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Richard Carson / Reuters
This vehicle was among the dozens stranded in high water across Houston on Monday.
Torrential rain, flooding that cut off highways and even suspected tornadoes gave the Houston area major weather headaches on Monday.
The Mall of the Mainland in Texas City had to close after damage from a suspected twister Monday afternoon. It was unclear if there were any injuries.
"The structural integrity of the building has been compromised," Texas City Fire Chief Joe Gorman was quoted by the Houston Chronicle as saying.
Several homes closer to Houston were damaged by another suspected twister.
"All the doors in the house were trying to open and shut. It sounded like a train going through, so we hid in the closet," Beverly Moore was quoted by KPRC TV as saying. "It was definitely a tornado. We hid for about 15 minutes."
Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle via AP
This intersection in Houston, at Buffalo Speedway and Richmond Avenue, saw plenty of heavy rain Monday.
The deluge from the system closed down a stretch of Texas State Highway 288 for most of the day. A dozen other freeway intersections in the Houston area also saw flooding and rainfall of more than four inches in just a few hours.
"Between 9 a.m. and about noon today the Houston police department had 51 active flood locations with flooding reports and that’s all over the city in city streets,” the Chronicle quoted city spokesman Michael Walter as saying.
The suburb of Sugar Land got more than six inches of rain.
The storm cut power to nearly 20,000 utility customers at its peak, and officials reported numerous water rescues of people stranded in homes or cars.
Houston, like most of Texas, has seen drought conditions for most of the last year and Monday's storm isn't expect to help much on its own. Any sustained recovery will require a long stretch of rain, forecasters say.
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Leave a Comment:
I realize this doesn't end the drought but man no half measures here ... feast or famine.
Hope everyone's okay.
Been in one of those Houston duckdrowners , the city is below sea level and that makes it even worse. Couple of inches of rain and all the bayou's come over the top.
City of Houston is definitely NOT below sea level. But it is very flat which is why the flooding is usually rapid however the water typically recedes quickly.
Wiki lists Houston's elevation as 43Ft. above sea level.
Got texted some photos by neighbors near my place while I was at work today; really high water level, licking at people's doors. It all receded by the time I came home, tho'.
I'm with you.. Feast or famine mentality. No thanks given for the much needed water, just complaints that it isnt enough.. lol.
I've been in a drought and let me tell you, you're thankfull for anything that puts water back into the system.. even if its short term it gets you through it a little bit longer.
Kathryn is thinking of new orleans, which is below sea level.
...but the bayous are topped off...6 inches in four hours will do it.
So: ....What about the $5 "drainage Fee" Houstonians got hit with on their monthly bills, any of that spent or is it in a "Special Politicians fund"?
It sure looks like God wasn't pleased with Rick Perry's "Prayer Rally". Maybe, had he followed Matthew 6 . . .
You are an idiot - what does Perry have to do with flooding in Houston?
Gerry - are you serious?!! Do you really not know?!! ROTFLMAO!!
Gerry - comment 8.1 - do you have any idea WHO Rick Perry is and what his current job is? Do you have any idea where Rick Perry held his "Prayer Rally"?
I'll give you some hints.
Here's your first hint: He's a governor of a state which starts with "T", ends with "s" and has "exa" in between.
Now, for your second hint: He held his controversial "Prayer Rally" in a city in the same state. The city starts with "H", ends with "n" and has "ousto" in between.
Now, in regards to glass houses, I think you owe 3rdview an apology, don't you?
I was at that rally - with a picket sign. XD
Whoops, Gerry, make that "comment 2.1". However, the rest of my comments . . . .
I live in Houston and I saw the flooding - why must some always bring politics into all events. I have never voted for Perry, nor do I hold him responsible for the damage brought by the rain today. I owe no one an apology! It's like Perry being brought up when there were the horrific fires in Bastrop, TX...quit using any excuse to bring politics into all discussions!
Gerry - Do you have a sense of humor? A life? 3D was trying to be funny...I guess you just don't get it!!
Gerry-637377, you are suspended for a day for violating rule # 1 of the Code of Honor.
This is the funniest thread I've read on here all day!
wow sally, you actually suspended gerry for calling someone an "idiot" ?
hmmm. why just gerry ?
sally ?
are you paying attention ?
do you know there is someone "death wishing" on here ?
are you going to ban them for deathwishing ? or suspend them ?
don't troll sally...she's got to pay the rent...and the rent is to dang high...
lol, a paid operative.
hmm...interesting
Why is it "drought conditions" and not just "drought"? Condition is nearly always an unnecessary word.
As I understand it, "drought" refers to the abscence of rain, or meaningful rainfall. "Drought Conditions" can persist even after the drought has broken, in the form of dying/dead vegetation, low water levels in reservoirs and bodies of water, salt water influx into low-level rivers and streams, etc. So, drought conditions are the conditions caused by the drought, but will continue even after meaningful rainfall has occurred.
