Viridian Note 00247: Houston Flood of 02001

Attention Conservation Notice: A lot of press clippings that describe Texans suffering from a strange giant rainstorm. Almost 4,000 words.

(((About a yard of rain just fell on Houston, world capital of the oil industry. Unfortunately for poetic justice, ExxonMobil, "Climate Villain #1," is located in Irving, Texas, rather than Houston. Irving is not yet drenched. Enron is GW Bush's major energy company backer, and Enron's former CEO Ken Lay is the eminence gris of the Bush energy policy. Enron is headquartered in Houston. Specifically, on 1400 Smith Street, in the 77002 area code. I just talked to an Enron security guy by phone there, but he assures me that they are not, in fact, washing away. So far, anyhow.)))

Corporate Headquarters Enron Corp. 1400 Smith Street Houston, TX 77002 Tel: (713) 853-6161 Source://www.enron.com

"Enron believes that companies and institutions worldwide must find efficient ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that result from normal economic activities. The lack of scientific certainty over climate change does not justify inaction. Continued scientific research and rigorous economic analysis is necessary == but meaningful, cost-effective, and flexible mitigation activities can be taken now..."

(((For instance: bailing, sweeping broken glass, re- shingling, and getting the President to declare a federal emergency.)))

"Washington, June 9, 2001 == The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced today that President Bush has declared a major disaster for Texas, opening the way for the use of federal funds and resources to help meet the recovery needs of people and communities victimized by the effects of Tropical Storm Allison.

"FEMA Director Joe M. Allbaugh said the President took the action immediately after receiving the state's expedited request for federal assistance. The declaration covers damage to private and public property from the storm that began affecting the state on June 5. (...)

"After the declaration, Allbaugh designated the following 28 counties eligible for aid to stricken residents and business owners: Anderson, Angelina, Brazoria, Cherokee, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Hardin, Harris, Houston, Jasper, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Montgomery, Nacogdoches, Newton, Orange, Polk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Shelby, Smith, Trinity, Tyler and Walker." (((An area larger than some European countries, but who's counting.)))(...)

"HOUSTON (Reuters) == Massive rains from the remnants of Tropical Storm Allison inundated Houston and southeastern Texas on Saturday, forcing thousands of people from their flooded homes and bringing the nation's fourth largest city to a virtual standstill.

"Parts of the city received 26 inches of rain in a downpour that began on Friday afternoon and continued most of the night, officials said. Since Allison struck on Tuesday, 35 inches of rain have fallen, they said. (((That's almost three feet.)))

"Texas Gov. Rick Perry declared a state of emergency for Houston and 28 east Texas counties and authorized the use of state equipment to help rescue stranded residents.

"'It's unbelievable what's happening here. We have problems all over the city, flooding all over downtown and every other part of the city,' Brown told reporters. (((Why do mayors always say stuff like that?)))

(...) "Television reports showed vast sections of the city under water that in some cases reached the rooftops of homes or filled road underpasses to the brim. Stalled cars and trucks could be seen floating in streets that looked like rivers.

"Every freeway in the city was closed due to high water and creeks and bayous looked like vast lakes instead of the small, meandering streams they usually are.

"Officials said at least 3,000 homes and buildings had been damaged and 17,000 families displaced. The Red Cross opened shelters throughout the city to accommodate the victims.

"Harris County Judge Robert Eckels said he expected the city has suffered 'hundreds of millions of dollars' in damages. (((Might be even bigger than Enron's profits! Are you listening, Munich Re, Swiss Re? How long before these weather damages are bigger than the oil industry?)))

"The U.S. Coast Guard was called in to help pluck people from their rooftops with helicopters and to pump out a critical AT&T telephone switching center before rising waters blew its circuits. (((The first of many Wexelblat Disasters raises its ugly head; phone switching center blows out.)))

"Continental Airlines, which is based in Houston, said high water was keeping employees from getting to work, forcing the nation's fifth largest air carrier to shut down operations at its main hub, Houston Intercontinental Airport. (((Air transport blows out.)))

"'We think today we'll end up canceling a thousand flights,' spokesman Ned Walker told reporters. 'We're going to suspend all of our operations at Intercontinental Airport today.'

"The Texas Medical Center, which with 13 hospitals is one of the world's largest medical facilities, suffered heavy flooding damage and was seeking to transfer patients to hospitals in Austin and San Antonio, a spokesman said. (((Health system blows out.)))

