Houston

[billt]

Man what a mess! I used to travel down there quite frequently back in the late 70's and early 80's when my dad was alive and living down there. Almost considered moving down there back then. Damn glad I didn't. It started to go downhill when a lot of the displaced trash from Katrina settled there. The crime rate went through the roof.

Then as time moved on they started all of this, "Sanctuary City" crap, and it just continued to get worse. Now this. I doubt it will ever recover. They are saying less than 50% of the homeowners there have flood insurance. Most will simply walk away. Real estate values will plummet to a fraction of what they were. This will leave people under water financially, as well as literally. A dying city, much like New Orleans. They said the population of New Orleans dropped by 50% after Katrina. Some have come back and rebuilt, but most have just moved on. I think Houston will suffer the same fate. There are just too many places to live and work where you don't have to put up with crap like that.

[crusader rabbit]

Couldn't agree with you more, Bill.  The canary in the coal mine was the displaced multitudes from New Orleans after Katrina and the subsequent spiking crime rate.  That was on top of the economic gut punch Houston took from the petroleum industry essentially pulling out.  That one-two punch was a lot to absorb.

In the early '80s I represented a top satellite communications company selling nearly instantaneous data transfer and analysis technology to the offshore industry.  We did pretty well initially, and then the bottom fell out of the oil market.  They had only started to recover when Katrina hit and the NO riffraff took up residence.  Crime went through the roof and anybody who could moved to one of the outlying areas like Rosenberg.

Now, thousands are being displaced by Harvey and the poorly planned infrastructure so abundant in Houston.  The fact that it's a city without any sort of zoning restrictions means that developers could buy cheap land in the immediate flood plane, and build cheap but good looking houses on it, then sell those houses to people who didn't know enough not to buy on the low side of a dam.

The people you mentioned without flood insurance in Houston are most likely the same ones who fled New Orleans because they had no flood insurance there, either.  They couldn't rebuild in NO, so they stayed in Houston.

Now, those same people (or their kids and grand kids) are on the move again and they just might be headed to Phoenix.

I think you've hit the nail on the head when you say Houston may never recover from this.  This may be the death knell for Sam's town.  I really hope it isn't because I have family in AZ and I still like 'em, some.

Crusader Rabbit

[Solus]

Reply to me from a friend in Houston

"We are doing ok. Houston is almost destroyed. It will take years to get back where it was. Just heard on local news family of 6 drowned. Boat overturned. Kids and family are ok so far. Not much sleep watching the water rise. Maybe today."

Not much good coming out of Houston except the the stories of folks going all out to help one another....and that is marred by the incidents of looting and violence. 

[Rastus]

<snip>The fact that it's a city without any sort of zoning restrictions means that developers could buy cheap land in the immediate flood plane, and build cheap but good looking houses on it, then sell those houses to people who didn't know enough not to buy on the low side of a dam.<snip>

Zoning is a about control, in part that favored contractors and builders have their "just deserved" monopoly.

[MikeBjerum]

This is the location of our Houston distribution center:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Amigos+food/@29.8207702,-95.3961283,13.5z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x4d3a67de88ea9b2!8m2!3d29.829325!4d-95.3911079

I don't know about anything else in Houston except for the media hype, but Amigos was up and running Monday, and of the office staff, only one had damage from flooding.  Drivers, dock workers, and warehouse staff were working with minimal, no more than normal, absenteeism.  Besides their being able to work, their customer base must be operating fairly well, or there wouldn't be meat to move.

[Sponsor]

[billt]

Zoning is a about control, in part that favored contractors and builders have their "just deserved" monopoly.

From what I've been reading, there are a lot of people who are blaming much of this on over expansion in low lying areas. Proper drainage is non existent in many places. Some areas have several inches of water to contend with. While others are practically up to the roof line. And Houston is as flat as a board. 30 years ago where excess storm water would harmlessly run off, today backs up and floods homes and businesses that didn't exist before.

The National Flood Insurance Program, (which is currently over $24 BILLION in the hole), has stated that well over 50% of reoccurring flood damage in the country is in the Houston area. And let's face it, when you have 3, "500 year floods" in just 3 years, it makes you wonder why? People keep collecting settlements for flood damage on the same homes over and over. The payouts are ridiculous. They told of one home owner who has received over $800,000.00 in payout claims, on a house that is only worth $225,000.00.

It would be cheaper for the Federal Government to simply bulldoze those houses, and build the people new one's on higher ground. Bad zoning, coupled with poor storm water infrastructure, can make something like this much worse. It appears this time it really has. People are going to be asking a lot of questions after this mess is finally cleaned up..... If it ever is. Much of it could end up like the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans. Nothing but weeds, driveway's, and slabs where homes once existed. 

[alfsauve]

And Houston is as flat as a board. 30 years ago where excess storm water would harmlessly run off.

The flatness combined with the clay soil which does not absorb water very rapidly has always made Houston prone to flooding.

I lived there in '82-'83.  Actually in Missouri City off the SW side of Houston, below Sugarland.

'83 was Hurricane Alicia.   Worst at the time and I think the first to top $1billion in damages.  They retired the name.  We had a cedar shake roof and lost quite a few shingles.   The rain totals were only 10-12"  and we had water in the street though none made it to the house.

With 50"+ the flooding is just inevitable there. 

I know there is a lot of debate about evacuation orders, but for NE Ft Bend County and the core of Houston down to the Gulf it should have been mandatory.

[Rastus]

And part of Houston is a bowl from withdrawing fresh water from the fresh aquifer. 

[billt]

Now it appears Port Arthur and Beaumont are even worse. With almost 100% of the homes under water.

[billt]

I lived there in '82-'83. Actually in Missouri City off the SW side of Houston, below Sugarland.

Were you living there when the TV tower collapsed?