May, I'm happy to hear from you, what an awful storm. I'm glad you are safe and dry, and still cooking.

Annie

I am glad to hear that you are safe, lowspark, and that your house did not get flooded. Harvey was a 1000 year storm, which is unprecedented. The National Weather Service actually had to add new colors to the weather map to tell the true story of this nightmare hurricane.

Happy to hear that you are safe and your house is too.

Oh May, it's so good to hear that you're safe and survived without major damage! My heart goes out to your friend and all who were effected. Texas has come through a nightmare and I hope that those who lost so much will be able to recover.

Glad to hear that your house was not flooded! BTW, Harvey is not a 1000 year storm - perhaps a 10 year storm, since Katrina was 12 years ago and was worse. In 1979 there was a similar storm (Claudette) that hit Texas (43" of rain near Alvin in a 24 hour period), and so people should not lull themselves into a false sense of security that storms like that are all that rare - and they are likely to become more common in the near future. I was in a flood in Houston June 15, 1976, which only had 13" of rain that day, but the apartment where I was visiting had 2" of water in it, the bathtub filled up from the drain with sewage, and the toilet of course did not flush. Add to that the lack of drinking water. I'm just saying this to warn people to be prepared for this kind of disaster. I think drinking water and portable toilets are the main concern.

In the one day flood I was in, eight people died, and I think somewhere in the 40s died in this flood, but when mandatory evacuation was ordered for Hurricane Rita, over 100 people died in accidents trying to evacuate. This is one reason that evacuation can be more dangerous that riding out a storm. Good to have an inflatable boat or air mattress in Houston also - I have both but don't use them for floods.

Are you anywhere near Meyerland? Since it is close to Braeswood Bayou, I thought it would be fairly flooded. I used to go to Three Brothers' Bakery there, although I'm not sure if that is still open.

Good to know you're fine May! Very glad you're still cooking.

So glad you are dry! May, can I ask what people need the most? My town is working double time to send help. We have two tractor trailers going out tomorrow and I have 40 Mc gift cards in the amount of $25 to add on the truck in the morning. Superstorm Sandy survivors paying it forward to Houston

<3Hope Floats

I'm really not sure. I know they don't need clothes so much. Probably paper products. Diapers are in demand. I am guessing the McD gift cards will be a godsend! Thank you so much!!!

Maggie, I've donated to the Red Cross and to an animal rescue both in Texas and one locally that's receiving shelter animals from Houston, but I never thought of those McD's cards, now that's a good idea!

Annie

Lars,

I've been through a lot of storms in my 57 years here. None have come close to this. I remember my mother driving our Impala through high water in 1973 and I was crying as the water was entering the car. Yeah, we've had some doozies.

But I'm just gonna tell you, nothing, nothing has even come close to this. Allison was really bad but it pales in comparison. I've never in my life witnessed so much rain. Just imagine a hard pounding rain coming down for hours with no respite. It just did not stop.

When they quote estimates like 50", although unfathomable, I can believe, simply because I lived through it.

I do happen to be very near Meyerland. Just a few blocks west of the western edge of it and a few blocks south of Braes Bayou. Most of the houses north of me, between me and the bayou, flooded. Three houses on my block of 10 houses got water. Why I was spared, I don't know.

What people do need to know about this is that not every house flooded. So many did and that's what you see on the news but so many people did not. And those who did not, are literally lining up to help those who did.

Is this an 800 year flood, a 1000 year flood, or a 10 year flood? I really don't know. I do know that it's more than I've seen in 57 years. And I hope to never see it again.

Oh yeah. Three Brothers. They are still in business. They flooded out though. They are going to repair, rebuild and reopen.

The mandatory evacuation that was ordered for Rita was ordered for specific areas close to the coast. Galveston and some other cities. There were *some* areas of Houston which were mandatory as well, those which were near water or low lying.

All the rest of Houston was NOT ordered to evac. Many people did because there was a lot of panic due to Katrina having hit New Orleans three weeks earlier. Many people who should not have evacuated tried to. That's what caused the freeways to completely fill up and that's what caused deaths on the road to occur.

That is exactly why there was no evac order issued for Houston for Harvey.

May, I am so relieved to hear that you are okay!! It has to be traumatizing.

Florida is always a hurricane target so I am sensitive to all factors of floods and storms.

I'm sure this is the worst flood in Houston history, but I fear that it could happen again, due to the rising temperature of the ocean and Gulf. It even surpasses the 1979 flood when 43" of rain fell on Brazoria County, and that flood was not as widespread.

I was in Houston from 1968 to 1972 while I was at Rice, and most of that time I lived on campus, but I did live on Hawthorne Blvd between Yoakum and Mt Vernon for one year. Howard Hughes grew up on Yoakum a couple of blocks from where I lived. A couple of times when my parents came to visit me, they got stranded by high water in streets, but they had taken the wrong streets. I also remember Hurricane Carla from 1961.

Damage from this flood probably exceeds Hurricane Katrina, and it was dubbed the storm of the century - a title which lasted twelve years, I guess. And the Galveston hurricane of 1900 killed almost three times as many people as Katrina.

I'm very happy that you were able to keep dry and I know it will take a long time to deal with the devastation around you.

People here talk about earthquakes and say they are waiting for "The Big One" as if there will only be one big one, when in fact there are many big ones. They should instead say "the next big one" and understand that once a big one has happened, another big one can happen afterwards. I think the same is true with floods and hurricanes - if it can happen once, it can happen again, and that's why it's so important to be prepared.

May, good to hear you fared well.

Lars, the flooding from Katrina was a result of the levee breach, not excessive rainfall as in Harvey.