September 14, 2008

Ubu Lives!

Ubu Roi has power and internet again. He has a post up on the aftermath. It looks like the surge WAS as bad as expected but was to the northwest...

Across the bay to the north, the Bolivar Peninsula, Crystal Beach, and High Island…. everythings gone. Not damaged, gone. There were once dozens of beach houses on stilts there, and the area had several canals dug so that even houses 3 and 4 rows back from the beach could have docks for their boats. The occasional lonely piling is still sticking up, plus one very incongruous house that somehow survived. Other than that, water and the occasional bit of greenery. It appears that a historic “iron lighthouse” is gone; the media chopper couldn’t find it.

Read the whole thing.

'Gwendolyne D. Barista' who moved not so long ago to the area sends this via E-Mail....
...there were a bunch of reports of a few thousands using their fireplaces when their power went out... AND THEN ABANDONING THEIR HOMES WITH THE FIRES STILL GOING. Loads of houses have burnt down. Good job, guys. *shakes head* I am so ashamed. It's called flashlights. It ain't like you people are going to freeze to death here in Texas...
So then, much to everyone's chagrin (they can't claim to be surprised) the storm moved up into Houston and took out a lot of the downtown area. Unbelievable flooding and blown glass and debris. There was a snippet rolling by on the ticker that said 'Houston's Tallest Building Loses Nearly All Windows' or some sensational bullshit like that. It's true- all the glass is on the street ....It's intense.
Also, there were notices of Boil Alerts in Houston in order to keep contamination down. That, and there was another alert that popped up later (so as not to appear related, methinks) that there had been a chlorine leak. GOODY.


Here is video of Galveston from the Coast Guard Falcon that was sent to assess the damage as soon as weather permitted. It is humbling.





Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 08:29 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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You're right about that video. The crew of that bird really are brave to fly in that kind of weather.

Seeing all those houses burning was a bit horrifying. But you have to wonder how in hell they caught on fire in the midst of that much rain.

There were a couple of beach-front hotels they showed with a lot of their windows missing. It occurred to me that the wind was sideways, which means those windows blew out, not in.

I sure hope that most of that flooding has drained back out by now. I mean, it should have, right? None of that stuff is below sea level.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Sun Sep 14 21:53:40 2008 (+rSRq)

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