to all my SE Texas people, be save this weekend and don't try anything stupid! Stay in the house! Hopefully l, the storm will pass and all will be well, but you never know.
Hurricane Harvey
- Thread starter SouthernGent247
- Start date
That Hurricane came with a left and right hook and did some devastating blows to TX. The situation is very Sad and the storm was one of the worst to ever hit the US in terms of the amount of rain-fall and costs to infrastructure damage done even surpassing Hurricane Katrina.
First off I encourage people to donate what they can to the many relief efforts organized to support rescue and clean-up to the areas impacted by Harvey.
Second to all the people impacted by the Hurricane and storms there I hope most of you are safe and out of harms way. There are many evacuation alerts and warnings issued as it was stated the Reservoir will continue to over-flow for 15 days causing more flooding so don't think that the worst is over yet and please evacuate if you receive an alert. Take this serious.
There is alot that is not being told to the American people about the seriousness of the conditions on the ground there. Don't believe the 'snow-job' your hearing on the media from this Admin's P.R. campaign to not repeat prior mistakes during disaster responses. I've been hearing alot on the radio from the ground-truth perspective of people in Houston and its in stark contrast to what I hear agents of the Trump Admin touting on the news in the evening.
See the Full Video here:
Here is a big story that is developing and can potentially lead to additional disastrous outcomes that no one in the media is covering or the Trump Admin is not addressing:Harvey ignites a second fire and explosion at Houston chemical plant
- Frank Bajak, Reese Dunklin, and Emily Schmall, Associated Press
Smoke rises from a chemical plant in Crosby, near Houston, Texas, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. KTRK/AP
HOUSTON (AP) — Thick black smoke and towering orange flames shot up Friday after two trailers of highly unstable compounds blew up at a flooded Houston-area chemical plant, the second fire there in two days.
Arkema says Harvey’s floodwaters engulfed its backup generators at the plant in Crosby and knocked out the refrigeration necessary to keep the organic peroxides, used in such products as plastics and paints, from degrading and catching fire. Arkema executive Richard Rennard said two containers caught fire Friday evening, and that there are six more it expects will eventually catch fire.
Arkema spokeswoman Janet Smith said that the company expects the rest of the containers will ignite “within a matter of days.”
Preliminary analysis of data captured by Environmental Protection Agency surveillance aircraft Friday did not show high levels of toxic airborne chemicals, agency spokesman David Gray said. No serious injuries were reported in the last two days as a result of the fires.
The height and color of the flames from the plant Friday suggested incomplete combustion of the organic peroxides, Texas A&M chemical safety expert Sam Mannan said. With complete combustion, he said, the byproduct is carbon dioxide and water, posing about the same amount of risk as standing too close to a campfire. But incomplete combustion implies something else is burning.
The fire burned not just the organic peroxides but also the plastic packaging, insulation, and the materials used to construct the trailers, Smith said.
Daryl Roberts, the company’s vice president of manufacturing, technology and regulatory services in the Americas, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the floodwater inundating the plant would cause any toxins produced by the fire to quickly vaporize. By Friday, the water had receded but Smith could not comment on whether that had changed the calculation of risk.
A 1½-mile buffer around the plant was established Tuesday when Arkema warned that chemicals kept there could explode. Employees had been pulled, and up to 5,000 people living nearby were warned to evacuate. Officials remain comfortable with the size of the buffer, Rachel Moreno, a spokeswoman for the Harris County Fire Marshal Office, said Friday evening.
Smith reiterated statements executives made earlier Friday that the safest course of action was simply to “let these fires happen and let them burn out.”
Arkema officials did not directly notify local emergency managers of the generator failure, Moreno said. It instead came by way of the plant’s ride-out crew, who told the Crosby Volunteer Fire Department about it when they were rescued during the storm, she said.
In a conference call with reporters Friday, Arkema President and CEO Rich Rowe apologized and said he was sending a team of employees to Crosby to figure out how best to assist locals.
“I realize this is not a situation that we can help remedy overnight,” he said.
