Houston
 

Aren't there a couple of people from Houston still posting here? I hope they are not in trouble.

robigator at least, reported a few days ago, got our best wishes, haven't heard back yet

crypto posts a random "lol" about once every six months so we'll just assume he's in some hotel somewhere

Rob marked himself as safe on FB a few days ago.

Partying whilst it all goes on.

Glad Rob's earmarked himself as ok too.

The amount of human misery is just breathtaking. Makes one's own problems seem a little trite.

Although I do need to charge my phone before I leave the house and there might not be enough time. GODDAMNIT!!!!!

Isn't Bytor from that region?

i don't think he's from houston-- they used to travel to houston when his father in law needed treatment for west nile as i recall and it wasn't near. (texas is humongous-- a country in itself)

but yeah... he posted here just a few days ago as i recall

i know he's on twitter. what's the username... hhmmmm... i might be able to dig it up

https://twitter.com/Rockette_Morton

It's public, so I don't think he'd mind.

right! there you go. thanks!

bytor seems pretty chill, considering his house is half flooded!

he's in some place called nederland (?) but house appears in... guessing beaumont? yeah, that's BMT

take care bytor!

Damn. I hope nothing too serious happened to their homes. Thoughts to the homies.

Happy to report my family is safe and dry. We had to evacuate rising flood waters about 5am Wednesday morning. It is overwhelming to be standing in your home in knee deep waters. My neighbor entered the neighborhood by boat yesterday and sent me a pic. Water appears to be waist high or higher.

Fortunate to be staying with family in Nederland, Texas......five minutes from my job, about 25 minutes from home. Blessed to have electricity, water and a bed to sleep in. Emotions come in waves. Thankful to be at work, working 12-16 hour shifts for the immediate future. Many who I work with lost everything.

You can feel the vibrations when military cargo planes and helicopters fly overhead. Lines at the few stores who have supplies are down the street, but everyone has remained pleasant.

The punch in the gut will be returning to our home and seeing the damage on the inside......rebuilding will take time, but we will prevail.

glad to hear you're safe Bytor :) take care!

Yesterday was four weeks of being displaced from our home.
Still living with my dad's sister in Nederland (64.5 inches)

i hope she's fun like auntie mame! xD

so what's the outlook? have you been to the place? is it fixable? what's the plan?

and how are you managing? i really appreciated your post from some weeks ago when you expressed gratitude instead of feelings of doom, and you were determined to prevail, as you said.

so... i don't know if you want to hear my story, or if you could profit from it, but i've gone from a 3-bedroom-plus-basement to a 1 bedroom to a cabin in the sticks in the past decade. and it's really great!


now utilities are low, cleaning is a breeze, and i don't miss the endless "can't part with" possessions. i realized after a while that i needed much less to live than i ever imagined. that's freed up a bunch of money and labor. even my furniture is lightweight these days-- i could move out of the house in a day. (i know some people might thing this is a joke--but i'm not joking! minimalism has its delights.)

and sure, not everybody *wants* to travel light through life, and eventually become some sort of monk like i do, but everything in this life is temporary after all, so a little practice goes a long way, even if it's just an exercise.

alright! i wish you that you make the best of whatever life deals you. i'm sure you will! but keep us posted.

Are you really rebuilding in the flooded area? Dang, I'd find another place..

We have returned several times. We were able to salvage pictures hanging on the walls, some clothing hanging in closets, most everything that was stacked / stored high. Before evacuating our home, we spent time placing things on top of beds......thinking the water would only rise a foot or two inside the home. Every bed in the home was submerged in flood waters, it was over the kitchen countertops.

Before all of this, we had a small foundation issue. Unsure if it was the weight of the water or the fast flowing current (furniture from one room was found in other rooms), but we now have a MAJOR foundation problem. There is buckling and shifting throughout the house, you can see major separation of exterior brick (mostly corners) on all four corners. The term for this is being "washed under."

