Tropical storm Bill: what to expect (Houston, Austin: 2014, insurance, credit)

[centralaustinite]

Originally Posted by oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots

Since moving here I don't think we have experienced a tropical storm. For those who have, what should we expect?

For me, what is distinctive about tropical storms is the potential for extremely hard downpours of rain, think a wall of water slamming down. Just an unbelievable amount of water, the kind where you can't drive in it because you can't see more than 10 feet, where one step outside bends your back and you are soaked to the skin. It won't be like that for hours or anything, but that type of rain can be destructive (and awe-inspiring when you are safely inside!)

[mickey65]

Originally Posted by riaelise

Knowing the history of our neighborhood, expect the power to be out

I'm counting on it. I had it out in my part of RR for 24 hours with the Memorial Day storm.

[CptnRn]

Many of the rainfalls we had in May were similar to the storms that come with tropical depressions and the aftermath of hurricanes making landfall on the Texas coast. There is an increased chance of very intense rainfalls, hail and sligthtly greater chance of tornadoes.

[ppp38]

City of Austin Offices are closing at 3 today due to the Storm

[Trainwreck20]

Damn, I wish I still worked for the gov't

[Trainwreck20]

Also worth noting that Bill formed right off of the coast, but still has gotten up to 60 mph winds and a half a pretty well-formed eye. It could have been quite huge if it had been a few hundred miles further east/southeast and had more time to organize. A tropical storm/hurricane is really just an energy pump, pumping massive amounts of energy out of the ocean and into the sky, and this one was barely 'on' before it will make landfall and start to cavitate.

For those interested in looking ahead a bit, this site gives a good look at the Atlantic meta-picture:
http://www.intellicast.com/Storm/Hur...cForecast.aspx

Watch for the low pressure troughs to see what pattern is holding court. There is only one trough out there now and pushed pretty hard, I suppose, buy the high-pressure over the SE. Watch for new troughs forming in the Atlantic as far east as the west coast of Africa.

[Austin97]

iKitesurf.com - Dynamic Maps for TX- galveston

Matagorda is showing 37mph with gusts to 50 just outside the eye (fastest wind) houston is more like 18 at the outer edge

The above map will let you watch the real time wind readings come in.

Hydromet is not showing much rain yet in matagorda even though the storm is right over them.

mopac is to a crawl at farwest

[Raskolnikov]

So - what time is the storm expected to hit central Austin? Should everyone be evacuating downtown or something?

[Trainwreck20]

It isn't likely going to be that bad. My guesstimate on the radar would have the big northern rain band miss us to the north, so we won't get the big rain until the eye area gets here in a couple of hours.

[Gorfml]

So what would happen to the houses on lake austin if the spillway at Mansfield overflowed?...