"Allison brewed up suddenly in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday and quickly came ashore, moving inland over southeast Texas. It lost its 60 mph winds almost immediately. (((Very little warning. Sinister little thing, really.)))

(...) "Parts of Louisiana received nearly two feet of rain the past four days, causing officials to declare a state of emergency in 21 of the state's 64 parishes. Gov. Mike Foster activated 1,000 National Guardsmen to help evacuate some of an estimated 1,100 families affected by the storm. (((Sorry, Cajuns, but at least you know how to live in a swamp.)))

"The National Weather Service said Houston could get another 10 inches of rain on Saturday evening and raised the specter that the remains of Allison could drift back to the Gulf of Mexico and regain strength over its warm waters." (((Smacked twice by the same event? It happened to Paris in the Tempests of December 01999))).

"HOUSTON (AP) == Thousands of people were forced from their homes or stranded on flooded freeways Saturday as torrential rains from the remnants of Tropical Storm Allison swamped Houston and Southeast Texas.

(((Houston Mayor)))Brown said an earlier estimate of 3,000 homes and business damages was 'very conservative.' 'Some complete subdivisions are flooding over,'he said.

"The Texas Medical Center was hit with power outages because emergency generators were flooded. Some telephone service was interrupted. The city's 911 service was overwhelmed, and traffic signals were a mess. ((((911 down, traffic signals down.))) Police Chief Clarence Bradford said there were only a few reports of vandalism or looting. (((It's too wet to go outside and steal stuff.))) (...)

"President Bush on Saturday declared a 28-county disaster area, ordering federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts. Bush spent the weekend at his Crawford ranch, about 175 miles northwest of Houston. (((Is it too much to ask that a freak F3 tornado spins off the edge of the storm and... well, yeah, it is.)))

"Stranded on highways along with vacationers and residents, long-haul truckers == their rigs stalled and damaged by flash floods == bunked in their cabs, brewed coffee and aided motorists whose 'four-wheelers' sank or floated in the rising water. (((So much for the SUV contingent.)))

"'I came up on this little BMW two-seater, and this executive guy grabbed his briefcase and what he could out of his car and got in,' Oklahoma City truck driver Daniel Hock said Saturday. 'That was the last we saw of the car. He just bought it; it had 18,000 miles on it.' (((Hardly spewed any carbon at all, more's the pity...)))

"Trucker James Wilson had to swim from his truck. His trailer was floating on Interstate 10, straddling the center and pinned against a railroad trestle. His cab was nowhere in sight.

'I tried to stay with it, but it was time to go,' Wilson said. 'I ain't going to go down with the rig.' (((Unlike the rest of us.)))

"'As soon as we rescue one person and drop them off, we get diverted to another case,' Coast Guard spokesman Rob Wyman said.

"Joining in the effort were military trucks big enough to navigate through the deep water, said National Guard spokesman Aaron Reed. ((("Khaki Green" to the rescue. The Army is the climate policy.))) The guard also sent five of its own helicopters to help.

"The deluge Friday and Saturday was produced by the lingering remnants of Allison, the Atlantic hurricane season's first named storm, which blew ashore on the Texas coast on Tuesday, then quickly dwindled but refused to leave. Some rain gauges in Houston showed 24-hour rainfall amounts topping 20 inches.

"The effects of the storm extended beyond Texas. The flooding disrupted access to an estimated 76,000 automated teller machines in 22 states, said Julian Read, spokesman for PULSE, a nonprofit electronic funds transfer network of more than 2,600 banks. (((Pulse System goes down. A Viridian newbie just sent me email asking what a "Wexelblat Disaster" is. Well, it works like this: you're trying to fly out of Houston but the airport's down, so you try to call home but you can't, then your rental car drowns, so you go to get some cash to stay in a hotel on dry land and wow, how come there's no cash?)))

(((Now we start getting into the "Viridian Uncanny."))) "Also in Louisiana, alligators agitated by the storm's thunder, lightning and heavy rain wandered into residential areas.

"Kathy Smith didn't believe her daughter had really seen an alligator in their yard in LaPlace, La., until she saw a neighbor trying to catch the critter Friday. 'I said, 'You get him, and I'm about to call 911,' she said. (((Hope 911's up and running.)))