Our FEMA Inspector came out Monday morning, spent about an hour documenting everything and by that night, $21k had been deposited into our account. FEMA only covers contents and interior damage. Our home was roughly valued at $130k and it was paid for. Unfortunately, we didn't have flood insurance. We've always had homeowners and windstorm......neither cover rising water.

I've had multiple contractors look at my home and each advised not trying to fix the foundation. Doing so would cost $50k+ and each believes we will start experiencing the same tiny foundation issues" in 5+ years.

During times of disaster when FEMA is involved, the Small Business Administration makes loans available at a interest rate of 1.5%. We've applied for a SBA loan and are still waiting to see if we are approved. So many have been denied, so our fingers are crossed. Can't say I like the thought of starting a 30 year mortgage the year I turn 49 years of age, but building a new home or buying a newer built home has many advantages......there are so many things to consider.

You asked how we are managing??? Sometimes I think we are doing extremely well and other times I know we are just a shell of who we once were. Not that we've changed for the worse, but you do change a bit when you don't have a home. Now please don't feel too sorry for us as we are living in the lap of luxury at my Aunts house. She is well to do and her home reflects this......so we have an in ground heated swimming pool with hot tub, a jacuzzi tub and multihead glasses shower that would hold its own compared to the high roller suits in Vegas. She has welcomed us to say as long as it's needed, even if it takes a year and we are so grateful for her hospitality, but it still not home.

We are beat down tired at times, physically and mentally but things are slowly getting better. Serious decisions will soon need to be made, the type of decisions that change the rest of your life.

Last but not least, I appreciate you sharing your thoughts about how you live now. Flood waters play no favorites, they force you to purge many things from your life and in the end, there is a blessing to this.

My home that flooded was brand new when we moved in back in 1970, I was two years old. When my mom remarried in the early 90's, I purchased the home from her. Living at the same address for almost 50 years, I can count on one hand the number of times our ditches were ever full of water. It has never happened before in my neighborhood.

YES - hurricanes are way of life when living in the Gulf Coast, and the threat of flooding has always been due to storm surge.

Down here, Interstate 10 is cinsidered the barrier......live South if I-10, you might flood......live North of I-10, no worries.

I live North of I-10, this flood wasn't from storm surge......matter of fact, Harvey was just a tropical depression when it moved across Beaumont.

We flooded from the Biblical amount of rainfall. From the Texas / Louisiana border all the way out past Katy,Texas and as far North as Conroe, Texas, the flood area was massive......this entire side of the State can't move away.

people do not understand. 55+ inches of rain in three days? That is like mmonsoon or Amazon basin level rain./ it flooded shit that had never ever flooded before.....

hey bytor! read your posts some weeks ago but it was in a place where i couldn’t reply, and then i forgot to write back (sorry). but yeah i was shocked and relieved at the same time because in spite of it all you seem to be in a good spot (relatively of course...)

good to know that your aunt is even funner than auntie mame. but yeah, a home is a home is a home and even luxury vacations can get uncomfortable.

so are you thinking of keeping the land and rebuilding? building a house on stilts like they do at the shore? selling and going somewhere else?

if the science is correct (i believe it is and we’re already seeing some of it), water levels are bound to rise in coming decades—so it’s a tough spot to be in!

I can only imagine how awful a time this must have bern for you and yr family but I'm glad to hear things are gradually getting better for you guys and that you also have the strength to takeaway some positive experince from the catasrophe

still waiting for FEMA.






One guy in this article has already put in and painted new drywall. "Nothing to inspect if they ever get here"

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/22/u...a-delays-.html

After years without a major storm, to have 3 devastating storms within a few weeks is going to strain even the best prepared service. My uncle in suburban New England went 13 days without electricity in January after an ice storm a few years ago, so it doesn't seem surprising to me remote PR isn't fully repaired (the wood stove saved them for heat). Its probably unfair, but I get this message from the MSM that PR is helpless, it is really weird, like in PR they don't have the trained people or equipment to do anything, they can't even clear their own roads - like when I'm hiking I've run into people and the 5 of us moved a fallen tree without having to wait for fucking FEMA. You can't just order the island's electrical system from Amazon, that volume probably needs to be actually be manufactured - I seriously doubt the parts are sitting around - maybe for the first hurricane but the next 2 would have exhausted any supply. But maybe it is an opportunity for local solar to be put into place so you don't have to have long range wires and equipment.

