Survival from Floods and Hurricanes

I'd like to take you on a tour that is a little less gory than the news lately when reporting about the Houston area and Hurricane Harvey.
This is posted on my facebook page so I would love to have you 'friend' me on there as well. Here is the active link to that page:
https://www.facebook.com/dianne.curtis.54

On that page you will find an active link for signing a petition for credo. They are asking in this petition for President Trump to reinstate the flood safety rules that were outlined under the Obama administration.

If you've watched the news lately, you might have seen all the horrible images of people losing everything to the recent hurricane and then flooding that hit the Texas coast.
Here are some less gory images that really explain the issue that isn't really part of the natural disaster, instead it's a consequence of the over development that is occurring in this area.
This overflowing creek marks the line where voluntary and mandatory evacuations stopped. I'm one block away. We were advised to just stay put. The street did not even flood. This small creek never spilled out on the street. The people in those homes were under voluntary evacuation only and that was on the last day. The small creek is still high today but they are safe.
I live in a "planned living community" and I think this was one of the factors that saved us THIS TIME.

 











In my area, they are now trying to cram huge houses in tiny little lots like they are doing to downtown Houston. There is simply no place for the water to flow. It's not the only problem Houston has but it's a big part of it. I have lived in Houston since I was a child and this flooding experience is new. I remember floods when I was younger but never to this extent and hurricanes were not even scary 20 years ago...they certainly are now! You can click on the images to get a larger view.

 

I'm trying to get the exact crop and exact location in these next images. It's not real easy since many months have gone by since I took the first image. Even if I go back later, nature has some very subtle details. The third image is just to show you how low oyster CREEK is usually. Usually, you can't even see the creek from the sidewalk. You have to step out on the grass about 10 feet.

Here is an image with a flood gage. The valley around the tiny creek really shows how much water was dropped in this area in less than 48 hours...and then it kept raining after that...

  

The last image is on the other side of hwy 6. You actually walk under the hwy to get to the rest of the park and I don't have one from that side, yet. When I was out there today, I saw a "floating log" moving around in the water. I watched for a while and then realized it's an alligator...a medium-sized one..but still it's right in the neighborhood. Whenever there's a bad flood, the alligators get relocated and it's not their choosing. They are usually very timid creatures...unless they are hungry!😉Can you spot him in the water?


We do have an alligator squad that come out to relocated confused, stuck alligators that were forcefully caught up in the raging currents. This poor little creature doesn't want to be in somebody's neighborhood any more than we want him there!

The day after the rain stopped I walked outside and saw this beautiful sky with clouds that looked like the last bit of dragon's breath

I was so glad it was over. Ironically, the week before all this started, I had changed my facebook banner to this photoshopped image. Somehow, after all the suffering I saw, this image was no longer funny so I replaced it with the old one again.