Hey Pappy!

[JR]

Are you afloat?

[JR]

When I wrote this I had just read an article describing the heavy rainfall in San Marcos. Now I see that Houston has been hit hard, too!

Wassup, Texans? Are you guys doing ok?

[BadeMillsap]

I'm in Bulverde which is about 35 miles west of San Marcos (Pappy) and about 25 miles west and south of Wimberly (much of the news coverage). The news pretty much tells an accurate story as far as the flooding ... many of the small towns like Wimberly, Blanco, Devine, Boerne, even San Marcos are in close proximity to or have rivers/creeks running thru them and with anywhere between 6-12 inches of rain in a short time on top of recent previous rainfall, everything is saturated and the runoff and flooding is fast and furious.

I'm fortunate to be up on a hill and some distance from any actual river/creek but the low water crossings have indeed flooded in many places preventing normal transit.

I have seen some local news that San Marcos did have flooding to some extent but I don't BELIEVE it was as severe as what Wimberly or Boerne and Blanco experienced.

People are doing a good job of volunteering help where it is needed ... the cleanup and recovery will take a long time and the loss of life is devastating to these small close knit communities.

We do seem to have a couple of days of drying out ahead (sun shining right now) but more rain is forecast for later in the week ...

Texans are tough ... but we appreciate the prayers ...

[TB Roye]

Doesn't mother nature know "Don't Mess With TEXAS" Evidently she didn't get the memo. Out here in very very dry California we are thinking and praying for Ya'll Any of those rain and snow storms we would have gladly taken off your hands.

Tom

[capncarl]

Isn't Mother Nature strange? Parch the earth then wash it away!

[TB Roye]

Texas has gotten as much rain in 2 day as we get in Sacramento in a season. Northern California depend on snow in the Sierras for most of our water that is what fill the reserviors during the spring and summer. Our family has a 2 story cabin at 7500 ft in the Sierras as in a normal year in it buried untill late may and we cant get to it from November until May the past couple of years we take turns, weather depending on going up and checking on. The cabin in not designed for year around use it was built in the early 40's so no insulation and the water system is drained each Ocober. It was stormy up there this week end but we drove my wife's Mini Copper up there with not problems other than scraping the pan on dirt road in spots. The car has no clearance.

[Pappy]

Just got our internet and cable back up today.

The rain that put us under was only 2 1'2" but there had been so much this month that the ground was saturated and couldn't take anymore. The Blanco River flooded and caused a lot of damage.
We're alive but a little wet. I am on the high end of the street and got about 1 - 1/2" of water in the house. Still trying to get the carpets all dried out. Still have to finish and my brother's rooms and get my computer room. May go back over the back half of the great room once they are done. Using a shop vac to get the worst of the water then following up with the steam cleaner and fans. Right now I'm the only one in the house that can do much and moving all the furniture is tearing my back up.Don't think we will have to pull it up. Want to replace it with laminate but not for another few months.

All the vehicles took on water except my truck. We got them vacuumed with the shop vac so they won't mildew and I will go back and shampoo the wife's van when I have time. My brother call his insurance company on his car.

The shop and storage barn took about a foot of water but I don't think there is going to be much long term damage. Had 3 drills sitting in water and they are ok after I let them dry out for 2 days. My router bits were in water, too. Got them out and dried. Just have to do a good cleaning and get the rust off the shafts. Hopefully I will get the shop cleaned up and at least a start on the barn this week end.

The trike wound up in about a foot and a half of water so I will drain out and change all the fluids before I try to run it other than to move it around front.

With all that, I was lucky. Only 2 houses stayed dry and 3 of us got some minor damage. The other 11 houses on the street took in between 2 and 5 feet of water. The city and the local recycler both have been here yesterday and today loading up dumpsters with the contents of the flooded houses. Most of them lost just about everything. Several had to be picked off their roofs by rescue helicopters of taken out in boats.

[wardprobst]

It is difficult to complain about water when your lakes have been down below 20% for months. We are dry and the river crested below expectations so we are grateful. If our lakes had not sunk so low it would have been much worse. Prayers for those who got wet, especially you Don.
DP

[JR]

I'm glad to hear you're doing ok, but that sounds like quite a scare! And quite mess to clean up, too.

If you have insurance you might want to use it - or talk to FEMA when they get set up. Those carpets are unlikely to be very useful.

Several had to be picked off their roofs by rescue helicopters of taken out in boats.

Maybe after they settle down a bit you can remind them of this old Dave Barry joke.

[capncarl]

Pappy, do you have flood insurance?
capncarl

[LCHIEN]

Hi thanks for your concern. We did get some very heavy t-storms move through here Monday night, middle of the NBA Houston Rockets playoffs basketball game downtown.Some areas got 8-10 inches in an hour. Needless to say there was widespread street flooding on the low lying streets, the feeway underpasses and dips access roads and ramps, and some of the flood prone parts of town the creeks and bayous overflowed their banks and into adjacent neighborhoods, the same ones that got hit in the last major flooding 15 years ago.


The water rose real fast and a lot of cars including those going home from the game got caught when they entered an underpass and got stalled out - then the water rose some more and you get all these pics of cars completely submerged.
People abandoned cars on the freeways that got cut off. So thousands of flooded or abandoned cars got towed. But in a town of 7 million a few thousand cars and a few thousand homes is widespread but not really the whole city flooded. I do feel really bad for those who got flooded. In Houston, A few people died when they drove into high water underpasses and drowned because they couldn't get out.


But we're fine. I knew the rain was bad and I checked the news at 5 when I got up and there were some shots where the freeways had been flooded since three AM and hadn't moved an inch. I-10 and I-45 I take to work was flooded out in three places so I just sent an e-mail that I was working from home!

[Pappy]

End of the road by the interstate. (1/4 mile from my ) The road is just to the left of the green exit sign. The brown warehouse to the left has a 3' dock across the front.

[JR]

Man, that's a lot of water, Don!

Lchien, I'm glad to hear you're ok.

We haven't heard from dbhost, though. I remember League City being barely above the water table on a typical day.

[BadeMillsap]

This article & graphics might be of interest to some ... Texas got a LOT of rain ..

http://www.ijreview.com/2015/05/333567-federal-state-emergency-declared-texas-stats-show-absurd-amount-rain-thats-fallen/

[TB Roye]

I can remember not to many years ago Texas suffered a severe drought. All politics aside Mother Nature does her thing her way. California will get our soon. Been through a couple in my lifetime, only difference now is the large population it affects. Thoughts and prayers are with Texas.