No, you understand incorrectly! You only get the conditions of drought from a drought. Furthermore, one rainfall does not a drought end, so the drought persists even after meaningful rainfall. It's just like "windy conditions", "rainy conditions", etc. The word condition is wholly, completely, utterly, and fully redundant, just like every adverb in this sentence. Once the "conditions" of drought are gone, the drought is over. If they persist, it isn't.
@Bebop Bob:
You wrote this:
One might suggest that it is a combination of laziness, illiteracy, and entirely too much reliance upon colloquial gobbledygook, especially considering that the entire sentence is inaccurate and misleading, as well as having obvious grammatical mistakes, which tends to suggest that English is not the primary language of the writer(s), where my best guess is that "isn't expect" suggests an Asian language as the primary language . . .
[SOURCE: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/09/10078361-deluge-suspected-twisters-hit-houston-area ]
The fact of the matter is that Texas in the midst of the most severe and longest drought in its recorded history, and this drought has been ongoing for considerably more than "most of the last year", which overall makes the sentence an hasty concoction of primarily mindless drivel . . .
[SOURCE: http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southcentral/2012/01/09/230473.htm ]
[SOURCE: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/20/us-drought-trees-texas-idUSTRE7BJ20M20111220 ]
Nevertheless, the term "drought conditions" generally is used to refer to the fact that there are different levels or degrees of drought, so when the term is used correctly it provides a clue to the existence of more detailed information, where "conditions" specifically refers to (a) intensities and (b) impact types, really . . .
There are six (6) intensities:
(1) none
(2) D0: Abnormally Dry
(3) D1: Drought - Moderate
(4) D2: Drought - Severe
(5) D3: Drought - Extreme
(6) D4: Drought - Exceptional
And there are three impact types:
(1) dominant: refers to an area
(2) short term: typically six (6) months or less
(3) long term: typically greater than six (6) months
[SOURCE: http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/monitor.html ]
However, there is another measure called the "Long Term Palmer", and it focuses on both drought severity and excessive wetness, with the range being from "-4.0 or less (severe drought)" to "+4.0 and above (extremely moist)" . . .
[SOURCE: http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/regional_monitoring/palmer.gif ]
Summarizing, if the term "drought conditions" is used correctly in a sentence which is factually accurate, then it is fine with me, but when it is used in a sentence which makes little if any factual sense, then I think that it is colloquial gobbledygook, really . . .
Really! :-o
A long way to get there, but I think you agree with me. In any case, one still shouldn't use "drought conditions" except in the way you outlined as in to say "there are six different drought conditions/intensities". Four of these conditions are still drought and would be then modified as moderate, severe, extreme, or exceptional, but the word condition should still be banned from further "enhancing" the description to turn it into "colloquial gobbledygook", to borrow a phrase.
Condition is nearly always an unnecessary word except under certain conditions, e.g., air condition just wouldn't be same without condition.
@Bebop Bob:
I think that we are on the same page! :-)
From the perspective of English grammar, the problem with using the term "drought conditions" incorrectly is that it changes what should be a noun ("drought") to an adjective, since "conditions" becomes the noun, and the consequence is that the importance and significance of "drought" arbitrarily is diminished for no logical reason . . .
The "noun vs. adjective" issue should be obvious to anyone who has devoted much attention to diagramming sentences toward the worthy goal of identifying and understanding parts of speech and the way they affect the meaning of sentences, for sure . . .
For sure!
From yet another perspective, the problem with using "drought conditions" out of context rather than "drought" is that it tends to suggest that there is no drought, although there might be a drought if "drought conditions" persist, which basically transforms a fact ("there is a drought") into an uncertain, indeterminate, ambiguous, and essentially meaningless belief ("there are drought conditions") in a confused quest to avoid stating the obvious, which is the lazy aspect . . .
In other words, when the term "drought conditions" is used, this does not require one to make a decision based on factual evidence, but in great contrast if "drought" is used, then for it to be used accurately there needs to be factual evidence, which in turn requires one to do at least enough research to justify the statement, where for example it is not so difficult to check the NOAA website, National Weather Service, USDA, or the various state agencies to verify that there is an ongoing drought in Texas . . .
Using a silly example, if someone's pants are on fire, then I suggest that it is better to say, "Dude! Your pants are on fire!" than to say, "I think there might be a bit too much fire and smoke emerging from your pants, which might indicate that there could be a problem in that particular area, although perhaps not", really . . .
Really! :-o
I started reading this with interest but then fell asleep somewhere in the middle..... ;-)
Well all we can hope is this drains to the gulf balences the salinity helps the blue crab which will help the Whooping cranes. Maybe the Lord is really looking after his feathered creations not us.
So, essentially, we have an ambiguous statement here (though if taken colloquially, we understand the term "drought conditions" to simply mean drought):
1) Drought conditions refers to the impact of the drought. As in, the impact will continue to persist/worsen, even though a sizable amount of rain fell, simply because it was not enough rain spaced out over a long enough period of time. This would lead to salinity issues, low reservoir levels, dead/dying vegetation, etc.
