who lives in the New Territory development who was posting about shooting snakes and gators off his back porch on Monday. Nobody has heard from him since. I know there is a bayou about two blocks from his house I guess in normal times that would be a good thing. Now, I do not know.

Initially, that area was hard hit by spin-off tornadoes. Now the water is going downstream and enveloping them. Really bad.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by red-beard

Initially, that area was hard hit by spin-off tornadoes. Now the water is going downstream and enveloping them. Really bad.

If it's like a lot of huge rain events, rivers, creeks, etc. will continue to rise for a while...it ain't over for some. Everyone actually....after the shock of what ocurred...the LONG cleanup, rebuilding begins. I assume it's still summertime there....heat, mold, etc. Best wishes to all of you....

[Jolly Amaranto]

Mosquitos, don't forget the hordes of mosquitos. My son came by the house yesterday to "steal" my van. His car was flooded Saturday night. He could not go in the back yard without getting mobbed.

[KFC911]

^^^^ I didn't forget 'em...skeeters are a given .

One other thing....a pic posted earlier had someone wearing no shoes...bad idea. Floods bring out the nasty crap....even a tiny cut can mess you up....BAD! Be safe...and smart....

[wdfifteen]

Learned yesterday that my friends in New Territory were evacuated. Info is sketchy and I don't know where they were evacuated to, but word is they are safe.
Which raises a question, where are all the refugees going to go? They can't stay in shelters for months, and they're saying it will take months or years for homes in Houston to be habitable.

[masraum]

Another problem that we've had before and I'm sure will happen this time is a lot of hack contractors come out of the woodwork whether they are local or from someplace else. They come in and fix things but do a crappy job with no permits and without following code, if they even finish the jobs. Lots of them will ask for money up front and then disappear with the jobs partially done. These guys need to get a serious pimp slappin, but usually they disappear into the wind just as quickly as they arrived.

[Jolly Amaranto]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Learned yesterday that my friends in New Territory were evacuated. Info is sketchy and I don't know where they were evacuated to, but word is they are safe.
Which raises a question, where are all the refugees going to go? They can't stay in shelters for months, and they're saying it will take months or years for homes in Houston to be habitable.

Well, after Katrina a great number of refugees came to Texas and settled. I have no idea where all of Harvey's refugees will end up, but it is likely many will move elsewhere.

And now the newest drama is the run on gasoline. First Dallas, then San Antonio went crazy. Everyone is hoarding gas and the stations are running out.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Jolly Amaranto

Well, after Katrina a great number of refugees came to Texas and settled. I have no idea where all of Harvy's refugees will end up, but it is likely many will move elsewhere.

And now the newest drama is the run on gasoline. First Dallas, then San Antonio went crazy. Everyone is hoarding gas and the stations are running out.

I heard that a station in Dallas was charging 9.99/gal. I have to assume that a big part of the gouging is trying to get people that evacuated and now want to get home or emergency responders/volunteers who are trying to get to Houston. I get supply and demand, but that's a bit much, and they need to be reported (gouging is illegal and they can face stiff fines, I believe)

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by masraum

I heard that a station in Dallas was charging 9.99/gal. I have to assume that a big part of the gouging is trying to get people that evacuated and now want to get home or emergency responders/volunteers who are trying to get to Houston. I get supply and demand, but that's a bit much, and they need to be reported (gouging is illegal and they can face stiff fines, I believe)

That is illegal in Texas, it is easy to report price gouging in Texas.

https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/cpd/price-gouging

[David]

The fine for price gouging during a disaster in Texas is $20K unless they do it to someone who is 65 or older then it jumps to $250K.

[wdfifteen]

They are kind of vague about what constitutes "excessive pricing." This can be a slippery slope. The dealer can say the distributor is going to charge him $9.80 a gallon to replace his stock, the distributor is going to say Texas refineries are shut down and he has to get gas from California and they are charging him $8.80 a gallon. Who finally takes the hit?
I would hate to be a retailer and be forced to drain his tanks at $3 a gallon if it's going to cost him twice that to refill them.

[Crowbob]

A retailer refilling his tanks will not tak a hit no matter what he pays.

The consumer will.

[Rikao4]

Mom 'needed' to go to the store...
gas lines everywhere blocking traffic...
one place had a 20 buck limit..
next thing I see is a LEO getting grief from some Bubba in his high rise toy..
as he's going to get as much as he wants or needs..
nope..leave now or leave in my squad car!
he would have diesel smoked the place peeling out..
but all the traffic had him limping away..
every gas station on my way this am..
no gas...

Rika

[Neilk]

Originally Posted by masraum

Another problem that we've had before and I'm sure will happen this time is a lot of hack contractors come out of the woodwork whether they are local or from someplace else. They come in and fix things but do a crappy job with no permits and without following code, if they even finish the jobs. Lots of them will ask for money up front and then disappear with the jobs partially done. These guys need to get a serious pimp slappin, but usually they disappear into the wind just as quickly as they arrived.

Co-worker lives in Houston. She had minor flooding in the house, maybe a few inches, that will require replacing her wood floors. I would imagine a small job like that will take forever to get fixed. Who will want a small job like that when you can do full homes? The fight for contractors will be crazy.

Good luck to anyone who wants to even renovate a home for the next 2+ years.

[javadog]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

A retailer refilling his tanks will not tak a hit no matter what he pays.

The consumer will.

Well, yes and no.

Does he use LIFO or FIFO?

Does he refill his tanks right before the supply comes back on line and prices fall again? A store that doesn't sell a huge volume might have more exposure.

[red-beard]

So I went into the office today and had a video conference with India at 7:30AM. Mostly it was a re-connection so we can plan for full meetings starting next week.

I've been over to the office since, but I haven't started fixing things. All of the PCs are still on desks and chairs in case the office flooded. Lots of things not plugged in. I'm putting a plan together so that my workers will come in on Monday and start getting everything back to "normal".

We didn't flood. We lost power for only 2 hours due to a tree falling on a power line. Most of the neighborhood is still flooded, but the streets are low enough that water didn't enter any homes (that we are aware). There are rumors of looting, but some of the stories are far fetched. I am, however armed at all times.

The local area is a mess. The roads are flooded in those areas in the re-dashes.



Here is a zoom in on the elevation map. The blue areas were the maximum extent of water.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by Neilk

Co-worker lives in Houston. She had minor flooding in the house, maybe a few inches, that will require replacing her wood floors. I would imagine a small job like that will take forever to get fixed. Who will want a small job like that when you can do full homes? The fight for contractors will be crazy.

Good luck to anyone who wants to even renovate a home for the next 2+ years.

The best thing she can do at this point is get the tools and start ripping out wet sheet rock and ripping the floor down to concrete. Use fan to dry everything out and then turn on the air conditioner to really dry it out.

It will take a while to find a contractor to repair it, but she might try to DIY the job.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

They are kind of vague about what constitutes "excessive pricing." This can be a slippery slope. The dealer can say the distributor is going to charge him $9.80 a gallon to replace his stock, the distributor is going to say Texas refineries are shut down and he has to get gas from California and they are charging him $8.80 a gallon. Who finally takes the hit?
I would hate to be a retailer and be forced to drain his tanks at $3 a gallon if it's going to cost him twice that to refill them.

If he has documentation, he is fine

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by red-beard

If he has documentation, he is fine

And if he doesn't, he is fined.