Cardude in Harvey bullseye

[dhays]

Originally Posted by BandB

Wifey B: That's great to hear. Why don't the people talking say that? I've heard all the politicians, government officials speak and not one has said anything about that.

Not to turn this political, but I think that politicians often have a set of additional priorities. If you are a Governor you have to face a bunch of angry folks who don't like bad things happening to them. Of course they don't accept any responsibility themselves and expect other folks to solve their problems for them. A Governor can't really say tell them that, instead the tendency is (if they want to stay popular and get elected again) to blame someone else.

After Katrina there were all kinds of folks blaming FEMA for an inadequate response, folks blamed President Bush (particularly democrats). When President Obama was in office, republican liked to blame him for every perceived failure on the part of FEMA.

So, who do you hear on television or read quoted in the paper? You hear elected officials. The folks who are actually doing the work, are too busy doing the work to spend time talking about doing the work.

And for gosh sakes, I hope we don't hear complaints about President Trump not going to Texas to review the damage. The last thing Texas needs is for a President to show up for pictures and take resources away from getting things done.

[BandB]

Originally Posted by dhays

Not to turn this political, but I think that politicians often have a set of additional priorities. If you are a Governor you have to face a bunch of angry folks who don't like bad things happening to them. Of course they don't accept any responsibility themselves and expect other folks to solve their problems for them. A Governor can't really say tell them that, instead the tendency is (if they want to stay popular and get elected again) to blame someone else.

After Katrina there were all kinds of folks blaming FEMA for an inadequate response, folks blamed President Bush (particularly democrats). When President Obama was in office, republican liked to blame him for every perceived failure on the part of FEMA.

So, who do you hear on television or read quoted in the paper? You hear elected officials. The folks who are actually doing the work, are too busy doing the work to spend time talking about doing the work.

And for gosh sakes, I hope we don't hear complaints about President Trump not going to Texas to review the damage. The last thing Texas needs is for a President to show up for pictures and take resources away from getting things done.

Wifey B: I'm just tired of the platitudes. Let someone at a lower level speak who actually knows what is going on. I'm sure after this, like every storm, we'll hear complaints about the President. We'll hear complaints about FEMA. We'll hear complaints about the insurers. Maybe if they did a bit better PR job it would reduce that and by PR I don't mean nebulous statements. I mean sharing what is already underway and what to expect. Sometimes it's best to not share what's going on behind the scenes. I don't think this is one of those time. The more you share, the sooner, the smoother it will go.

[Baker]

Originally Posted by dhays

Not to turn this political, but I think that politicians often have a set of additional priorities. If you are a Governor you have to face a bunch of angry folks who don't like bad things happening to them. Of course they don't accept any responsibility themselves and expect other folks to solve their problems for them. A Governor can't really say tell them that, instead the tendency is (if they want to stay popular and get elected again) to blame someone else.

After Katrina there were all kinds of folks blaming FEMA for an inadequate response, folks blamed President Bush (particularly democrats). When President Obama was in office, republican liked to blame him for every perceived failure on the part of FEMA.

So, who do you hear on television or read quoted in the paper? You hear elected officials. The folks who are actually doing the work, are too busy doing the work to spend time talking about doing the work.

And for gosh sakes, I hope we don't hear complaints about President Trump not going to Texas to review the damage. The last thing Texas needs is for a President to show up for pictures and take resources away from getting things done.

There was a guy on here(Carey) that worked on a FEMA response team. He said Katrina was quite a nightmare with people yelling and complaining and trying to get help.

Armed with those memories, they were afraid of what they might find when showing up in Galveston after Ike. He said they showed up and no one hardly even approached them. All they could hear was chainsaws and generators. IOW, people taking care of themselves and their neighbors. It is also the reason Ike did not get sensational national coverage like Sandy and Katrina...the "demographic" was different and not as "newsworthy"......

