Houston we have a problem, major flooding in Houston ...2016 flooding

Been following the storm chasers driving around Houston for the past 4 hours, things don't look good in Houston and surrounding areas there's major flooding with more torrential rain on the way and throughout the evening

Links for watching live

TVN Chasers

Severe Studios

ABC13

The broadcasters despite their usual fear mongering are saying this is a one in 500 years event and possibly worse than Storm Allison which hit them in 2001.

And what's worse is the stupidity of some people intent on driving through the flooding

VIDEO: Reporter Steve Campion rescues man trapped in high water on live TV

Saw another driver get his engine flooded trying to follow some traffic through, his car got stuck so he got out, water rose a little more and some trucks decided to brave the water making waves causing the car to start floating and hit one of the trailers of the trucks, it's absolutely insane, so many people caught out in this weather.

MOD NOTE

This is not a current thread

Please not the date of the OP:

posted on Apr, 18 2016 @ 10:10 AM

a reply to: Discotech

Yup, I'm a bit southeast of Houston proper and had to come in to work from Galveston. Heavy rain on the way in and the streets are already almost flooded.

The detention pond at the rear of my property is practically at capacity and if this rain continues much longer, will over flow soon.

Anyone in the area, please stay safe and be very careful if you have to get out on the roads.

Yeah. It sucks to be here right now.
Between 18 to 20 inches of rain so far and it doesn't look like it's going to stop any time soon.

Our antenna was struck by lightening last night. Lost 2 tvs and the WII and our phone.
It blew pieces of the digital tuner across the room and I got shocked by my keyboard. Lucky no one was hurt.

Our local volunteer fire dept. has been doing high water rescues all night and this morning. Hope every one stays safe.

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

Yep the Mayor on the live feed is talking of concern about the nearby reservoirs and how they'll have to release water causing more flooding if the water levels continue to rise

Heavy rain moved east along the I-10 corridor and a bit north. Cocorahs (Colorado Climate Center) rain reports show 10 to 12 inches of rain west and north of and into the west side of Houston over night. Still raining. Looks like it's the yearly Houston flood.

The heavy rain passed just north of my location earlier. Heavy rain did start here about an hour ago here, over 1 inch of rain at this point. Still some west of here moving east.

I'm west and can't get to IH10. Brookshire mayor closed the city. My husband works 2 miles and couldn't get there. Up until 8AM we had around 9-10 inches but has slowed now. More on the way. 7 bayous out of banks. Addicks and Barker dams being monitored as well.

a reply to: TXTriker

I'm about 60 miles west. Solid line of rain between here and you and headed east

Stay dry.

a reply to: roadgravel

Watching radar

a reply to: TXTriker

Looks like the heaviest might stay south of I-10 this round.

The live news feed just confirmed 1 dead in greens road area, stay safe out there guys hope you don't all get flooded

a reply to: roadgravel

Its been starting on one side and then drifting back to the other all night. They say that will continue. Now 13 bayous out of banks. We've had a break for a couple hours so some has runoff. Hopefully enough to handle what's coming.

originally posted by: Discotech
The live news feed just confirmed 1 dead in greens road area, stay safe out there guys hope you don't all get flooded

Watching live news here and they haven't said anything. Which channel are you streaming?

a reply to: Discotech

I don't mean to be alarmist, but anyone in direct threat from a dam failure needs to move out immediately. This is something that has not been prioritized as it should have been over the last couple of decades. Thousands of weak dams exist all over the US, ones deemed barely safe under normal conditions.

There were already massive problems with various dams before the economic problems started a decade ago, it's only gotten worse.

Even those in positions of authority in these states do not understand the problems, and if they do they just keep crossing their fingers that nothing bad is going to happen on their watch.

Things are prioritized, in economically difficult times this gets worse, dams are are far down on the list of things to monitor and fix because it's considered unimportant, and people forget what these rare failures case.

Do not trust the dams.

a reply to: Rocker2013

They're not concerned with the dams failing, more getting too full which could then lead to failure due to the pressure I guess, the concern is that releasing the water in order to lower levels is going to create more flooding to the waterways the dams flow off leads to

a reply to: TXTriker

The ABC13 stream, posted it as soon as they mentioned it but they haven't mentioned it since.

Update from the news, 90% of the Bayou's are now over their banks

originally posted by: Discotech
a reply to: Rocker2013

They're not concerned with the dams failing, more getting too full which could then lead to failure due to the pressure I guess, the concern is that releasing the water in order to lower levels is going to create more flooding to the waterways the dams flow off leads to

a reply to: TXTriker

The ABC13 stream, posted it as soon as they mentioned it but they haven't mentioned it since.

Thanks I'm watching KHOU Channel 11. The dams mentioned are at risk dams which is why they will release as needed. The pressure is the issue but I think they may be able to release sooner due to the "at risk" designation.

originally posted by: Discotech
They're not concerned with the dams failing

They should be, that's what I'm saying, they're underestimating and down-playing the risk here because they have no other option.

Funding for maintenance and safety of dams has never been adequate, it's been lowered even more in the last ten years and various states have fallen drastically behind on just monitoring the state of their dams. It's just not deemed important because these events are pretty rare.

You're looking at a huge event here, and if your dams were already considered inadequate under normal conditions, this event is going to make them very dangerous indeed.

People are insane. The same storm system i assume, just dropped over 24 - 36 inches of snow on the greater metro Denver area. It snowed from Friday until early this morning there. 12 - 18 inches PER day in Centennial, the area just south of Denver I was hunkered down in for two nights.
I was a bit thankful it was snow and not rain bedside i know these crazy amounts would have caused flooding if rain.

Anyways i finally escaped yesterday afternoon and headed south on I25. It was still a blizzard when i left. Cars were zipping past me doing 75 - 85 on the highway meanwhile i cruised home at about 55 highest speed the entire way.

I passed six wrecks and witnessed one happen just in front of me. Idiots in the fast lane riding too close. One touch of the breaks and about 5 cars hydro planed into one another. Also passed a car which on its side. It had rolled several times. The car was a smushed aluminum can and no cop car was even there yet.

Yet people continued to speed on by. This was on aSunday. My point here is you can always count on idiots driving with no respect for the elements.

I hope all in Houston will stay safe and there wont be much major property damage.

Just reported that the Brazos River is out of its banks at Sealy TX.

a reply to: Rocker2013

The Houston Metropolitan area has about as much vertical relief as your typical dinner plate.

The dams in the area aren't the problem, the bayous are what we are concerned with. Due to the fact of the overall flatness of the area, large amounts of rain just don't run off as quickly as they would if we did have a large degree of height difference between where the rain is falling and where it is trying to get to.

Even a colander will fill up if you pour water into it faster than the holes will allow for escape. That is what we are dealing with in Houston and surrounding areas.

a reply to: lightedhype

Even in UK where the weather isn't usually bad (or good) I've seen countless people being idiots when the weather does turn bad, people doing 90+ down the motorway in torrential rain (speed limit is 70), idiots trying to drive at normal speed in the snow to the point where I watched a Mercedes in front of me lose his rear end and almost end up in a ditch, did it stop them ? make them slow down ? Nope they just keep going like they can only drive at one speed and only in one direction.