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Hurricane harvey Difficulties: Please Stand By
09/01/2017
Hurricane harvey Difficulties: Please Stand By
It's been a while... How are you? We're doing as well as can be expected, given the circumstances. As I'm sure everyone knows by now, Houston and the majority of Southeast Texas has recently been hit by flooding of historic proportions by Hurricane/Tropical Storm Harvey. The storm first made landfall on August 25th near Rockport, Texas as a category 4 hurricane, slamming the Texas coastline with 130 MPH winds, torrential rains and storm surges. The city of Houston and the surrounded areas were most impacted by the constant stream of rains coming from the outer bands of the storm, at times dropping 3+ inches of rain per hour overnight. The storm would linger on the Texas coast for 4 more days, bringing 40+ inches of rain to most areas around the city. I live in the city of Friendswood, which is a suburb on the southeast side of the Houston metro area, was one of the areas impacted by the heaviest amounts of rain to fall. Courtesy: JohnnyS (YouTube) Clear creek, which is nearest body of water to my home, was at one point at an elevation of nearly 25 feet, brought on by 43 inches of rain. That's about 13 feet past its banks. Homes and people all around my neighborhood were affected, with those being rescued sent to the nearby elementary school for shelter. Longtime residents of the neighborhood told us that they'd never seen flooding like this in 20+ years. Courtesy: Dan Pancamo (YouTube) My home is okay. The flooding came up to my driveway, but no farther than that. The street in front of my house and the surrounding streets took on quite a bit of water, but for the most part, our little slice of Friendswood was among the fortunate ones. Courtesy: Sandy DeLaCruz The closer to the creek you got, the worse it got. About the only positive I could take away from this is that it took historic rains to even be a threat to my home and those around us. Courtesy: Sandy DeLaCruz The worst part was that I had to hear about it from my girlfriend while I'm 1500 miles away in the northeast working away from home. I was part spectator, part over-the-phone crisis manager/emergency planner, trying to make sure she and my two step-kids had everything they needed to ride out the storm, and knew what to do if they had to evacuate. I was worried. I was drinking every day (not on the job, of course) just to stay somewhat sane and calm so I wouldn't drop everything and try to get back to my house through a city that was going to be underwater before I could even get close. I'm grateful they made it through safe and sound. The waters have receded significantly since the rains stopped and they've been able to get out and get some food and supplies again. Sandy and the kids even went to the school to help out those using it as a shelter. I was really proud of them for that. I'm trying to get back so I can help my family and neighborhood as well, but work won't let me for a while yet. I really want to yell at some people, but that wouldn't get me anywhere, and I know my boss really tried, it just couldn't be helped. Flash is doing well, high and dry on the continental divide as always. Still needs a kidney, so if you have an extra one laying around, I'm sure he'd be happy to take it off your hands ;-) He's a superstar at the UnderArmour he works at. He recently set a store record for single day sales! So about that podcast thing we do... I know it's been weeks since we put out an episode. We had one recorded a couple weeks ago, and I have had zero time to edit and release it. Probably won't at this point. That just means we'll get back in the BeardBoy Productions dungeon again ASAP and crank out another one. I know Flash is chomping at the bit to discuss the Mayweather/McGregor fight, as am I. We'll also have some announcements to make about the future of the show at that time. We haven't quit. We're not riding off into the sunset, but there will be changes, and they will take time. Until we talk to you in audio form again... take care, stay strong Houston, and we'll see you soon.
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