[KneeDeep]

Haven't seen pictures yet (which is probably a good thing) but got a call that our floating marina fared much better than the drystack, except we no longer have a covered slip. Report is that boat is floating, not listing and no alarms going off. At this point I'll take it.

Hopefully Harvey will stay a little farther north than forecasted and let the recovery crews get to work.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by BandB

Wifey B: No, last weekend we were driving to Pickwick and then provisioning.

Ah. Maybe the Tennessee River is more attractive than the Cumberland. We only took the "3 hour tour" (paddlewheel showboat) but the river itself didn't have much going on except for occasional wildlife. I was susprrised the Nashville "waterfront" isn't built up like it is in Memphis...

Originally Posted by BandB

Wifey B: I'm just tired of the platitudes. Let someone at a lower level speak who actually knows what is going on.

Yeah, generalities not so informative, but the people who know the details are generally busy managing the details. Imagine serious gantt charts, checklists, progress reporting back up the chain, lots of people and equipment actually in motion (ideally as close as is safe), etc.

-Chris

[sbu22]

Spike - I'll accept that your Urban SAR team was on the job promptly. But my firsthand and on the ground experience with FEMA and USACE during Katrina/Rita was that they were just another massive obstruction that needed to be cleared to get everything from SAR to supplies to recovery accomplished. WalMart's ER crews and LANG did more in the first weeks than all the Fed efforts combined. FEMA is all about process and nothing about results. Mostly unqualified contract Beltway bandit subcontractors primarily interested in not breaking their rice bowl.

[Spike]

Originally Posted by sbu22

Spike - I'll accept that your Urban SAR team was on the job promptly. But my firsthand and on the ground experience with FEMA and USACE during Katrina/Rita was that they were just another massive obstruction that needed to be cleared to get everything from SAR to supplies to recovery accomplished. WalMart's ER crews and LANG did more in the first weeks than all the Fed efforts combined. FEMA is all about process and nothing about results. Mostly unqualified contract Beltway bandit subcontractors primarily interested in not breaking their rice bowl.

Thanks (I think), I obviously get a bit defensive when folks say I wasn't doing my job. I admit that FEMA is huge and I only knew about my small piece of the pie. It got even worse when we became part of DHS. Most people don't understand that we couldn't do anything until the state in need asks for assistance. During Sandy we sat at McGuire AFB in NJ for 24 hours before the governor decided they needed help.

Sorry for the rant and thread creep. This really should be about our TF folks effected in Texas. Hope all is well when the dust settles for all of you.

[Miz Trom]

Cardude, Texas Lady, Baker, Dimer2, ktdtx and KneeDeep - how are you and your families and boats holding up this afternoon?

Looking at the wind maps, it appears that the Galveston area has been slammed with wind-driven storm surge off the Gulf. I am particularly concerned about Texas Lady.

[Baker]

Originally Posted by BandB

Now at 2 mph but still 25 miles west of Victoria.

Baker...

Does this now qualify as a powerful hurricane with a tremendous amount of rain? And sitting and meandering?

Not sure we can call this a done deal....but here are your rainfall totals in the Houston area in the last 24 hours. Not torrential by any stretch...So we shall see...

https://www.harriscountyfws.org/

[BandB]

Originally Posted by Baker

Not sure we can call this a done deal....but here are your rainfall totals in the Houston area in the last 24 hours. Not torrential by any stretch...So we shall see...

https://www.harriscountyfws.org/

The forecast for Galveston is 20" more with 8" tomorrow and more each day. Houston is 2.75 tonight, 6 tomorrow, 5 on Monday, 3.75 on Tuesday, 2.3 on Wednesday, 2.1 on Thursday. The Buffalo is forecast to go higher than it has ever gone, higher than Allison. I hope they're completely wrong. I know it looks good in Houston at the moment.

[Bigsfish]

Most forecasts are for the max, that may not be what happens but it's better than forecast for the best.

Some official said for his townspeople to write their name and SS number on their arm. Really! Talk about scare tactics.

