Update
The most recent reporting on Houston’s response to Hurricane Harvey can be found at its blog.
Yesterday
Here’s the most recent report on the situation in Houston I’ve found, from Houston’s KHOU:
- The death toll from Harvey continues to rise, including a baby girl who was swept away from her parents arms by floodwaters and a Houston police officer who got caught up in flooding while trying to report for duty.
- Shelters that can accommodate thousands are now open across the Houston area, including at NRG Center and Lakewood Church. That’s in addition to the George R. Brown Convention Center which once housed over 9,000 evacuees. Click here for a list of the shelters available near where you are.
- While the Houston area is beginning to dry out, our neighbors in east Texas and Louisiana are experiencing catastrophic flooding as Harvey makes yet another landfall there. The mayor of Port Arthur, Texas says his city is completely underwater, as is parts of Beaumont.
- Families near the Arkema Chemical plant in Crosby have been evacuated. The plant has lost power to refrigeration units that keep chemicals safe due to flooding. Authorities says the threat is not immediate, but could be catastrophic if there was a fire or other problem.
- The Houston Astros returned to the field Wednesday night for a “home” game relocated to St. Petersburg, Florida. Houston fell to the Texas Rangers 12-2 in a game players admitted was difficult to play because of their worries about what was happening at home.. The status of their weekend home series against the New York Mets is up in the air. It may also be played in Florida.
The disaster is still ongoing and our concerns, attention, and prayers should remain with the people of Houston. I encourage you to donate to the disaster relief organization of your choice to the degree you are able. Money, being fungible, is always best.
Save the Children Hurricane Harvey Children’s Relief Fund is one just one organization whose fiscal pie chart indicates that 86.5% of their monies go to program services. Other reliable relief sources, IMO, would be The Red Cross and the local Salvation Army.
I gave to St Vincent de Paul because I have experience with them and know they are really good at case management for the long term relief effort (a href=”http://www.svdpdisaster.org/house-in-a-boxtrade.html”>House in a Box program) and they coordinate immediate relief as well.
http://www.svdpdisaster.org/donate-now.html
Sorry, messed up link but if interested go to their website and check out their “House in a Box” program.
If you fly a lot you have probably received a “donate your miles” email. With a click you can help people to and from the area.
Purely anecdotal. One of our CEO’s reports that the pictures you see don’t really begin to convey the reality.
I saw a clip of Gen. Honore on CNN and Fox News. He did not say it is a clusterfuck, but it is. He mentioned that they needed to evacuate the elderly, hospitalized, disabled, and poor from the low lying areas that had not been flooded yet. The next morning, Port Arthur was under water and the most vulnerable were at risk.
Evacuations are far more complicated than most people can imagine. I am not trying to shit on Houston, but when the Governor Abbott said that the Houston Convention Center was not Katrina, I knew he was clueless. Unless he has sent multiple truckloads of Port-a-Potties, 9,000 people crammed into a building for 5,000 is not going to be pretty, and then, I heard that the Red Cross trucks could not get through due to the water level.
I would not wish this on my worst enemy, but if karma got a little payback from the assholes shitting on the Katrina and Sandy victims, I would not stop it. Now that the Republican Senators have to choose between their “principles” and re-election, it will be interesting to learn just how principled they are.
Where other people see the images of widespread flooding, I see the thousands or tens of thousands of blocks with front lawn piled high with almost or all of everything they own. Unless it is your stuff, you cannot imagine what it is like, and “getting out alive” is meaningless.
I probably should not watch it. My wife will not watch it, and her friend has been crying for days. I suspect there are a lot of other people hear reliving the horror.
For the despicable animals who are being flooded but could not find any compassion for Katrina or Sandy victims, payback is a bitch, but I would have prefered to have you burned alive rather than have others affected as well.
I gave to Saint Bernard’s Project. They’re small, but the money goes straight to ground zero. They have been doing great work with rebuilding homes after Sandy, which, in NYC, is still going on.
Why the constant call for prayers when there is no evidence that prayer has any efficacy whatsoever? Such talk just signals a mind that has shut down to science and reason.
Prayer is like meditation. People pray for life and peace amidst chaos and fear, and then they pray after death has come, and guess what–it actually brings solace. Everything else is just an organized hustle.
MM – Nicely said, and I totally agree.
Was surprised to hear that fire ants are a big problem. They are evil creatures.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/30/us/fire-ants-harvey-hurricane-storm.html?mcubz=1
Skeeters will be coming in force in a week as well.
Knowing that Houston did not take steps, easy ones, to mitigate damage because they wanted to be business friendly has mitigated our plans to donate. As Dave pointed out, we pay taxes up here so that we are prepared for snow removal. We require businesses to engage in behaviors that will not make potential disasters worse. Businesses also need to pay taxes toward that end. Perhaps we lost a business or two that went to Texas instead. If I am not bailing them out, either through private donations or through taxes, that will not leave me happy. To be sure, even with steps taken to lessen the effects of this storm they still likely faced a disaster, though surely not as bad. So, I won’t regret what we have donate to date, but not so sure we are sending any more.
Steve
Yes, that’s been my point, steve. It doesn’t seem to make sense to me for me to pay Texas to attract businesses from Illinois.
Well, I guess I have a bit more sympathy.
I also think about practically the entire west coast which is overdue for a massive earthquake or volcanic eruption.