Texas

[TxZen]

Hi y'all, breaking my own rules and just checking in. Yes, I am about 10 miles from devastation and we are so blessed that nothing, other than some standing water, affected us. If anything, please keep the people of Texas in your hearts and minds. It has been a crazy week.

The good thing is, hubby and I decided to donate a good portion of our furniture, pantry food and we went to the store and fill the cart with new clothes, shoes and personal items to donate. I also went through some nice picture frames I had and a few other things, in great condition. I am holding onto this stuff until people find shelter/homes again and I am going to frame something nice for them and give it them in their new homes. This flood really hit our hearts and made us think.

As usual, my ignorant family has no clue about what is going on down here and were making jokes over the phone after I HAD TO CALL them. It made me think about whom I want to spend my time with in life. Life is too short for drama and nonsense. Even the crazy neighbors are not bothering me anymore because I give them no energy or time. Hubby, myself and my son were able to volunteer this week to help out the victims and it was such a life changing experience.

If y'all would like to help, there are several place accepting donations. KSAT is the local news station here and there is a list of place and needs on there.

Could the Texas folks on here check in if you can? I am worried about y'all. Thanks.

Thank y'all and blessings to all of you.

[Float On]

Thanks for checking in, I was wondering how close you were to it. Good friends of a friend are among the missing so I've been trying to watch everything I can and doing a lot of praying. Just had a friend with Red Cross finally get on location yesterday. She was delayed 12 hours in Atlanta just trying to get a flight to Dalllas.

[CathyA]

The devastation is just unbelievable. I'm so glad you are okay. Having missing family members/friends must be the worst thing ever. I just read that Houston has something like 10 waterways running through it, but still.......how absolutely horrific.....and how sudden it rose.
Thanks for the reminder that it's good to help them out.

[oldhat]

I spoke to my sister the night before last. She lives in the Clear Lake section of Houston and was mostly unaffected by the latest round of storms. When I talked to her she was walking her dog in a park several miles from her house.

Two weeks ago, though, 10 inches of rain fell in her area in less than two hours and she had some minor flooding in her living room. She said there was three feet of water in the street outside her house, drowning any cars that were parked there.

If you've never been in one of these tropical downpours, it's pretty amazing. The water doesn't fall in drops; it's like someone emptied a bucket on you. It's easy to get caught in a bad situation. Once I was passing through an intersection in Houston in the rain and before I knew it, the water was up to the bottom of my doors. My momentum carried me out of the flooded area before the car stalled, otherwise I would have ended up like one of those hapless people you see on the news sitting on top of their car in the middle of a flooded intersection.

[TxZen]

Let me see if I can get this to work. Had to make it a YOUTUBE video


https://youtu.be/Jd_mjT3-KuA

[pinkytoe]

We were just in Wimberley a month ago contemplating looking at retirement houses. Drove along the peaceful Blanco River lined with cypress trees - it is a magical place. So many sad stories coming out of the devastation. I read they found the dog of the family swept away in their house - she was found alive in a tree three miles downstream. One has to wonder if there is any correlation with this unprecedented flooding and the fact that Hays County where Wimberley is located was recently cited as the fastest growing place in the US.

[TxZen]

We have had NON STOP rain for over a month now. The ground was already saturated coupled with a previous historic drought, so all the trees and roots were at the top of the soil, ready to just fall over. Soil erosion going on and just the fact that this area floods in such a short amount of time and add that it was Memorial Day weekend..first weekend people really got out to the rivers and lakes. Perfect storm. :(

[Float On]

We still have houses that are not repaired and unoccupied from our flooding in 2011 and 2013. We're running 8 gates (out of 10) at the dam now* and more rain expected. We've had 2 drownings in rivers in the last couple weeks (a 61 year old woman and a 12 year old boy). I know the rivers and up and "fun" but that also means danger lurking underneath.


*edited to add, they went ahead and opened all 10. We're on a chain of lakes and dams Beaver empties into TableRock empties into Taneycomo empties into Bull Shoals.

[gimmethesimplelife]

During the end of the monsoon season here in Phoenix, last September, we had some remnants of tropical hurricanes from Baja California move into the state. One time this happened the remnants formed into this huge record breaking storm that dropped 3.29 of rain in Phoenix overnight, but a verified 6.0 plus in some suburbs. I had never seen rain quite like this before, it was so amazing and so intense and not quite the intensity of what took place in Texas. I can only begin to imagine. Here's a wish that things calm down and some sense of normalcy comes back soon. Rob

[AustinKat]

Soggy but undamaged here, just north of Austin. If we had still been in the house we were renting until about a year ago, we'd have been flooded. Very strange to see video of one's old neighborhood with the streets turned into rivers.