"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
10/19/2018 at 10:27 • Filed to: None
2
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"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
10/19/2018 at 10:27 • Filed to: None | 2
| 42 |
It’s still raining in Texas. Along the Colorado River (the Texas Colorado, that is), there is a chain of six dams that form what is known as the Highland Lakes. The dams were built in the 1930s to control flooding and provide electricity. Lake Austin, which is above downtown, and Ladybird Lake (formerly Town Lake), which you see behind the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue, are constant level lakes. The lakes up the chain, like Lake LBJ and Lake Marble Falls, have borne the brunt of the flooding. With rain forecast for today and tomorrow (it’s gonna be a wet quali at COTA), it’s likely that more water will be released, and some very, very expensive homes along Lake Austin, as well as parts of downtown, will be flooded. Lake Travis, which was 20-30 feet below full just a couple months ago, is now at 703 feet above sea level. That puts it 5th all time, with the record being 710 feet set in 1991. I would not be surprised if we top that.
For a little perspective, here’s a picture I took of that bridge in Llano a couple of years ago.
Just Jeepin'
> ttyymmnn
10/19/2018 at 10:31 |
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Wow, I was completely unaware. Be safe, and good luck to all y’all.
camarov6rs
> ttyymmnn
10/19/2018 at 10:31 |
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Will see soon who thought ahead and got a flood policy
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ttyymmnn
> Just Jeepin'
10/19/2018 at 10:32 |
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No problems where I am, but a lot of folks are getting flooded out.
Future next gen S2000 owner
> camarov6rs
10/19/2018 at 10:35 |
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I’m always curious how long those take effect. If heavy rain is predicted or a hurricane is on its way, can you buy the policy right before? Is there a 1 month waiting period? Seems like there would be.
someassemblyrequired
> ttyymmnn
10/19/2018 at 10:35 |
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Stay safe man, it has been very wet here in VA as well - I spent a good portion of my summer building swales and
re-routing water around the house as we’ve had several bouts of a few inches in an hour. Thankfully we’re on a steep hill above the creek, but there’s times my front yard has been a river
. I’m told this is not normal, but I’m thinking it might be the new normal.
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ttyymmnn
> Future next gen S2000 owner
10/19/2018 at 10:37 |
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A 30-day waiting period must pass before most flood policies become active. Some policies, however, start sooner:
If your building is newly designated in a high-risk Special Flood Hazard Area, and you buy flood insurance within the 13-month period following a map revision: One-day waiting period.
If you buy flood insurance in connection with making, increasing, extending or renewing your mortgage loan: No waiting period.
If you select additional insurance as an option on your flood insurance policy renewal bill: No waiting period.
If your property is affected by flooding on burned federal land, and the policy is purchased within 60 days of the fire-containment: Possible waiver of waiting period.
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ttyymmnn
> someassemblyrequired
10/19/2018 at 10:40 |
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What part of VA are you in? My folks still live in Norfolk, where I grew up. If this global warming climate change ( nothing to see) here keeps happening, ORF will be under water.
Chariotoflove
> ttyymmnn
10/19/2018 at 10:40 |
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We’re still getting it too, but it’s not the constant rain of last week. I haven’t even been to see White Rock Lake. I bet plenty of the park is flooded.
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ttyymmnn
> Chariotoflove
10/19/2018 at 10:45 |
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As I alluded to in my post, the flood control aspect of the dams is working great for the wealthy people near Austin who built homes one inch above the lake level. With rain today and tomorrow, their luck may have run out. Or, the LCRA will stick it to the people upriver.
LastFirstMI is my name
> ttyymmnn
10/19/2018 at 10:46 |
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Please tell me the Oasis is going to be ok....
I don’t think I could bear the loss.
ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
> ttyymmnn
10/19/2018 at 10:47 |
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I hope COTA has improved the in the event of rain parking situation from 2015.
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ttyymmnn
> ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
10/19/2018 at 10:48 |
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I hope so too. That rain event was more like a metric shit ton of rain in a very short period of time. This has been heavy soaking rain for two weeks.
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ttyymmnn
> LastFirstMI is my name
10/19/2018 at 10:51 |
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The Oasis is far, far above Lake Travis. They will be fine. Their concern is more fire. The place nearly burned to the ground back in 2005 when it was struck by lightning.
