Harvey

[Jean_TZ]

Me, too. Have a brother down in Austin. The storm's been downgraded and it's now just all the rain and flooding. He's in no immediate danger in that regard, though.

The whole Austin area is doing relatively well - pretty much just the overflowing of the usual creeks and the usual road crossings. Of course, the rivers and lakes will will be overflowing for a while.

I used to live in Houston and flooding is a way of life there. But I've never seen anything like this current flooding. My heart goes out to them...

[Catrin]

To have this devastation come only 12 years after Katrina and Rita... I cannot imagine what it must be like to live through something like this. My prayers for all impacted, which is probably a much larger number than they yet know.

[rebeccaC]

Alex found out a good friend has 4 ft of water in her house in Houston...most likely with more to come. Even though they are exhausted, and scared, she, her partner and their pets are safe, dry, and staying with a friend after a boat rescue. I can't imagine going through something like what so many are because of harvey.

[azfiddle]

I can't even imagine it.... I made a donation to one of the general charity funds listed on CNN. This will take years. And being firmly convinced of the evidence for global climate change, I think we will continue to see more and more extreme weather events taking place.

[Crankin]

I agree, AZ.
However, I am mostly angry that the representatives of Texas are the same ones who denied funding for the victims of Sandy. It was so obviously intended to show no compassion for the east coast. Massachusetts sent every team of water rescue people we have, as well as others. This is not an indictment of the victims, in any way, just a comment that senators and representatives felt the need to politicize a natural disaster that occurred where I live. That does not seem to be happening now. This is worse, but I suspect the people in NJ, who waited 2-5 years to get help rebuilding don't care.

[emily_in_nc]

I agree, AZ.
However, I am mostly angry that the representatives of Texas are the same ones who denied funding for the victims of Sandy. It was so obviously intended to show no compassion for the east coast. Massachusetts sent every team of water rescue people we have, as well as others. This is not an indictment of the victims, in any way, just a comment that senators and representatives felt the need to politicize a natural disaster that occurred where I live. That does not seem to be happening now. This is worse, but I suspect the people in NJ, who waited 2-5 years to get help rebuilding don't care.

Couldn't agree more, Crankin. %*&$#@ Ted Cruz!

[azfiddle]

I agree with all the above comments about denial and about the issues with the Texas members of Congress. It's just sad for all those who are now homeless and for all the people who will suffer in the future as these extreme weather events happen more frequently.

[Trek420]

Couldn't agree more, Crankin. %*&$#@ Ted Cruz!

Just made another small donation to Beto.

[rebeccaC]

And being firmly convinced of the evidence for global climate change, I think we will continue to see more and more extreme weather events taking place.

I see a lot of the climate change denial structure as low empathy and high dominance with their seeing a threat to their current societal and profit structure....with others too easily believing their misinformation.


Concerning the devastation of Harvey I also find it interesting that two-thirds of the population of the Netherlands, including most residents of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, live on flood-prone land, much of it below sea level…and they have spent the money and done the research to have an efficient flood prevention infrastructure that works well while the U.S. seems to care more about relief operations than well done and planned prevention infrastructure. Hopefully the continuing more invasive storms will make people more prone to join a constructive conversation about building the needed infrastructure and moving away from the causes of climate change.