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[scriver]

Looks like stockholm to me!

[EnigmaticHat]

At least they don't have to contend with the pumps keeping them from becoming a modern day Atlantis constantly breaking down.

It'd help. Conceptually a lot is (likely to end up being) better condition wise for recovery for SE tex than it was for louisiana. But, y'know. Better =/= good, and all that.

Will say, one thing this has definitely drove home for me is that us folks out here around the gulf... we can't really afford to keep fucking around. Once a decade storms of this magnitude of impact are apparently more than this general area can particularly rally from before the next hits, and there's better than even odds that rate is going to maintain or get more frequent.

If we don't get to the point we can handle cat 4+ hurricanes and historic flooding without needing recovery efforts like katrina's aftermath had, or harvey's is looking to have, we're going to attrition out with variable degrees of speed over the next two or three or so generations... couple hundred years, whatever. Or at least get to where we can recover in a much shorter time period. And/or, really. Both is good.

But... as is, we're not going to be able to get away much longer with flood control reservoirs that aren't built expecting shit we've never seen before, or regional flood insurance rates around 15%, or road conditions that can't manage to transport tens(/hundreds) of thousands without trouble even during heavy flooding, or coastal buildings that get knocked down by mere 140+ mph winds and multi-foot storm surges, and all the rest of it. Basically, the window for where not building what effectively are fortress cities geared for natural disaster is an option is shrinking. And, like. Single generation/lifetime shrinking, which is fucking terrifying if considering an environmental time scale.

I don't see that happening in Texas.  Upgrading a single highway in Texas to be 4 or 5 lanes would be like repairing every inch of another state's road network.  Too many people, too spread out, and with a political climate that favors small government and climate change denial.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And think about how much of that is threatened coastline.

[Frumple]

Crosspost to the ameripol thread or somethin'? RK asked to take it elsewhere if it's not fairly relevant to the immediate stuff.

[Rolan7]

Holy shit...  PTW

[Frumple]

And here we go. Mandatory evac orders for a couple houston subdivisions, states they (county flood whatever) think the possibility of a storm pump failure is high enough the people there need to get GTFO. Pretty sure there's also increasing worry of a levee breach pretty soon. Also very non-zero possibilities of dam failures in the near future. Basically reaching the point the already fucked system has reached or may soon reach its bullshit tolerance limit and is getting ready to nope on out of there and leave everyone to get buggered.

E: Also hey, RK, you wanted a go at gatornadoes? Nature may soon provide the chance.

[Sheb]

Given the amount of crap, I'm surprised the death toll is at only 3 so far. Really underscore how good the US is at not dying.

[Egan_BW]

Even the weather knows not to fuck with texas.

[Max™]

I'm surprised given how long it's been since a major hurricane hit that there wasn't more "eh, what's the worst that could happen" going on. I guess "gigantic wet tornado" is easy enough to grasp for Texans.

[Dorsidwarf]

Holy shit that rivers got to be about 20 foot over normal levels , that's terrifying

[Frumple]

Given the amount of crap, I'm surprised the death toll is at only 3 so far. Really underscore how good the US is at not dying.

Up to at least 9 by the last time I saw anything about it, actually. Family of six drowned after getting trapped in their vehicle.

It's also worth noting that no small amount of that low number is that it's very, very possible there's a fair few more than we're actually aware of. Hard to tell if there's a corpse inside a house that's a pile of debris or literally under water until folks start clearing stuff away and the flooding recedes. Disease is pretty certain to start killing people over the next few days/weeks, too. These sorts of things don't tend to have terribly high immediate body counts unless some holy shit level things happen, and even those tend to be lowballed in the beginning just due to lack of ability to confirm.

[martinuzz]

Getting help into Houston is going to be hard. The two airports are out of operation, the runways have flooded. Seems like the only way to get to Houston is by boat.

[Sheb]

Well, it didn't take that long to get the estimate of 800+ in Sierra Leone for exemple. Okay, saying "you're better than Sierra Leone" isn't saying much, but still.

[Max™]

Technically we could have probably worked out exactly what was going to happen with Harvey, oh, several decades ago: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/29/a-storm-made-in-washington-215549

[Frumple]

Eh, there's still roadways open mart. Open-ish. Some.

And, uh. Sheb. Might want to check those dates. Beyond it being primarily mud slides that did the killing, and that count being missing, rather than dead (which was 500-ish), that report's from a week later. After the flood stopped. Also the general region around freetown is about a third of the greater houston area which is currently getting dumped on.

It's been about two days in tex since the rains started. They're not done, yet.

Like. What I'm saying is that sierra leone was in a much better position to get those estimates that quickly.

E: Oh, and bloody hell max don't even start down that path. It's getting easy to notice the administrative/infrastructure fuckups involved in this that, while mostly haven't going over the enfuckering point, yet, are set to get to hard screwing, are not inconsiderate. Two of the six worst dams in the country are in the greater houston area, and are two of the ones currently trying to hold back this flooding.

[misko27]

The NY Times has been citing a deathtoll of 10 for the last day or so. Casualties will continue to trickle in, but we won't learn about the true extent of the damage until the water levels stop rising and start receding.

Trump is going to be visiting Texas today, but he will not visit Houston so as to not put more pressure on the stretched abilities of the local government (that's the official reason anyway). Governor Abbot continues to be effusive in his praise of Trump, and Trump continues to be effusive in his praise of the response.