No idea when this picture was taken, but Lake Travis was really low. Those islands are long gone now.
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someassemblyrequired
> ttyymmnn
10/19/2018 at 10:52 |
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Southern part of Fairfax County. Yeah luckily we have about 35 feet below the grade of the basement to the usual high water level, but the creek spilling its banks is a relatively frequent occurrence. And you still have to get all the water down the hill without eroding everything.
Yeah I don’t understand the head in the sand mentality about the phenomenon which can not be discussed. I say take the Ghostbusters approach - “If we’re wrong, we go to jail. Peacefully. Quietly. We’ll enjoy it! But if we’re right, and we can stop this thing, you will have saved the lives of millions of registered voters.”
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ttyymmnn
> someassemblyrequired
10/19/2018 at 10:56 |
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Al Gore had it right when he called it an inconvenient truth. As long as the power brokers are beholding to industry and oil/gas companies, things will never change because it all cuts into their bottom line. The rich have to get richer, and they don’t care, because they’ll all be dead when the shit really hits the fan. I remember hearing some naysayer say, “If we do everything they want right now we will lower the temperature by only one degree.” Which means, you dips hit, that it won’t get worse .
facw
> ttyymmnn
10/19/2018 at 10:56 |
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Wow, that’s a lot higher than normal. Convenient that downtown Austin is at least pretty high above the river. Had some heavy rains while I was there, but while Onion creek and some of its tributaries flooded, the Colorado was pretty well controlled.
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ttyymmnn
> facw
10/19/2018 at 10:59 |
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Ladybird Lake in downtown is, as I said, a constant level lake. They work to keep it that way. Historically, Austin has suffered severe flooding. This was back in 1935. The capitol is still dry, but there’s not a whole lot of elevation from the water.
HoustonRunner
> ttyymmnn
10/19/2018 at 11:04 |
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Be safe. I certainly know what that is like (picture below from my front porch during Harvey last year).
I don’t recall a ny time like this from growing up in Round Rock. Admittedly, if there was flooding at Town Lake when I was a kid I don’t know that I would have even noticed with the ignorance of youth.
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someassemblyrequired
> ttyymmnn
10/19/2018 at 11:04 |
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It’s gonna take small scale renewables at the residential level to work. As much as I think Elon’s a jackass, the powerwall thing is a great idea. Most homes could generate all they need without much trouble, as long as they have battery storage to run the dryer & a/c.
But you know one thing I’ve noticed? The folks I know
that bought Teslas early on, have solar panels, rock a 1st gen I
nsight
or cycle/walk to work? All car
enthusiasts. While we have pretty much wrecked things, we’ll probably be the first to start addressing the problem. Plus we gotta save some dino juice for the remaining V8's.
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HoustonRunner
> ttyymmnn
10/19/2018 at 11:06 |
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It wasn’t always that high either. From my memory it was originally just a short flight of stairs up from the water (this was early -90's when I was in high school) . Then I think it went to new ownership and moved up before the fire in 2005.
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someassemblyrequired
> ttyymmnn
10/19/2018 at 11:07 |
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Also important to point out there are a number of private flood insurance companies. We use them for a rental, since you can avoid paying the $250 surcharge for a non-owner occupied property. Coverage is the same (generally through Lloyd’s of London).
DipodomysDeserti
> ttyymmnn
10/19/2018 at 11:11 |
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Meanwhile, downriver at Lake Mead.
Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks
> ttyymmnn
10/19/2018 at 11:12 |
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How bad is it at Panorama Ranch?
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ttyymmnn
> HoustonRunner
10/19/2018 at 11:14 |
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I lived in Houston for a few years starting in 1990. While I never got flooded out, I do remember 59 turning into a river on occasion. They don’t call it the Bayou City for nothing.
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ttyymmnn
> someassemblyrequired
10/19/2018 at 11:15 |
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And you have to vote.
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ttyymmnn
> HoustonRunner
10/19/2018 at 11:15 |
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You may be right. I’ve only been out there a handful of times, and I don’t know much of the history of the place.
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ttyymmnn
> DipodomysDeserti
10/19/2018 at 11:16 |
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Gotta stop watering those golf courses in the desert.