Early Thursday, two blasts blew open a trailer containing at least 2 tons of material, sending up a plume of black smoke and flames 30 to 40 feet high in the tiny town of Crosby, about a half-hour from Houston, authorities said. The Texas environmental agency called the smoke “especially acrid and irritating” and said it can impair breathing and inflame the eyes, nose and throat.
Questions persisted Friday about the adequacy of Arkema’s master plan to protect the public in the event of an emergency in flood-prone Houston, a metropolitan area of about 6 million people.
The plant is along a corridor with one of the nation’s greatest concentrations of refineries, pipelines and chemical plants. A 2016 analysis led by Texas A&M University researchers identified Arkema’s facility as posing one of the region’s biggest risks, based on such factors as the type and amount of chemicals and the population density.
In accident plans Arkema submitted to the EPA in 2014, executives said a hurricane and a power loss were potential hazards. Yet the plans, which were supposed to address worst-case scenarios, didn’t explain what Arkema would do if faced with either.
Executives also acknowledged Friday that they didn’t have materials at the plant that could have neutralized the organic peroxides.
Instead, workers were ****** to scramble and move the chemicals away from floodwaters after buildings were engulfed and power was lost. Workers transferred the compounds to refrigerated containers, but those failed, too, causing Thursday’s fire.
After days of questions about what was in its chemical inventory, the company posted a list of them on its website Friday, though not the amounts on hand. Asked why it hadn’t shared the information sooner, Rowe said, “We’re managing our way through a crisis.”
State and federal regulators have cited Arkema for safety and environmental violations at the Crosby plant dating back more than a decade, records show.
Texas’ environmental commission penalized the plant at least three times. In June 2006, Arkema had failed to prevent unauthorized emissions during a two-hour warehouse fire. Records show a pallet of organic peroxide was poorly stored, resulting in the blaze, and more than a ton of volatile organic compounds were discharged.
More recently, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration in February fined Arkema nearly $110,000 — later reduced to just over $90,000 — because of 10 serious safety violations found during an inspection.
“We don’t have a perfect record, we understand that,” Rowe said. “We strive to get better at every turn and will continue to do so.”
ref: http://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-harvey-2017-fires-at-houston-chemical-plant-2017-9
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99% of Houston’s companies are small businesses — and they’re struggling to recover after Harvey
Josh Beasley, 38, points to damaged equipment and material ripped out of his gym after flooding by Tropical Storm Harvey in Houston
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Josh Beasley and his fiancé bought Houston's Body3 Personal Fitness on July 1, less than two months before Tropical Storm Harvey swamped the gym with a foot of water and left behind the dank stench of fetid mildew.
Wading into the Stygian dark of the powerless gym on Sunday, the day after the storm hit, Beasley said he was overwhelmed by the looming cleanup and repair. He estimated it could cost up to $35,000.
"To walk in and see all that water was just devastating," said Beasley, 38, as industrial fans dried the 6,700-square-foot (622 square-meter) complex in the city's Oak Forest neighborhood. "But as small business owners who depend on this place for our livelihood, we have to rebuild."
About 99 percent of the companies in Houston are considered small businesses in a region with a gross domestic product (GDP) of more than $315 billion, according to U.S. government data. They face a long, expensive road to recovery with only a fraction of the resources of the state's massive oil and medical industries.
Small business often lack large cash reserves, and the loss of income from having to shut down temporarily, or move to another location, can be serious threats.
Many small business owners said in interviews they would rebuild in Harvey's wake. They hoped disaster assistance from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), which has offered low-interest loans, would cover some costs.
The National Flood Insurance Program, the only source of flood insurance for most Americans, offers coverage to businesses. But many small businesses, like Beasley's, go without such insurance unless their mortgages or leases require it.
Even businesses that have not sustained physical damage may take a hit if employees cannot get to work.
Hollywood Hair and Nail Salon, in Houston's Montrose neighborhood, was closed for days after Harvey's floodwaters hit the region. But owner Reza Nouri said he wouldn't let that stop him from doing his work: He offered free hair cuts at Houston's storm evacuee shelters.