[Ski in NC]

Locally after hurricane Fran, a bud and I were in the truck to get something or other and drove by Hooters on the way. There were like six Suburbans with magnetic FEMA stickers on them in the parking lot. We discussed between us "thanks for the help"!! Well he had me stop the truck and he went and got a couple FEMA stickers. I still have one.

Between Hugo, Fran and other storms, it seemed these FEMA guys were driving around enjoying the per diem an whatever, meanwhile us locals were busting a$$ cleaning up the mess. Never really seen where they actually aided much. Maybe funding debris pick up, but that too ended up a completely corrupt fiasco.

[dimer2]

Originally Posted by Bigsfish

Most forecasts are for the max, that may not be what happens but it's better than forecast for the best.

Some official said for his townspeople to write their name and SS number on their arm. Really! Talk about scare tactics.

That was directed to the people defying the mandatory evacuation order. I personally, took the order seriously and evacuated. It's a pain but Michelle and I are both safe and well. I am not sure that can be said for the folk that stayed behind.

[cardude01]

Originally Posted by healhustler

Heard from Cardude about 10 AM. Still OK but loosing vents off the roof, now holed. Trees down and clogging drains, etc. . A short video clip showed trees really stressed. He may attempt repairs in approaching eye center. I bet he's glad to have left his boat parked at FF's in FL!

KneeDeep, sure hope the best for you.

We are fine. Stuffed some towels in the holes where the ridge vent flew off for now. Will go to the hardware store tomorrow when the curfew is over for some of that Stuff It foam. Think that will stop the leak till I can get it repaired correctly.

Lots of trees down around town from what I see on FB. We have power or water now but they are working on it. I'm drinking wine now and eating some cheese and hummus so can't complain.

[cardude01]

Originally Posted by KneeDeep

Haven't seen pictures yet (which is probably a good thing) but got a call that our floating marina fared much better than the drystack, except we no longer have a covered slip. Report is that boat is floating, not listing and no alarms going off. At this point I'll take it.



Hopefully Harvey will stay a little farther north than forecasted and let the recovery crews get to work.

Man I think Rockport got slammed. Hope all is well.

Buddy of mine has a house near Rockport at Holiday Beach. He sent me this pick of his neighborhood.

[LarryM]

I have a friend with a boat in Matagorda Municipal Marina. The phones and webcam are down and the sheriffs department says the roads were just closed due to downed power lines, so now she plays a waiting game to see if her boat is still afloat. Does anyone have any info on that area I can pass on to her?

[tallswede]

It hasn't been bad in the Clear Lake or Baytown areas. We were fortunate in that we seem to have been in between the worst of the feeder bands, I prepped my boat Thursday and double checked again Friday and hoped for the best worrying more about the many boats around me that seemed not to be well prepped. Just got back home from the marina and looks like little to no damage and minimal surge but we'll have to see how bad all that water coming down from up north gets. Add to that the possibility this thing backs up and dumps even more on us, well, at least we aren't Rockport. I really feel for those down there after having made it through Ike and the aftermath of that. Also on the plus side for me, my dock behind the house on Goose Creek tried to float off this morning when the water rose high enough to float it off the pilings but I managed to lasso it and tie it to a tree before it disappeared out into the bay. During Ike it floated upstream about a mile and landed on some railroad tracks. Got it back then too. LOL.

[healhustler]

Originally Posted by tallswede

During Ike it floated upstream about a mile and landed on some railroad tracks. Got it back then too. LOL.

Geeze, Tallswede, if your boat could talk...

[tallswede]

Originally Posted by healhustler

Geeze, Tallswede, if your boat could talk...

LOL, healhustler, that was the little dock behind my house not my boat. My boat is in Seabrook Marina about 14 miles from my house.

Kevin

[healhustler]

Originally Posted by tallswede

LOL, healhustler, that was the little dock behind my house not my boat. My boat is in Seabrook Marina about 14 miles from my house.

Kevin

Oh, your dock. Gee. I feel kind of silly.