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ttyymmnn
> Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks
10/19/2018 at 11:18 |
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I have no idea. Four of the eight flood gates on Mansfield Dam have been opened, and they are saying that the other four will have to be opened if it rains much more. I don’t know the area very well over there, but I would wager that if they open up the dam, anything downriver will be under at least some water.
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HoustonRunner
> ttyymmnn
10/19/2018 at 11:21 |
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That is interesting. I will say you learn quite a bit about relative elevations when flooding happens.
From Tropical Storm Allison I learned (the hard way) that just north of 59, Kirby is lower than Montrose. Noticed that when I saw dumps ters floating down Richmond at 2am towards Kirby....after I had just left a bar headed west on Richmond towards Kirby. Should have turned towards Montrose and maybe wouldn’t have flooded my then girl friend’s (now wife) first gen Escape. I found out what it sounds like when water gets in the engine. Still drove it to the dealer for repairs (and somehow they didn’t total it).
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facw
> ttyymmnn
10/19/2018 at 11:25 |
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Hmm, that would be bad for the bats (though I think they are somewhere else this time of year?)
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DipodomysDeserti
> ttyymmnn
10/19/2018 at 11:40 |
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Right? The city golf courses lost $15 million dollars last year, so it’s not like they even generate revenue. People gotta stop having so many goddamn kids and needing food grown in the desert as well. Takes up way more water than golf courses.
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Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks
> ttyymmnn
10/19/2018 at 11:44 |
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Panorama Ranch is probably the wrong location to ask just because. But a picture is worth a thousand words and I can’t imagine Commons Ford isn’t hosting a bunch of news crews at this point. (It’s the nearest accessible downstream of Lake Austin.)
But right at the south side of the border there, it’s really steep hills. REALLY steep. “Your car isn’t getting up here without a flying start” steep.
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ttyymmnn
> HoustonRunner
10/19/2018 at 12:05 |
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That’s almost exactly where I lived, on Turtlewood Court, right next to 59 in the Montrose. I was going to grad school at Rice at the time. I really liked that area. Everybody told us not to live in the Montrose (“It’s the gay neighborhood”) but we thought it was a great neighborhood.
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ttyymmnn
> facw
10/19/2018 at 12:06 |
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The bats do migrate, but I’m not sure of the schedule, and they may be year round residents now. It would take a lot to get up to the level of the Congress bridge and, if that happened, the bats would be the least of our worries.
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ttyymmnn
> DipodomysDeserti
10/19/2018 at 12:07 |
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When we drove from Austin to San Diego, I was surprised to see those gigantic cattle farms out in the southern AZ desert. How is it even economically feasible to bring in enough water to keep those poor cows alive? I say poor not because I’m a vegan or anything, but because it must be a miserable existence for them.
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HoustonRunner
> ttyymmnn
10/19/2018 at 12:15 |
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The night of Allison we were at The Harp, a friend of mine was doing a small show there (singer / guitar). The smart ones just stayed. I wasn’t one of those....
(Side note - he has an original song titled “Pourin’ Rain”. That song always goes through my head when it looks like it might flood, which is at least a couple of times a year where I live.)
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DipodomysDeserti
> ttyymmnn
10/19/2018 at 13:25 |
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Yeah, and then the open range cattle trample all over delicate desert soil. They get fed shit feed and pumped full of antibiotics, that’s how it is feasible. Then the ranchers sell the worn out land to developers to feed to ever expanding cities.
But hey, America likes its beef.
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ttyymmnn
> DipodomysDeserti
10/19/2018 at 14:08 |
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But hey, America likes its beef.
Guilty as charged.
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DipodomysDeserti
> ttyymmnn
10/19/2018 at 15:29 |
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My vegetarian wife keeps from consuming a lot of beef, but I’m guilty as well.
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LastFirstMI is my name
> ttyymmnn
10/19/2018 at 19:47 |
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I seem to remember it being closer to the water as well, but that was many years and several margheritas ago....
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ttyymmnn
> LastFirstMI is my name
10/19/2018 at 19:55 |
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Because really, you don’t go to The Oasis for the food.
cmill189 - sans Volvo
> ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
10/20/2018 at 00:17 |
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2015 was an experience! I talked my way into the fancy pants lot on Saturday but couldn’t pull it off on Sunday.