"Trappers in Louisiana's St. John the Baptist and St. Charles parishes captured 40 alligators during the week. 'I'll release them back into the swamps unless they are big and aggressive,' said Richard Roussel IV, an alligator nuisance control officer for St. John Parish. (((Pure savoir faire those Louisianans; they really are the bellwether Greenhouse state.)))

"Houston-area residents braced for the possibility of more rains tonight, which could worsen the catastrophic flooding that brought the region to a near-standstill and left nearly 17,000 people homeless.

"And local officials, weary from marathon rescue and relief efforts, blanched at the possibility that what remains of Tropical Storm Allison is headed toward the warm Gulf of Mexico waters where it could reorganize and restrengthen.

"Across Harris County, as many as 21,000 homes are thought to be without power, phones and water, said County Judge Robert Eckels. About 5,000 homes are flooded in the county.

"As many as 34,000 Reliant Energy/HL&P customers, including hospitals, are without power this afternoon, a Reliant spokeswoman said. (((Power network down. Send some voltage over, California!)))

"Roughly 17,000 people were going to need some type of temporary shelter and county officials ordered the Reliant Astrohall opened for that purpose. Schools, churches and other public facilities were also being opened as shelters. ((("Reliant Astrohall" full of refugees. Nice choice of corporate sponsors there.)))

(...) "Early today, Gov. Rick Perry declared a state of emergency in the Houston area and 28 Southeast Texas counties. Perry will visit the Houston area Sunday to get a first-hand aerial view of the devastation from severe flooding.

(...) "City Public Works crews continued to rescue residents around flooded areas today. About 200 people had been picked up and dropped off at shelters around the city, Ray said.

"The deluge == in which as much as 28 inches of rain fell in the past 24 hours == has affected all aspects of life in the area, from communications to transportation to automated teller machines:

"*All Metro bus routes have been canceled today because of high water. No buses are running, Metro Police said.

"*More than two feet of rain fell at Bush Intercontinental Airport, forcing Houston-based Continental Airlines to cancel all flights through 6 a.m. Sunday there. Airline spokesman Ned Walker said that would involve about 1,000 flights. The biggest problem was the availability of crews and staff who couldn't get to the Bush Intercontinental Airport, he said. (((Drowned cars equals no planes at "Bush" airport.)))

"*Authorities shut down some local freeways in order to clear broken-down vehicles. Currently, U.S. Highway 59 (Southwest Freeway) is shut down eastbound at the Fondren/Bellaire exit. Interstate 10 is reportedly shut down in spots, too. I-10 at T.C. Jester is submerged and blocked by stranded vehicles, including massive 18- wheelers that floated like a child's bathtub toys. (((Poetry is not dead in modern journalism.))) In some places, water is touching the bottom of freeway underpasses, turning the low-lying roadways into lakes.

"*The city reported its communications system was down, but communications are going ahead through hand-held radios. The mayor said 911 service is working, but stressed to only use the service in the case of a true emergency.

"*Eckels authorized workers to pump water out of an AT&T switching center in the 1400 block of Jefferson, saying he was told if that center went down, the area would lose all wireless and long distance communication.

"*As of midafternoon, Reliant Energy/HL&P said about 34,000 of its 1.2 million Houston-area customers were without power. Most of these were in Bellaire and the Greenspoint and Humble areas, spokeswoman Alicia Dixon said. She said the company's crews are having difficulty reaching the areas where power is out, so service is being restored slowly.

"Restoring power to flooded hospitals in the Texas Medical Center poses special problems, Dixon said. Because power is supplied to the medical center through underground cables, it is unsafe to restore electricity until the water has subsided and the cables are dry. ((("The lightning missed me, but then I stepped on that cable.")))

"*An estimated 76,000 ATMs in 22 states may be affected by weekend flooding in the Southeast Texas, a banking official said. Access to ATMs in the Pulse network was disrupted when the primary and secondary power supplies were flooded in Houston, said Julian Read, a spokesman for Pulse, a nonprofit electronic funds transfer network. It has more than 2,600 financial institution members. Also, an estimated 300,000 point-of-sale transactions == using an ATM at a cashier == may be affected.

"The Medical Center experienced severe flooding and power outages. Many ambulances are unable to traverse the high water in the area to deliver patients and there are reports that some patients on automated life-support machines were being kept alive by manual means. Hospital officials are making arrangements to transfer the most critical patients to other hospitals as far away as Austin and San Antonio, city officials said. ((("Austin Welcomes Manually Pumped Life Support Users' Group, Enjoy Your Stay")))

"The Houston Fire Department has fielded 500 water calls and 200 fire calls since 11 p.m. Friday night, city officials said. (...)

