I agree with you 100%

You need to do what is right for you. You've been through a lot lately yourself. Take care of you and come back and visit when you can. (((Idstarr)))

Lisa, this is why there is an off button on our computers, and TV's. Turn it off! Go do something you enjoy. Nothing wrong with that. Life goes no.

I turn my computer off after I post here, check the go fund me site, and read my email.

My TV has only been on for about 30 minutes or so, since I got home late Saturday evening.

My system can take only so much disaster... and then I need to regenerate. Since my best regenerating activity is out right now (cycling) I turn stuff off.

I hope, you can recuperate.

Moni

I agree with you too. So much of this could have been avoided.

Someone called into a radio show and said they saw an interview with a man that has something to do with the drainage in some way (can't remember his exact job) But he admitted in this interview that it was just "too expensive" to fix the problem. They just don't want to spend money or time to make that area safer. It's sad. When stuff like this happens money gets thrown at it and most of the victims never see a dime.

I also wish they had a better plan for volunteers when these things happen. so many people want to help. I understand some areas aren't safe but try to have places and plans in place for people to help make things easier for those affected.

I know what you mean. I have been sick yesterday and really again today. Just can't eat, sick, stomach a horrible mess. I am having to take breaks too.

Raven, and Lisa....please, please be good to yourselves and take a break. I had to almost tear DH away from CNN last night, he had started watching live coverage, was paying particular attention to the frightened children, and couldn't stop watching. Do either of you have a place you could just be quietly outside for a while, to breathe.....

Please do what you need to do to allow yourself to heal. I took several hours yesterday to read quietly and felt better afterward. The bottom line is that you have to take care of yourself.

Idstarr, with what youve been going through personally, you -must- take care of yourself.

It's all having a huge emotional impact on me, too. I keep telling myself that i need to step away but just the thought of doing that leaves me feeling guilty. I find myself imagining what Raven and her husband went through. It's like a slide show in my mind. And now Marilyn..... It's so hard to stop the images my mind is producing.

Lisa, listen to Moni and take a break from the news. What has happened is done. There is nothing we can do except provide support and financial aid to the people affected.

I don't know how it would have been possible to evacuate a city of over 2 million people. Heck, getting on the highway after a major sporting has just ended, is horrendous. And then cars run out of gas and block everyone else. It really is not very practical and I think the mayor Houston had lots of people studying this and was advised not to try it. Of course, that did not prohibit individuals from evacuating if they thought it was the right thing to do. But most people fear leaving their house. So far, there have been few reports of looting but when the water goes down, there will be folks doing a bit of "shopping" in ruined houses.

Cites, states, countries do try to plan for disasters. But when one is of a certain magnitude, it is not something anyone can adequately plan for or control. The wonderful thing is that residents rose to the occasion and helped one another. All those boats out rescuing people reminded me of Dunkirk when a flotilla of privately owned boats of all sizes went across the English Chanel and rescues British troops who faced certain death. When many of the surviving ones were in that flotilla for the Queen's Jubilee, it was just heartwarming to see those boats, so many so very small.

I'm in NO WAY minimizing the catastrophe in Houston! It will take at least a decade to be totally fixed. And for many, life will never again be the same. Flood insurance doesn't remotely cover everything one owns and most people don't have large cash slush funds to cover such. But I've been gratified to see far fewer complaints from those in shelters than we did with Katrina in New Orleans. That was one for the ages! I'll never forget the lady complaining to a reporter that "They ain't got no shrimp and I want shrimp - I don't eat beans!".

Our youngest son (41) lives in Leander, Texas....outside Austin. He said they just had a few days of heavy wind and rain but it seems to be okay.. As parents we were always watching the weather news for information about Harvey. (We live in Colorado)

Google a search for Houstons flooding issues and articles as old as 2005 populate page after page and talk about how the wetlands have been built up and the drainage system was never updated to help compensate for it. In addtion to destroying the eco system, the water no longer has anywhere to go and scientists predicted these kinds of problems would happen years ago. Human's have no one to blame but ourselves. :c(

I've been on vacation for 12 days and can attest how wonderful it felt to TURN OFF the internet, the radio, the tv, facebook, newspapers, my favorite forums including this one ... everything! I highly recommend taking a complete media break every once in a while. Enjoy the present. Talk to real-life people, or to yourself, or to nature, or enjoy the quiet.

*Sigh* I had only an inkling that something bad was happening with a hurricane in Texas. I'm appalled at the destruction, and so sorry for the hardships so many people are facing. Will be figuring out what to do to help.

Yes, the mayor should have started an evacuation program days before the storm. Have all highways going only in one direction and do it by neighborhoods so everyone wasn't on the road at the same time and yes, it's criminal to say it's too expensive to update the drainage system. That being said, other than a 100% evacuation a week before hand, I don't know that anything , drainage, dams, whatever, could handle anything of this magnitude.

Sometimes a person just needs to turn off the TV and go for a walk, take a nap, play with the pups, read a book or bake some cookies. It's a way to ground yourself and try to feel like life is normal again. It's a healthy thing to do for yourself and not at all selfish.

I think the mayor made the announcement he did to save as many lives as he could. Houston didn't have a whole lot of notice that we were taking a direct hit on a hurricane. Some people should have left that had flooded before or at least have gotten to higher ground and the mayor could have suggested that, but in the end we have to be responsible for our own well being. Houston doesn't have the roads and infrastructure to evacuate the large numbers of people we have here. Apparently, a lot of people (100+) unnecessarily died evacuating in the last hurricane because they ran out of gas and got stuck. It was thought to be better to stay rather than be out on the road. Where do you go once you leave? I had offers of places to stay, but many people didn't. Hotels were filling up. Places people would normally go like San Antonio were originally predicted to be in the direct path.

We still had the option to evacuate, but made the choice not to because we believed we were above the flooding. I knew hurricanes came with tornadoes on the dirty side, but I never expected there to be days of them. I think the news reported 172 tornados with this storm.