Hi All,
These past few days, we've been watching (and bracing for) the hurricane
Harvey. The past 2 nights brought several emergency alerts on our cell
phones (flash flood, tornado, etc. warnings), but everything seems to be
fine.
We are lucky that the eye of the hurricane went south of us.
We've received torrents of practically non-stop downpour since early
Saturday morning and through this (Monday) morning. Parks, fields around
the city, some local roads, and low underpasses are all full of water,
but all major roads are in good driving condition.
Fortunately for us, our town is not on bayous, as Houston is. So, we don't
have as devastating situation as that in Houston.
Some people here are reporting some localized outages (someone said they
don't have water but have electricity and internet), but, luckily, nothing
catastrophic. I've seen a photo of some people riding a small flat-bottom
boat in a large parking lot of the local natural science and history museum.
All events in town are canceled since Saturday. All schools around and
even the university (Texas A&M) are closed at least for today, and some -
for tomorrow (TAMU).
On Sunday, we've made a day-trip to Austin (it's 2-hours each way in
normal driving conditions).
Strong gusts in the morning were very unpleasant, but manageable.
The roads were full of water from all sides, and the traction control in
the car was engaging a few times, so, in some areas I had to drive 15-25
mph under the speed limit. Also, there were some areas of the
highway where I had to drive in the left lane to avoid going through deep
puddles in the right lane, and a few low areas where I had to watch
carefully for the flooded spots.
But we canceled a part of that trip in South Austin as driving there would
have been worse, through stronger rain and flooded areas, and went through
the path to the north, where conditions were much better (or rather less
worse).
Overall, driving took some 30% longer and required much more
concentration then usually.
Austin had some electric outages and some flooded areas and closed
streets, but nothing close to what is happening in Rockport, Houston, etc.
The rain slowed down here by about 8am today, and at the moment (Monday
late morning) it paused (or mostly paused). But the hourly forecast still
shows alternating "rain" and "showers" for the rest of the day, and at
least till Wednesday.
This morning we've been looking at some photos from Houston, - the
situation there is devastating. My daughter has said what I was thinking
as well: "It's good that we do not live in Houston!".
I am thinking again about a different Nature with more frequent full
eclipses (with all 7 moons), adding no hurricanes and other disasters to
the "specs".
;-)
(If you missed the reference, see my earlier posting:
https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg757863.html )
Cheers,
Igor
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