"Cutting hair for these storm victims was the least I could do to help as a small business owner," said Nouri, 37.
At Body3 gym, a platoon of 20 friends and customers helped rip out molding carpet and drywall. Beasley hopes to re-open as soon as next week in a bare-bones setting.
"We're a gym," he said. "Our clients don't need fancy walls."
(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder in Houston; Additional reporting by Suzanne Barlyn in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)
ref: http://www.businessinsider.com/r-houstons-small-businesses-dig-out-from-harveys-onslaught-2017-9
- Ernest Scheyder, Reuters
Josh Beasley, 38, points to damaged equipment and material ripped out of his gym after flooding by Tropical Storm Harvey in Houston
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Josh Beasley and his fiancé bought Houston's Body3 Personal Fitness on July 1, less than two months before Tropical Storm Harvey swamped the gym with a foot of water and left behind the dank stench of fetid mildew.
Wading into the Stygian dark of the powerless gym on Sunday, the day after the storm hit, Beasley said he was overwhelmed by the looming cleanup and repair. He estimated it could cost up to $35,000.
"To walk in and see all that water was just devastating," said Beasley, 38, as industrial fans dried the 6,700-square-foot (622 square-meter) complex in the city's Oak Forest neighborhood. "But as small business owners who depend on this place for our livelihood, we have to rebuild."
About 99 percent of the companies in Houston are considered small businesses in a region with a gross domestic product (GDP) of more than $315 billion, according to U.S. government data. They face a long, expensive road to recovery with only a fraction of the resources of the state's massive oil and medical industries.
Small business often lack large cash reserves, and the loss of income from having to shut down temporarily, or move to another location, can be serious threats.
Many small business owners said in interviews they would rebuild in Harvey's wake. They hoped disaster assistance from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), which has offered low-interest loans, would cover some costs.
The National Flood Insurance Program, the only source of flood insurance for most Americans, offers coverage to businesses. But many small businesses, like Beasley's, go without such insurance unless their mortgages or leases require it.
Even businesses that have not sustained physical damage may take a hit if employees cannot get to work.
Hollywood Hair and Nail Salon, in Houston's Montrose neighborhood, was closed for days after Harvey's floodwaters hit the region. But owner Reza Nouri said he wouldn't let that stop him from doing his work: He offered free hair cuts at Houston's storm evacuee shelters.
"Cutting hair for these storm victims was the least I could do to help as a small business owner," said Nouri, 37.
At Body3 gym, a platoon of 20 friends and customers helped rip out molding carpet and drywall. Beasley hopes to re-open as soon as next week in a bare-bones setting.
"We're a gym," he said. "Our clients don't need fancy walls."
(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder in Houston; Additional reporting by Suzanne Barlyn in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)
ref: http://www.businessinsider.com/r-houstons-small-businesses-dig-out-from-harveys-onslaught-2017-9
For Public Situational Awareness:
Health officials are warning Texans to stay out of Harvey floodwaters for a disturbing reason
Floodwaters act as sponges for hazards. As they bubble past city streets and inundate cars and homes, they collect sharp objects, sweep up insects and wildlife, and gather human waste and chemicals from industrial plants.
Texans face a 'triple threat' from insects, mold, and bacteria in Harvey's wake
In under a week, the storm unleashed as much as 51 inches of water in some areas, causing catastrophic flooding that displaced 33,000 Texans. At least 41 people have died since the storm began, and officials expect the toll to rise.
People in flooded areas quickly found themselves face-to-face with a range of health problems, including contaminated floodwaters and the threat of injury.
Although the skies have begun to clear, the problems are far from over. See what people in affected areas are up against for the next several months:
Mosquitoes gather near standing floodwaters, spreading infection.
CDC/James Gathany
While the storm wiped out mosquitoes from the area for now, the standing water left over from the flooding and the warm temperatures will make parts of Texas particularly prone to mosquitoes and the diseases they can carry in the coming months and year.
"As the floodwaters recede, you’re left with pockets of water which are good for breeding both Culex mosquitoes and Aedes mosquitoes," Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, told The Atlantic. That could lead to more West Nile infections, and possibly Zika. Texas has seen some local transmission of Zika in Brownsville, Texas near the Mexico border.
