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September 12, 2008
Is a Category 2/3 Hurricane the Apocalypse?
If so, more unseasoned Yankees must live on the Gulf Coast than when I lived in Texas.
Not that a Category 2 is a fun thing, but I've waded through water in the Houston's West Village after a freak afternoon thunderstorm as deep as what I'm seeing on CNN. The picture may change. Things could get worse. Then again, maybe they won't.
I mean, they're currently predicting 6-12" of rain in Houston. Big whoop - all the underpasses* will flood and some people will foolishly drive through them and drown. This form of Darwinian culling happens every year.
*perhaps you ask why one builds underpasses in Houston? Hell if I know. I just know that every time there's a really big storm they flood and that some people believe their cars are magic and can just zip right through shoulder-deep water.
I stand corrected - if it moves as slowly as predicted it will dump a lot of water on Houston. See the comment.
Posted by CrankyProfessor at September 12, 2008 10:43 PM
Comments
It isn't the Category 2 that is especially scary. It's 1) Katrina's history, 2) Allison (which brought 37 inches of rain in 24 hours to downtown Houston and was only a tropical storm, and 3) the thing is moving at 10-12 mph. So we have been expecting to be hit with category two winds, and rain, for over 24 hours before the storm moves over us.
Posted by: Suzi at September 12, 2008 10:55 PM
It wasn't too bad at all. I slept through the whole thing but my wife, a yankee immigrant, didn't. It appears that they eye went over us around 5 or 5:30 am. I really have doubts that is was a Cat 2 as a buoy 22 mi. se galveston only saw 70kt winds. In my four years at Rice the biggest rain I remember was in one afternoon in March or April '79 - the Rice/Med Center got 13 inches in about 4 hours. There was more than 4ft of water in street in front of Wiess.
Wiess '79
Posted by: anon in ike land at September 16, 2008 11:22 AM