"At 7 a.m. today, catastrophic flooding was reported along Spring Creek near Spring on the north side of Houston with water possibly near the rooftops of some homes in Timberlake and Timberridge subdivisions in Montgomery County and and the Spring Hills subdivision south of The Woodlands.

"The National Weather Service reported that Clear Creek in Friendswood southeast of Houston was rising rapidly and was at 17.7 feet at 6:30 a.m. at FM 528. The record flood level at that point is 19.1 feet. (...)

"The Coast Guard said the upper part of the Houston Ship Channel was closed after 26 barges and two ships broke free from moorings at the Port of Houston, clogging one of nation's busiest waterways. (((Waterways blow out.)))

"An insurance trade group late Saturday doubled its initial estimate of losses from the storms to at least $120 million. The figure did not count damage to hundreds of flooded homes, which must be covered by separate federal flood insurance. (((Yeah. Sure.)))

"'This weather-related event continues to present developing losses for insurers,' Jerry Johns, president of the Southwestern Insurance Information Service, said. 'We are far from being close to what this might cost the insurance industry.' (((Make the coal companies pick up the tab.)))

(((Some nice human-angle stuff here.))) (...) "a woman who called to say she was stuck in her attic at a home on Valley Wind Drive in Houston, said Amy Askins, a Brazoria County sheriff's dispatcher.

"Another woman called a friend in Brazoria County and asked her to tell the sheriff's department she was stuck in a van that was floating in the high water, Askins said.

"Allen Cannon, a 29-year-old engineer from Pearland, called Brazoria County dispatchers when he couldn't reach his wife, Shundra, who had checked into a motel at Interstate 10 and Federal after floodwaters marooned her in traffic. He last spoke with his wife, a 29-year-old assistant principal at Welch Middle School, at 1 a.m. today, he said.

"'She told me the water was to the level of the mattresses on the first floor,' he said. 'She's on the second floor. She's pregnant but she's got a friend with her.

"The worried husband said his wife sounded calm but her cellular phone battery was about to go dead." (...) (((You've got to love the 21st century.)))

"Meanwhile, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston will be closed today and Sunday because of minor flooding in the service area that has affected the air-conditioning and telephone systems. No art has been damaged. (((Culture industry blows out.)))

"Films and family activity scheduled today and Sunday are canceled. Also, advanced tickets purchased for the 'Star Wars' exhibit for today and Sunday will be honored at a later date. (((Hey, you can't shut down STAR WARS! That all occurs in another galaxy, far far away!)))

"Rienzi and Bayou Bend are also closed for the weekend. No art was damaged at those museums.

"Portions of the Alley Theater were under water today. Performances for today and Sunday are canceled, said Jennifer Garza, theater spokeswoman.

"'The Neuhaus Arena stage is submerged,' Garza said. The theater's costume and scene shop were also flooded, she said. (((They must have been running MACBETH.)))

"An unidentified 42-year-old law firm employee drowned when water rushed into an elevator while at the basement level of a downtown building, police said.

"The woman intended to move her car at about 5:30 a.m. from the Bank of America's four-level underground parking garage at 700 Louisiana, said Robert Hurst, a police spokesman.

"'The woman went down in the elevator after a broadcast was made in the building by the security department that water was coming into the parking garage and anyone in the building should go down and move their cars,' Hurst said.

"The woman, who was the only elevator occupant at the time, drowned when water rushed into the elevator while on the third level of the garage, Hurst said.

"'It appears that water began rushing into the elevator and it malfunctioned and she drowned in the elevator,' Hurst said. 'She didn't even make it to her car parked on the fourth level.' (((Dead for an internal combustion vehicle.)))

"The woman's body was discovered about 8:30 after maintenance crews noticed that the elevator had stalled and they manually brought the elevator to the lobby level. (((Imagine their surprise when the doors opened.)))

(...) "The woman and some of her colleagues had stayed the night at the law office in the bank building when they realized they could not make it home because of the flooding, Hurst said."

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FAMILIES ARE ASKED TO BRING PERSONAL PILLOWS, BEDDING,
MEDICATIONS, HEALTH-RELEATED ITEMS, EXTRA CLOTHING
AND TOYS
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