The irony of Irene. (Houston, San Antonio: house, living, fence)

[jcash]

My wife and I moved to Houston a while back from northeast Pennsylvania. We decided to move down here closer to my family. We both had good jobs up north but hated the weather. My wife also had a hard time with the people being rude to her because she has a strong Spanish accent and small town minds tend to have a hard time with outsiders. So as we prepared to move we were inundated with comments about how we might be escaping the harsh winters, we would have to contend with worse weather in the form of hurricanes. Now in just a few weeks they have gotten and earth quake and now Irene is on the doorstep.... OH the irony!

In reality. I hope they are prepared and stay safe up there! This is a scary storm scenario.

[Dopo]

One reason I moved to South Texas was to get away from Winter and be in a warmer place.

First summer in San Antonio (2009) was the hottest summer ever with 59 days over 100F.
This is my first summer in Houston, and I believe is also the hottest summer ever in Houston.

[HookEmTX]

It's amusing to watch New Yorkers freak out about a non-event.

[DejaBlue]

Originally Posted by HookEmTX

It's amusing to watch New Yorkers freak out about a non-event.

East Coast people are freaking the muck OUT right now. Irene is big but she doesn't look that bad.

I have friends on the EC right now who have people coming up to them asking are they going to be okay because they know they're from Hurricane Central aka the Gulf and they're like, "Chill, it's going to be fine"

I couldn't believe Houston people whacked out over Rita. We don't live in a fish bowl by a lake like NOLA. Had Rita hit us it would have been no where near the devastation of NOLA because of the lack of lake and useless levies. They just had everyone paniking because of Katrina and I even heard some people go "OMG! This hurricane is coming after these New Orleans people!" LOL. That was kind of funny. Like some Final Destination thing.

I stayed in my home fine and dandy for Ivan and Rita and Ike and as usual the usual happened. Our back fence was GONE. That's the only damage we get and having to listen to howling wind hit up against the house but it wasn't enough to break through brick but that wood fence was saying hasta la vista.

Really and truly the only WTF bad weather event we had was Tropical Storm Allison. We lived in a non flood area but I walked to the front door at like midnight and the whole foyer was full of water. She was literally coming in! But that's as far as she went and we got rid of that water asap.

[LostInHouston]

Originally Posted by HookEmTX

It's amusing to watch New Yorkers freak out about a non-event.

That's because NYC is extremely suceptible to major damage by even small hurricanes. Check this out: New York Bight - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In fact they were hit by a Cat 1 hurricane in 1893 that created 30 foot storm surges in some areas. 1893 New York hurricane - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by Dopo

One reason I moved to South Texas was to get away from Winter and be in a warmer place.

First summer in San Antonio (2009) was the hottest summer ever with 59 days over 100F.
This is my first summer in Houston, and I believe is also the hottest summer ever in Houston.

lol, I was in SA in 09 for that summer event too. Oh the horror.

[Pine to Vine]

I saw the name of this thread and couldn't resist clicking, as I thought it's one I should've launched. Talk about irony: after 26 years in Houston, we moved to Philly in January. I thought this was all WAY behind me.

For those who don't think a storm of this nature is a big deal, it is. Ike, like Irene, was a Cat 2. Was Ike a big deal in Galveston and Houston? You decide. Unlike storms we got on the gulf that slam the coast and move through, this huge and very slow moving storm will hug the coast, pounding some areas wind and rain for up to 21 hours. To complicate things, the ground is already saturated in the east. For example, Philly has had 13" of rain already in August (the most of any month on record) with up to 10 possible expected with Irene. Not only flooding, the saturated soil has already loosened trees rendering them even easier to topple with the combination of prolonged wind and rain.

As for people panicking, I'm experiencing the opposite. Wisely, folks have seem to have left the shore. I went to the grocery store here in Philly yesterday, however, and it was the normal buzz of folks, with no run on food stuffs, water, batteries, candles or the like. We needed some things at the hardware store today and again, business looked pretty typical. I'm definitely not in Houston any more.

Remember the panic and gridlock that ensued for the great Rita evacuation? This was a metro of roughly 6 million. I heard reports that the area being hit is home to 51 million folks, all lving in areas of very low elevation. Also remember, unlike Houston, many folks in the large urban areas do not have cars, and the mass transit will necessarily shut down well-ahead of the storm. Think about those logistics. Snicker if you want, I'd say some preparation is in order: better being over-prepared vs. the alternative.

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by DejaBlue

I couldn't believe Houston people whacked out over Rita.

You kidding me???
Rita was like the third strongest Atlantic storm ever recorded. That is EVER!!!!. Only the Labor Day Storm and Wild Gilbert had lower pressures. A category 3 is enough cause to panic, but a super strong storm like Wilma is heading your way and you say you can't believe people were worried about it

Rita had sustained wins of 180mph.
Katrina was 175, but much weaker when it hit the US.

Strong Hurricanes like these do odd things.

Hurricane David for instance caused havoc for more than a weak up through the US, passed Canada and Iceland and didn't stop until it got to around the Faroe Island.

sorry man, but once the winds pass a certain threshold it is scary no matter how you look at it.

Ike's winds were not that high in Houston and it still did lots of damage in Houston. I can't imagine if a Category 5 hits Houston dead on.

Rita spared us a direct hit but as far north as Livingston the wind speeds were at 117 mph which nearly broke the dam at Lake Livingston.

Opal was so strong when it hit land it maintained Hurricane Intensity for 12 full hours after making Landfall and maintaining tropical Storm strength winds for another 12 hrs all the way up to Ohio.

Rita was definitely something to fear.

[SouthernBoy205]

Originally Posted by Dopo

One reason I moved to South Texas was to get away from Winter and be in a warmer place.

First summer in San Antonio (2009) was the hottest summer ever with 59 days over 100F.
This is my first summer in Houston, and I believe is also the hottest summer ever in Houston.

OMG! If that doesn't sound like HELL! LOL!

[westhou]

Originally Posted by DejaBlue

East Coast people are freaking the muck OUT right now. Irene is big but she doesn't look that bad.

I have friends on the EC right now who have people coming up to them asking are they going to be okay because they know they're from Hurricane Central aka the Gulf and they're like, "Chill, it's going to be fine"

I couldn't believe Houston people whacked out over Rita. We don't live in a fish bowl by a lake like NOLA. Had Rita hit us it would have been no where near the devastation of NOLA because of the lack of lake and useless levies. They just had everyone paniking because of Katrina and I even heard some people go "OMG! This hurricane is coming after these New Orleans people!" LOL. That was kind of funny. Like some Final Destination thing.

I stayed in my home fine and dandy for Ivan and Rita and Ike and as usual the usual happened. Our back fence was GONE. That's the only damage we get and having to listen to howling wind hit up against the house but it wasn't enough to break through brick but that wood fence was saying hasta la vista.

Really and truly the only WTF bad weather event we had was Tropical Storm Allison. We lived in a non flood area but I walked to the front door at like midnight and the whole foyer was full of water. She was literally coming in! But that's as far as she went and we got rid of that water asap.

I guess a good way to put things in perspective is to think of what it would have been like if Galveston was built up like Manhattan when Ike hit.