2) Drought conditions refers to the actual conditions, which would be different across an area as large as Texas. For instance, Houston may be in light-moderate drought conditions, while San Antonio may be in Severe Conditions, Austin in Extreme conditions, etc. (I don't know the actual conditions, currently).
Learn something new every day, I guess.
Why is it always "suspected" tornadoes? Does it actually take a trained observer seeing a tornado on the ground for the weather people to ADMIT there was a tornado? People know a tornado when they see one, so why not just report it was a tornado? Is there something in the weather forecasters' job contract that says they can't call it a tornado unless someone takes a picture of it or a weather spotter sees it? What's the difference?
Isn't that like saying he was sick why is it important whether it was cancer or the flu.
A tornado is wind traveling in a circle when you're in the middle of it it's pretty darn hard to tell. The weather experts don't have to see it to know they can tell by the type of damage and the doppler radar.
You can get servere damage from straight wind too.
Much needed rain.
Well there you go, I was wrong after all. It seems the rain dance and prayer actually did work, way to go PERRY.
It won't help all the dead trees I see and if next summer is as bad as the last...God help us all!!
too little too late...ask the dead trees
Hope all are doing well in the Houston area. Best wishes. Saw Joel Osteen on Oprah last evening....good job Joel.
I see the dead trees dispite the forest
"Suspected Tornado"? If it wasn't a tornado, whats the other options? "Suspected windy"?
I hate to hear that peoples lives are disrupted, and hope everyone is ok.
But the wording of the article eludes me. There either was, or wasn't a tornado.
I lived in an area where there was a "Suspected Tornado". The suspect left a path of destruction 1/2 a mile wide and about 3 miles long. No one involved in it "suspected" it was a tornado, they knew it. I was one of the people in the path when the "Suspect" went by. Local weather people insisted that is was not a tornado, but the guardrails, bill boards, buildings, and other steel things crumpled up like tissue paper and twisted into knots did not agree. Neither did my car, it was about 500 feet from where I had parked it, with a tree branch rammed thru it, sitting on top of a what was left of the church pews in the middle of a church parking lot. Not sure where the church went. Thankfully no one was killed.
Best I've read in awhile. Reminds me of the hurricane the weather service said never hit my town that ate a fishing pier, restaurant, hotel and the hill it sat on and a house.
We sure did need the rain. Just wish it wasn't all at once. If it wasn't a tornado, it was definitely some very, very strong winds. Some poor guy in Sugar Land (25 miles or so SW of DT Houston) lost either the roof on his house or part of his garage. The tornado spotting was outside of Houston as well at FM 1093 & FM 723. About 5 miles as the crow flies from my house.
All the dead trees are saying...little too late
You would be suprised at the tenacity of some species of trees to rebound. Sometimes they may look dead when all they are is dormant. Call it wishful thinking or optimism if you will. I hope next summer is better for you guys.
Ever try to kill a mesquite "tree"? They scoff.
Be brave had an ash tree in Port Isabel that two freezes, Hurricane Allen, a drought and all my efforts couldn't kill. It mated with a mesquite thats when I gave up. My dog liked to sleep in it. Don't ask.
Even god didn't want the Texans to beat the Bengals.
you know god ?
...why did the texans beat the bengals....
Those godless heathens in Cincinnati......the football gods struck down upon them with righteous fury Saturday! just foolin'!
lol.
...i thought it was because kubiak was a good coach.
Didn't Wade Phillips return last Saturday? He's turned their Defense into a juggernaut.......and them Texans are travelling to M+T in Baltimore to play my Ravens. It's looking like a punishing game. Go Ravens!
Sorry about all the tree posts...I registered with an email address that was already in use and I was posting to change the address
We need the water. Let it rain buckets as long as it can...
Two Words - GLOBAL WARMING
two words - cold front
two words - al leneo
two words...to too...
two words - Water Pump
two words- two words!
to....two....too
....oh man it's actually three words !
Two......TWO words.. Ahahahah! I love to count!
Amazing how the news reporters cited all the "brave" people who drove into flooded areas. Those were not "brave" people. They were stupid people that forced the brave emergency response teams to rescue their stupid a$$es.
Amazing how the news reporters kept referencing the "brave" people that drove their vehicles into flooded areas. Those were not "brave" people - they were stupid people rescued by the brave emergency response teams.
They should send a rescue bill to all those stupid people for deliberately driving into the flooded areas.
Actually, if you drive around a blockade and need rescue they will send you a bill and it will be a big one. I knew a guy who actually did this. He ended up ok but the bill part convinced him that it was a really stupid idea.
That's good and bad for the Houston area. Rain is needed, but not by the bucket full like this storm.
Glad you got the rain but I don't think it will be enough to save the dying trees or stop the continuing drought. I suggest you collect every last drop you can and hope it gets you through till the next deluge.
some people are never happy...they they unhappy when wasn't raining and now it is they still unhappy...only in Texas...
That is everywhere not just Texas.
Much better it would have been for the rain to fall around the Texas panhandle and travel south. But rain is rain and we need a lot of it. We can always run a water pipe up north.
this is because houston has a gay mayor.
...maybe its because we have a gay president.