Chemical plants sent offline by the storm explode or burn, releasing harmful pollutants.
Associated Press / Godofredo A. Vasquez
Explosions rocked the outskirts of Houston on Thursday at the Arkema chemical plant after flooding shut down its power and backup generators, which had been keeping explosive compounds cool via a refrigeration system.
When the refrigerators went offline, the compounds got warm and exploded. Officials said they plan to let the fire burn out, meaning more blasts are likely. But Arkema is just one of hundreds of chemical plants in the Houston area, many of which have been flooded and are now at risk of further damage.
Shuttered oil refineries release toxic chemicals as a stop-gap disposal method.
Nabil al-Jurani/AP
In addition to slamming homes and hospitals, Harvey struck the heart of Texas' refining industry, where roughly a third of America's oil is processed. In anticipation of the storm, dozens of processing facilities were ****** to intentionally burn chemicals as a means of disposing them, releasing millions of pounds of pollutants into the air.
Chevron Phillips, the company that reported the largest release, burned close to 800,000 pounds of chemicals — nearly 300,000 of which were the colorless, odorless, and potentially deadly gas carbon monoxide — as it shut down its plant to prepare for the storm.
Dangerous bacteria get swept up in floodwaters, potentially causing infections.
Skin lesions caused by Vibrio vulnificus bacteria after Hurricane Katrina.CDC
Floodwaters act as sponges for hazardous materials. As they bubble past city streets and inundate cars and homes, the waters collect sharp objects, sweep up bacteria, and gather human waste.
That combination is a "triple threat" for potential infections, Rachel Noble, a professor of marine biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told Business Insider. While flooded plumbing systems can expose people to ******* bacteria, salty ocean water from the Gulf can introduce them to marine bacteria. Finally, floating pieces of metal and glass from destroyed homes and buildings can cut people's skin, increasing the chances of infection.
Noble advised people who have had contact with floodwaters to pay close attention to any open wounds and look out for lesions that get "hot and angry," or red and raised.
Moist urban environments encourage the growth of mold and other dangerous microbial life.
www.flickr.com
Wet environments in houses and buildings are ideal conditions for mold to grow. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, close to half of all inspected homes had visible mold, according to the CDC. Mold after Katrina was connected to the deaths of four people who worked in a university building that had been damaged by the storm.
Not everyone is sensitive to mold, but for those who are, and for those who are allergic to it, the reactions can be severe, causing stuffiness in the nose, throat irritation, coughing, and sometimes infections in the lungs, according to the CDC.
Insects, snakes, and wild animals can be drawn out by the water.
Picture of fire-ants that build their own raft of dirt to float over the flood waters to survive and they will sting the hell out of any human that comes in contact with them.
Twitter/Mike_Hixenbaugh
Yet another risk in flooded areas is wildlife, as snakes, insects, and other wild animals can be drawn to the water or swept up in it.
"Storm activity definitely increases the potential for snakebite as the snakes get flooded out and seek higher ground," Bryan Fry, an expert on venomous snakes at the University of Queensland in Australia, told The Washington Post.
In Harvey's wake, colonies of fire ants joined together to form floating rafts in an attempt to escape floodwaters. While their stings aren't generally dangerous to people (except for those allergic) multiple stings from an entire colony could cause problems.
With tens of thousands of people displaced and in shelters, infectious diseases could spread.
People sleep on the floor at the George R. Brown Convention Center that has been set up as a shelter for evacuees escaping the floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey in Houston, Texas.Associated Press/LM Otero
Because of crowding at shelters and a lack of resources, diseases could spread much easier than they might usually. After Hurricane Katrina, for example, there wasn't much access to clean food and water, which led to an E. coli outbreak.
Harvey's path also could lend itself to more infectious diseases, especially with people packed together in convention-center-sizes spaces. "We don’t realize that the Gulf Coast is America’s vulnerable underbelly of infectious disease," Hotez told the Washington Post.
