Hurricane Harvey: The potential to change US history?

originally posted by: loam
a reply to: TXTriker

Not sure how much hype there is.... Take the death toll so far. I've only seen them report nationally only a couple of deaths....but having watched the local coverage online from several sources, it is clear it will be far more than is being recognized now.

Plus, they still haven't surveyed ANYTHING. This isn't over by a long shot.

The death toll I heard this morning is at 6. No it isn't over. We have few more days for the rain to stop. Our news stations tend to sensationalize everything. It is a standing joke how they are when something doesn't turn out as bad as they hoped. They are in heaven right now. It is disgusting the way they act so giddy that this one played out for them. You would need to watch them on a regular basis to get what I'm saying.

a reply to: TXTriker

Maybe, but the KHOU meteorologist was almost in tears last night. He seemed genuinely disturbed.

Ironically, the Dallas coverage showed a little what you mention. I guess its the difference of being in the worst of it or not.

originally posted by: loam
a reply to: kosmicjack

Given tonight's events, I went to read about that.

Bio Lab in Galveston Raises Concerns

We'll see how that goes...

Meanwhile, watching live, they are telling people to bring axes with them as they retreat to attics.

This is night one. We have three to four more days on this!

Any bio-hazard lab of that level of containment should be like the nuke plant and basically engineered to have worst-case scenario containment. Any viruses of the level of Ebola should be in freezers and under waterproof lock and key and sealed.

They had to have engineered against the possibility of water breaching the labs themselves in order to have such things there in the first place.

There is most likely a storm protocol in place that preps the facility and its samples for the duration.

That's not to say there is no concern. If the freezers lose power, they could lose their vacuum seals and containment and after that it's how the viruses are actually contained inside and how durable that is.

a reply to: ketsuko

Relevant:

After Hurricane Katrina, which struck in 2005, the generators were elevated above the 500-year floodplain. They're tested on a weekly basis and require 10-15 seconds to spin up and begin transferring electricity. While the University of Texas' campus has lost power several times before, the Galveston Lab hasn't, due to a different routing of electricity.

Maximum containment : the most controversial labs in the world(direct .pdf link)

originally posted by: loam
a reply to: TXTriker

Maybe, but the KHOU meteorologist was almost in tears last night. He seemed genuinely disturbed.

Ironically, the Dallas coverage showed a little what you mention. I guess its the difference of being in the worst of it or not.

I'm sure there are some that actually still care but not many.

They were evacuating KHOU this morning and they were broadcasting a remote report. The poor reporter got stuck doing the entire thing for a while because the station shut down. I actually felt sorry for her. Kinda deer in the headlight look when she realized the she had just become Channel 11! They are completely off the air still. ETA: My husband just told me that they are broadcasting through WFAA in Dallas.

We are in the middle of another band right now and have lost power/internet once this morning. Hopefully that will be all but we do have a generator ready to go. Damn phone just sent another alert for tornado warning until 3PM. They are coming about every 15 minutes

originally posted by: seagull
a reply to: TXTriker

If that's the case, that's on them.

I haven't ever been to Houston or the Texas coast...drove through Dallas once, many years ago.

I know tsunami evac routes are clearly marked along the Pacific coast--though uphill is always a good idea.

Interstate 10 is actually an evac route. Right at the small town where I live it is set to be changed to one way going west if needed.

Just lost the satellite signal again. Pretty heavy band this time.

a reply to: TXTriker

So far the response effort seems to be doing as good a job as possible. I hope it remains that way.

I see the biggest problem now being they don't know what they don't know. You just can't get anywhere.

News(ABC 13) is projecting Harvey will return the gulf and then come back in at Houston. Looks like the 30" estimate of rainfall may be a bit short!

Here's the feed I'm watching.



Most of the footage in this feed is not too far from me.

a reply to: loam


You are correct. All we can do is wait, pray and see what happens. Everyone is doing the best they can right now. The volunteers with boats are simply amazing. We have quite a few on their own time and expense rescuing people.

originally posted by: jadedANDcynical
a reply to: ketsuko

Relevant:

After Hurricane Katrina, which struck in 2005, the generators were elevated above the 500-year floodplain. They're tested on a weekly basis and require 10-15 seconds to spin up and begin transferring electricity. While the University of Texas' campus has lost power several times before, the Galveston Lab hasn't, due to a different routing of electricity.

Maximum containment : the most controversial labs in the world(direct .pdf link)

Husband works at a bio-facility himself. That's where I got my post from.

He's not terribly concerned. His main room for possible disaster is from the sheer scope of flooding this time. How much foresight did they have when they built it? For example given the newness, he's expecting the condensors for the refrigeration units are located on top of the freezers and not on the bottom like they would be in older units which gives a measure of security there should some water make it into the labs themselves. So long as they have power, they should remain contained.

Owing to the regulations in place, it is unlikely they moved any dangerous samples out in time.

He's familiar with the regulations involved in just moving inert bio samples around, so there would be no quick evacuation of dangerous bio material.

Of course, you do have the Feds moving around live anthrax, so there is that ...

But all in all, there really isn't too much concern for this unless there is something extremely catastrophic that occurs. And I'm not talking what is going on now because they likely engineered for even this.

a reply to: TXTriker

Yes, I've seen some true heroes today. Texans have really made America proud today.

This link has a video on the potential path of Harvey.

abc13.com...

Doesn't show the report I saw about half hour ago but does show the potential to go back into the gulf.

Thanks. I believe the people of Texas are some of the most generous, kind and considerate people in the world and I am proud to live here.

a reply to: TXTriker



The fact that it dips back into the Gulf is just terrible. Another opportunity to gen up more energy and moisture.

This is heart wrenching.

I've been transferred at my job again, and I'm back in newsletter land. A lot of what I do now is edit senior home newsletters. For all I know, I proof and edit a monthly newsletter that goes to these folks. I might even see their photos, edit citizen of the month articles and staff reviews for some of them ...

This is hard.

a reply to: loam

Assistance from all over the world is going to be amazing. Humanity at its best.

Yes that really concerns me. We have fared well so far but it could get a lot worse.

Update on Ben Taub. They didn't learn after Allison and they have supplies, drugs etc stored in the basement which is now flooded. The major effort is to evacuate 18 patients on ventilators.