Happy to report our SBA loan has been approved.

General overview: the Small Business Administration is a source when FEMA is envoked for a disastrous area. They offer loans (not grants) to individuals to help rebuild / maintain a local economy. Basically, they want you back paying your utilities & taxes......back eating at your favorite restaurants and getting your haircut at the same place. The SBA wants that day in / day out money flowing again.

We requested and received permission for a “relocation loan.” We feel our foundation is too damaged to repair. We’ve found a home in Nederland we would like to purchase. This requires us to jump through a few extra hoops, but we’ve started the process hope to close by Thanksgiving. The fact we are staying within the same County helps. The home we are buying did not flood.

We are reviving a 30 year loan at 1.7% fixed. We hope to get $10-15k for our flood damaged property.

oh wow... i’m sorry to hear that and... congratulations!

must be so much mixed feelings with such a huge loss but also a great opportunity to start fresh. that interest rate is great!

best wishes to you and your family bytor. if you come out of this stronger and wiser and kinder the overall balance will be a huge win.

yo I'm alive sup

sup crypto

On Monday, January 29th, we became homeowners. The SBA is a long process and you must navigate several things, but it’s so worth it! We’ve begun the process of moving out of my Aunts house, we arrived here 22 weeks ago today.

daaaaamn. 22 weeks! you have a very nice aunt.

congrats on the new casa de bytor!

YES! Awesome news Bytor

Unusual fog around Houston yesterday:

 

 

 

 

It's happening! https://youtu.be/nOZwnivtLbc

Just read in Dutch press [Ook Texaans stadje Nederland moet vluchten voor explosies chemische fabriek ] that Nederland got evacuated due to a chemical plant explosion

Hope all is well over there

he sharted is all

I live 4 miles from the explosion site. The one at 1am Wednesday morning didn’t wake me......groups of sirens an hour or so later did.

The 2nd explosion Wednesday afternoon violently shook my house.
(Re video: the flying object is a tall three story tower from the refinery)

My city, Nederland, Texas is under mandatory evacuation order. My dad and stepmom who drove down today from Lake Conroe are headed back. Our youngest 17 year old daughter is going with them.

Our other daughters are in Beaumont at my wife’s parents house. Believe my wife and I are going to stay the night here at our home in Nederland. We are packed and ready to evacuate if needed, but if it comes to that, I’ll probably end up evacuating with my work.

Doorbell camera footage of 1am explosion (w/ audio)

Watch the door on the right......crazy!


Everyone of those doors were dead bolted......talk about power!


Different view of flying tower

My wife and I survived the night. Reports today that the situation is contained, but not under control. Speculation is the the mandatory evacuation will be lifted sometime tomorrow. I return to work tonight, so navigating the police barricades will be fun.

fuck Bytor. I had people asking me if everyone I knew was ok, and I'm like ya, that's far away from Dallas/Austin. I'm hope everything is ok now.

Well......yesterday afternoon the City of Port Neches called for a shelter in place. By 10pm last night, they issued a voluntary evacuation order and the school district canceled school for the remainder of the week. Elevated levels of Butadiene are in the air and that is some nasty stuff.

On a personal note, the Tuesday afternoon explosion last week shattered our storm door.



Our oldest is getting married at our house this Saturday and my “to do” list is long. The weather in Texas he past couple of days has been glorious. Glad I got most of my yard work done then because I don’t plan to be outside sucking down dangerous air.

That is a crazy front door. Dig it.

goddamn insanity shit.