For those who have chronic conditions like diabetes, access to medication can be a problem felt for weeks after the flooding.
Beawiharta Beawiharta/Reuters
Getting access to medication for a chronic condition can be difficult in the wake of a disaster like Harvey. In Houston, insulin, a ******* used by people with diabetes, was in demand during the storm. The FDA sent out recommendations about how to cope with the shortages.
People displaced by the storm who have chronic conditions may also more frequently end up in the hospital or emergency room, something that happened after Katrina.
The lack of access to chronic medications could have a lasting impact. After Hurricane Iniki hit Hawaii in 1992, there was an increase in the death rate among people who had diabetes, even though the overall death rate had not changed.
Harvey could take a toll on the mental health of those affected.
Getty Images
The CDC advised that people should "be prepared to cope with feelings of fear, grief and depression after a traumatic event." A 2012 study of 392 low-income parents after Katrina found that the prevalence of mental illness doubled, and almost half had signs of post traumatic stress disorder.
ref: http://www.businessinsider.com/harv...toll-on-the-mental-health-of-those-affected-9
Health officials are warning Texans to stay out of Harvey floodwaters for a disturbing reason
Texans face a 'triple threat' from insects, mold, and bacteria in Harvey's wake
- Sep. 1, 2017, 12:28 PM
In under a week, the storm unleashed as much as 51 inches of water in some areas, causing catastrophic flooding that displaced 33,000 Texans. At least 41 people have died since the storm began, and officials expect the toll to rise.
People in flooded areas quickly found themselves face-to-face with a range of health problems, including contaminated floodwaters and the threat of injury.
Although the skies have begun to clear, the problems are far from over. See what people in affected areas are up against for the next several months:
Mosquitoes gather near standing floodwaters, spreading infection.
CDC/James Gathany
While the storm wiped out mosquitoes from the area for now, the standing water left over from the flooding and the warm temperatures will make parts of Texas particularly prone to mosquitoes and the diseases they can carry in the coming months and year.
"As the floodwaters recede, you’re left with pockets of water which are good for breeding both Culex mosquitoes and Aedes mosquitoes," Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, told The Atlantic. That could lead to more West Nile infections, and possibly Zika. Texas has seen some local transmission of Zika in Brownsville, Texas near the Mexico border.
Chemical plants sent offline by the storm explode or burn, releasing harmful pollutants.
Associated Press / Godofredo A. Vasquez
Explosions rocked the outskirts of Houston on Thursday at the Arkema chemical plant after flooding shut down its power and backup generators, which had been keeping explosive compounds cool via a refrigeration system.
When the refrigerators went offline, the compounds got warm and exploded. Officials said they plan to let the fire burn out, meaning more blasts are likely. But Arkema is just one of hundreds of chemical plants in the Houston area, many of which have been flooded and are now at risk of further damage.
Shuttered oil refineries release toxic chemicals as a stop-gap disposal method.
Nabil al-Jurani/AP
In addition to slamming homes and hospitals, Harvey struck the heart of Texas' refining industry, where roughly a third of America's oil is processed. In anticipation of the storm, dozens of processing facilities were ****** to intentionally burn chemicals as a means of disposing them, releasing millions of pounds of pollutants into the air.
Chevron Phillips, the company that reported the largest release, burned close to 800,000 pounds of chemicals — nearly 300,000 of which were the colorless, odorless, and potentially deadly gas carbon monoxide — as it shut down its plant to prepare for the storm.
Dangerous bacteria get swept up in floodwaters, potentially causing infections.
Skin lesions caused by Vibrio vulnificus bacteria after Hurricane Katrina.CDC
Floodwaters act as sponges for hazardous materials. As they bubble past city streets and inundate cars and homes, the waters collect sharp objects, sweep up bacteria, and gather human waste.
That combination is a "triple threat" for potential infections, Rachel Noble, a professor of marine biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told Business Insider. While flooded plumbing systems can expose people to ******* bacteria, salty ocean water from the Gulf can introduce them to marine bacteria. Finally, floating pieces of metal and glass from destroyed homes and buildings can cut people's skin, increasing the chances of infection.
