Texans: Educate me about your coastline and this hurricane.

[KyndCulture]

I'm in Minnesota, never been to texas. Lived in Florida for years, know lots about hurricanes ... but i don't know much about the coast of texas.

Are there barrier islands in the way? Is the area this monster is headed for a low lying or flood prone area? I know the city of Houston is close and Corpus Christi...

Are there many people without transportation again?

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. I'm not texan

but the Mahyor of houston already said not enough transportation... the Feds are not responding

[KyndCulture]

2. sigh. That's what I was afraid of.

I've been offline for a few days and no cable TV here...

[babylonsister]

3. Here's a good article posted here yesterday:

A mini-New Orleans? Galveston ponders its vulnerabilities (Houston Chron.)
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3...


This article was published September 8, but seems more relevant now with Rita's projected track going over Galveston:


As New Orleans discovered last week in Hurricane Katrina's wake, however, walls can fail. So where does this leave Galveston, arguably the country's second-most vulnerable city to a hurricane, behind only New Orleans?

-snip-

While New Orleans counted on its levee system, Galveston's sense of security comes from a 15-foot wall. After the great storm of 1900, which killed 8,000, Galveston's leaders constructed a seawall along much of the island's eastern end. They also raised the city directly behind it from a peak of 8 feet above sea level to about 15 feet.

The island now reaches its highest point at the seawall, gently sloping back to sea level at bayside.

A Katrina-size storm would not destroy the seawall, and indeed the wall would absorb much energy from the biggest, crashing waves. But Katrina's storm surge crested at 22 feet, enough height to easily clear the seawall. And the city has no protection from bayside waters.

[pearl]

4. Born in Corpus Christi

Galveston has no barrier islands, Corpus does and is set back
from the Gulf located on a bay.

My big concern is Houston even though its up the coast from
Galveston, I've got a ton of family in Houston.

[prole_for_peace]

5. any peninsulas or islands we have will not do much to slow

her. Houston is very prone to flooding. I live about 70 miles northeast-ish of houston. port arthur is a few miles from me and it is only 1 foot above sea level. i don't know what we are but it can't be much more. so...we are screwed.

i know that good hair perry has been making a point of being very involved in all the prep (i think to show that NO was not the feds fault) but it won't be enough. there aren't enough buses to get houston clear and with all the freeway construction in our state the roads will be a nightmare. the orange traffic cone is our state symbol.

[KyndCulture]

8. Oh shit! That's what I was wondering, sea level.

If Houston is like 60ish miles inland there must be a reason that people are getting out. Wow!

I hope you are planning to get to higher ground!

[prole_for_peace]

13. i want to go to austin but we are being told

not to go west. but believe me, there is NOTHING i want in north texas. blech. i might sneak to austin a back way

[AspenRose]

6. I grew up in San Antonio, briefly lived in Houston

Not really any "barrier islands..."

Galveston has a sea wall...don't know how it'll handle a cat 5....

and depending on the trajectory and strength of the hurricane, it could flood in S.A., Austin, and surrounding areas. Houston is notorious for flooding.

South Padre Island is sinking. Don't know about Corpus or Victoria.

[Texasgal]

7. Very few barrier islands.

Houston is a low lying city and always seems to flood with heavy rain. This could be the very thing that floods it pretty bad this time...

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. Think of a bull's eye target and place it on an island

You have Galveston. Created by silt, tides, storms and runoff, the entire barrier island is a disaster waiting to happen.

[KyndCulture]

10. So a 15 ft sea wall vs a 20+ ft storm surge... them ain't good odds.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

11. except for Rove and company to try for a comeback

and watch the new label among GOP spin docs "the comeback kid"

[damntexdem]

12. There are 1.6 million people in Houston. Some of them are poor.

There are not enough public vehicles to transport those without vehicles of their own. And to where? By the way, Houston floods horribly. There are 5 or 6 million in the Houston metro area. The 70K or so (hopefully) no longer in Galveston live on an island with a bridge to the mainland. Much of the oil platforms in the Gulf not hit by Katrina might catch it from Rita; but the refineries and other elements of infrastructure are around Houston and northeast toward Louisiana. I don't know much about south of Houston, other than that one gets to hundreds of thousands of people in Corpus Christi.

Now, whether or not the storm targets Houston, that city is evacuating -- where will the millions go? By the way, at least one prediction map shows possible high winds as far inland as nearly to Dallas, or if to the south, San Antonio. That's a big sweep of territory, with many millions more, probably hunkered down, but not exactly ready for evacuees from the coast. I suspect that they don't have emergency evacuation proceedures worked out on this scale. But even if they do, can FEMA cope with this?

