Monday, August 28, 2017

Hurricane Harvey

Jeepers, I really hate that the doom and gloom predictions of this hurricane ended up being correct.  Usually, for our coastal tropical storms/hurricanes, they seem to fizzle out before doing too much damage, but Harvey not only strengthened to a category 4 hurricane before making landfall, he also (as predicted) has been doing a sit-and-spin over a good part of Texas, and the catastrophic flooding that was predicted is happening - Houston has been hit especially hard, but many other cities and towns are also suffering.  I feel bad for everyone.

Our town has a phenomena known to the locals as the Aggiedome, which means that there can be torrential rain everywhere around us, but we'll be bone-dry.  That was the case for a good part of Saturday - Harvey had made landfall, we'd cancelled our run but weather-permitting, still planned on meeting up at Blue Baker, and sure enough, while it was raining that morning, it wasn't severe.  We got there and had just sat down with our food when a tornado warning sounded over the restaurant's speakers as well as everyone's phones - but in checking the radar, it was located to the far south, so we were fine.  We had our breakfast as usual, although it was raining harder for a while outside.  But weirdly, the rest of the day it was barely raining.  I began to think that the Aggiedome was going to keep us dry...and then, around 5:00 pm, we got hit with a band of Harvey rain and it hasn't stopped pouring since.

Other than losing power for about 40 minutes Saturday evening, we have fared the storm well.  Jeff has gone outside to rake debris from the top of our sump pump a couple of times:
Our backyard holds a lot of water, hence the need for the sump pump.

And the pump is doing its job, keeping the water moving from the backyard to the street, where it adds to the drainage pond (most of the time, just a nice grassy area):
Sump pump spewing water nicely...
View of the pond filling up (taken Saturday evening) - you can see one of the concrete drains (there are six of them in the pond) and while it was filling up, it wasn't overflowing, so the drains are clear enough to be working.
We went out with umbrellas on Sunday afternoon to check everything over - yep, sump pump still chugging along!
This is the ditch on the other side of the yard that Jeff dug many years ago - water is pouring from it, which is keeping that side of the backyard less flooded.  

Knock on wood, things won't get much worse than this...but I'm a little nervous, as it hasn't stopped raining in well over 24 hours, and it's predicted to continue like this for most of the week.  We hit a flash flood warning Sunday afternoon and all the school districts have closed for today - better to keep everyone safe at home than on these wet and flooded roads.  There's been a lot of knitting and TV watching on my part, and Paco is doing his job keeping me company quite well:
No big deel, Mom.  I heer for yu.

Cross your fingers for Texas - we could use a break from Harvey.

16 comments:

  1. I was thinking of you and your friends this weekend wondering if the storm had made its way to you. I now you mentioned earlier that ya'll were pretty far inland and most severe storms/hurricanes don't reach you. I hope this one doesn't get any worse.

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  2. I was wondering how you guys were doing. Glad your fairing well so far. Stay safe.

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  3. The images coming out of TX are just heartbreaking. As a New Englander who has been through several hurricanes, I feel for you guys. Listen, even a bad Nor'easter can bring a deluge of rain to us - remember the 100 year flood we had a few years ago? It's horrible to deal with the aftermath. Hang in there and here's to the Aggie Dome being in full effect while Harvey sits.

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  4. It's just mind-blowing--30+ inches of rain down there? We get that much snow and it shuts everything down. Rain is so much worse. I hope you stay safe.

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  5. Wow, the pictures are amazing. The sump pump for the backyard is such a great thing, and also that ditch that Jeff dug on the other side too! I'm also happy that you haven't lost power for too long. That can be really dreadful, when you are in the middle of a huge storm, and no way to hear what's happening. I hope the predictions are wrong, and Harvey decides to leave earlier than predicted!

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  6. Definitely been thinking of you. Glad you're doing ok.

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  7. It is terrible. I'm so glad the response has been better there than what happened with Katrina. Hopefully the track of the storm will change like they think it might to make Harvey go away quickly.

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  8. So glad your area is ok and y'all are safe! These storms are no joke! We are super wet too and the worst is headed this way over the next few days so crossing fingers it's not too bad.

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  9. Was thinking of you all weekend. I'm glad things aren't too bad at your house. Hope they stay that way.

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  10. Been thinking of you and am glad to hear things aren't too bad (to repeat what others have said here...how original of me!). Does Paco mind going out in the rain?

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    1. Paco doesn't seem to notice the rain, which is a welcome change after having a dachshund who hated going out if the sprinklers had gone off - short legs = wet tummy.

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  11. Oh Shelley, I've been thinking about you all weekend! So glad that you have fared well so far! Sending good wishes still as Harvey gets his rain/wind out of his system. xo

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  12. I've been thinking of you guys! Praying this settles soon!!

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  13. I hope the sump pumps and drains continue to stay strong this week! I'm glad to hear you are doing okay. This storm is just horrific. :(

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  14. It's great to hear that you are safe and your sump pump is going strong! Harvey needs to move on along (just not this way).

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  15. First I am happy you are okay. It's terrible what is happening in Houston right now. We have a pretty big lake here and on the news they said there had been so many rain in Houston it could fill up our lake 6 to 7 times and that gave me a pretty good idea how much water fell.

    I hope it doesn't get worse where you live and that it stops soon and Houston can start rebuilding / cleaning up everything.

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