Noble advised people who have had contact with floodwaters to pay close attention to any open wounds and look out for lesions that get "hot and angry," or red and raised.
Moist urban environments encourage the growth of mold and other dangerous microbial life.
www.flickr.com
Wet environments in houses and buildings are ideal conditions for mold to grow. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, close to half of all inspected homes had visible mold, according to the CDC. Mold after Katrina was connected to the deaths of four people who worked in a university building that had been damaged by the storm.
Not everyone is sensitive to mold, but for those who are, and for those who are allergic to it, the reactions can be severe, causing stuffiness in the nose, throat irritation, coughing, and sometimes infections in the lungs, according to the CDC.
Insects, snakes, and wild animals can be drawn out by the water.
Picture of fire-ants that build their own raft of dirt to float over the flood waters to survive and they will sting the hell out of any human that comes in contact with them.
Twitter/Mike_Hixenbaugh
Yet another risk in flooded areas is wildlife, as snakes, insects, and other wild animals can be drawn to the water or swept up in it.
"Storm activity definitely increases the potential for snakebite as the snakes get flooded out and seek higher ground," Bryan Fry, an expert on venomous snakes at the University of Queensland in Australia, told The Washington Post.
In Harvey's wake, colonies of fire ants joined together to form floating rafts in an attempt to escape floodwaters. While their stings aren't generally dangerous to people (except for those allergic) multiple stings from an entire colony could cause problems.
With tens of thousands of people displaced and in shelters, infectious diseases could spread.
People sleep on the floor at the George R. Brown Convention Center that has been set up as a shelter for evacuees escaping the floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey in Houston, Texas.Associated Press/LM Otero
Because of crowding at shelters and a lack of resources, diseases could spread much easier than they might usually. After Hurricane Katrina, for example, there wasn't much access to clean food and water, which led to an E. coli outbreak.
Harvey's path also could lend itself to more infectious diseases, especially with people packed together in convention-center-sizes spaces. "We don’t realize that the Gulf Coast is America’s vulnerable underbelly of infectious disease," Hotez told the Washington Post.
For those who have chronic conditions like diabetes, access to medication can be a problem felt for weeks after the flooding.
Beawiharta Beawiharta/Reuters
Getting access to medication for a chronic condition can be difficult in the wake of a disaster like Harvey. In Houston, insulin, a ******* used by people with diabetes, was in demand during the storm. The FDA sent out recommendations about how to cope with the shortages.
People displaced by the storm who have chronic conditions may also more frequently end up in the hospital or emergency room, something that happened after Katrina.
The lack of access to chronic medications could have a lasting impact. After Hurricane Iniki hit Hawaii in 1992, there was an increase in the death rate among people who had diabetes, even though the overall death rate had not changed.
Harvey could take a toll on the mental health of those affected.
Getty Images
The CDC advised that people should "be prepared to cope with feelings of fear, grief and depression after a traumatic event." A 2012 study of 392 low-income parents after Katrina found that the prevalence of mental illness doubled, and almost half had signs of post traumatic stress disorder.
ref: http://www.businessinsider.com/harv...toll-on-the-mental-health-of-those-affected-9
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This storm was absolutely insane and a lot worst than I thought it would be. It was been a crazy hurricane season with Texas and Florida.
Unless one has had first hand experience, I don't think anyone can imagine what it feels like to lose everything you own ... home, cars, furniture, clothes, appliances, photo albums, etc ... and many didn't have flood insurance in Texas so they will probably never fully recover from it. And many have no fresh water, no electricity, no nothing.
This is the time for those of us who are blessed and fortunate to please GIVE to a charity that helps these people make it out of the shelters. Open up your hearts and give just a bit more than you normally do. These people are truly hurting and our government is only wanting to make FUNDING CUTS to the very organizations that are there to help them.
This is the time for those of us who are blessed and fortunate to please GIVE to a charity that helps these people make it out of the shelters. Open up your hearts and give just a bit more than you normally do. These people are truly hurting and our government is only wanting to make FUNDING CUTS to the very organizations that are there to help them.
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