[KyndCulture]

14. FEMA's leaving anyway... see link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4840517

[Xipe Totec]

15. Lived in the area

The Gulf of Mexico connects directly to Galveston Bay (no barrier). At the entrance to the Bay are Galveston and Pelican Island; both populated. The bay connects to Clear Lake, which is fed by Clear Creek. Around the Lake are many small communities Kemah, Bacliff, El Lago, Nassau Bay, Clear Lake City, League City, Freindswood. All of these are bedroom communities where the work force for the Johnson Space Center live. Clear Lake itself is an enormous marina, second in size only to Marina del Rey in San Diego. North of that area is Houston, about 15 miles away on the banks of Buffalo Bayou. The whole area is a coastal prairie, about as flat as a pancake. Some parts of Houston are only 8 feet above sea level, even though Houston is miles away from the coast. The area around Clear lake is so shallow that the water table is only six inches below ground.

If the hurricane hits Matagorda, to the south of Galveston, the entire area will be in the north quadrant of the storm, with winds blowing directly from the sea and into Galveston Bay and Clear Lake.

It is a nightmare scenario.

[momisold]

16. You have to realize....

We're talking 4 million people in this area so of course you can't get everyone out at once. It has actually been an orderly evacuation in Galveston. Everyone is getting out who wants to get out. They've been running busses since noon.

No barrier islands so it is a pretty direct hit. We are riding it out here. We are far enough in (Sugar Land) that we won't get a storm surge, but we are in for one heck of a rain and wind storm. We have a tall pine tree in the front yard that I am concerned about.

[AspenRose]

19. Hey, Sugar Land. Got kinfolk in Missouri City.

:hi:

[Bridget Burke]

17. Some historical background: The Galveston Storm of 1900

www.1900storm.com/

Still the worst natural disaster in US history--by the number of dead. Galveston IS a barrier island. They built a Seawall & raised the island behind it after the storm. But development extends beyond that area, now. Galveston has started evacuating, with buses for the carless (& their pets).

Our City & County governments have plans to help evacuees but are asking for extra transport.

Land around Galveston Bay is in danger. And the east side of Houston will suffer if storm surge comes up the bayous. The city as a whole is flood prone, but not in a bowl like NOLA--so the waters will go down fairly quickly.

The entire Texas Gulf Coast is low lying.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

18. Here's a few pieces on the Galveston/Houston area

Up Close: Doc details worst-case scenario
http://www.khou.com/news/local/houstonmetro/stories/khou050920_gj_upclosecat5.79456dce.html

This article is from Feb but it's quite relevant now.
Models show 'massive devastation' in Houston
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3046592

Then there's this...

Houston mayor urges partial evacuation

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Bill White (Houston Mayor) says people living in areas prone to flooding or threatened by a storm surge should plan to leave. He also urges evacuation for people in mobile homes or other buildings that "common sense" would indicate are too weak for the storm.

White says businesses and schools should plan to be closed tomorrow and Friday to enable people to leave.

The mayor says the government doesn't have the capacity to evacuate everyone, so people should help one another. He says "neighbor caring for neighbor" is the first line of defense.

White says anyone who doesn't have a car or way to get out should reach out to friends, family or neighbors. He says anyone who still can't find a ride should contact the government for help.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Rita%20Houston%20HK1

[KyndCulture]

20. Thank you! Those were most helpful.

I think I'm getting the idea here.

And it's extremely upsetting.

[Igel]

21. Yes, there are many people without transportation.

But that's not a big problem. It's not NOLA.

We flood. We drain in a few hours. We mildew. Rather like Florida, actually.

The really risk-prone areas that might suffer a true catastrophe, like Galveston, are providing transportation to less-risk prone areas. Houston has few really high-risk areas. Public transportation would work just fine for the most part.

A lot of the flood surge areas aren't what you'd call inhabited. Industrial, warehouses,etc. Others are well enough to do, some very well-to-do. Some are poor.

They've asked people with cars and with room for another person to take another person. That's the best they can do, locally. Presumably if they asked for buses FEMA could cough them up with 48 hours' notice, but getting out is a bear.

And that's just with a few areas being evacuated. The heavily populated areas of south, central, west, and north Houston are pretty much *not* in the evacuation zone. I'm bagging stuff and hoping for the best. Not in a flood-prone area.