My first house had flooding problems every spring and heavy rain. Lesson learned: live on a hill.
Good luck finding one of those in Houston!
The U.S. Flooded One of Houston’s Richest Neighborhoods to Save Everyone Else
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Re: The U.S. Flooded One of Houston’s Richest Neighborhoods to Save Everyone Else
#72This happened to us too (different country). They intentionally held up water using the dams and caused flooding in places that haven't seen a flood in 50 years to prevent downstream flooding. It really sucks.
Sorry that happened to you but I believe the corps made the right call. The choices were release into a high density downtown or low density suburbs. I do believe this happening in a rich suburb with the means to rebuild makes the victims less sympathetic than if they were lower middle class and had to bootstrap from measly FEMA checks.
Re: The U.S. Flooded One of Houston’s Richest Neighborhoods to Save Everyone Else
#73Re: The U.S. Flooded One of Houston’s Richest Neighborhoods to Save Everyone Else
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's really unfortunate. You likely know none of these people, have no idea what kind of lives they live or beliefs they hold, and yet smile at their misfortune? Even if they didn't believe in climate change or disagreed with you generally politically so what? They deserve to suffer and be punished? It really irks me that in the age of the internet where we have an unprecedented ability to come together as people m…
People who actively contribute to global warming deserve their fate. I'm not sure why you would defend people like that.
While this discussion is arguably (cough) pointless, it could be argued that just about any human being on this planet actively contributes to global warming.
Heck, even if you live in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, you're probably torching some wood/shrubs every now and then.
So - if we all contribute, it comes down to how much one can contribute before your actions become indefensible.
Chances are the bulk of the world's population will suggest that limit is below your contribution.
Re: The U.S. Flooded One of Houston’s Richest Neighborhoods to Save Everyone Else
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had a friend in Houston who knew well in advance that his street was in the splash zone, so to speak. He got out way before it became bad but his building was later completely destroyed (he was a renter so it couldve been much worse.
It was much worse...just not for him :(
His landlord hopefully had insurance. This was in a flood-control zone.
Re: The U.S. Flooded One of Houston’s Richest Neighborhoods to Save Everyone Else
#76It seems to me that flooding the neighbourhood to save the city was a perfectly justifiable decision, but it also seems perfectly reasonable to compensate those whose homes were thereby destroyed.
I agree, it seems exactly that simple.
That's what flood insurance is for. In a socialist democracy you'd be right, but in case of the USA, it seems more appropriate to require that homeowners get insurance.
Re: The U.S. Flooded One of Houston’s Richest Neighborhoods to Save Everyone Else
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
And that's pretty pointless, because it is clear that while there is seasonable variation in the frequency of occurrence of storms; the shift in the frequency of intensity is a phenomena that's a global event happening at scale. The global weather system goes through a series of cold and warm cycles, but the mean has been shifting for a while that has had a global shift in the frequencies of different storm strengths…
At the beginning of your post, you mention the 12 year gap as a result of seasonal variation between cold and warm cycles. Then your source points out that the current warm phase has been going on since 1995. This is a waste of time.
I don't understand the point you're making. Also to be clear, your statement;
> Harvey was the first cat3+ hurricane to hit the US in 12 years.
is patently false, because in that time period we've had (and I'm including 2005);
Katrina Cat. 5 (2005)
Rita (2005)
Wilma (2005)
Ike Cat. 4 (2008)
Sandy Cat. 3 at peak (2012)
I didn't bother to correct you earlier, because Cat. 3+ hurricanes hitting the US are more or less a very narrow set of data points. When you view the system globally and at sea, start counting the total number of hurricanes, and add up the data, then the trend becomes quite clear.
I feel that such cherry picking doesn't befit our discussion. Because we can argue passionately over this and one of us might convince someone else that we're right, but at the end of the day - either way - nature can't be fooled. Nature can't be lobbied against. Nature doesn't care about PR firms. Nature can't be reasoned against. Nor can the law of thermodynamics.
We have put a large amount of energy into the global system. We can now argue with the laws of man whether this is reasonable or not, but we can't argue against the laws of thermodynamics.
The data is clear. There's something going on and the mean frequency of intensity has increased. And we have a relatively solid understanding of why this has happened - which can be wrong, but the balance of probabilities right now is that our theory is correct. You can call BS all you want, but that doesn't change the science. That doesn't change the facts at hand.
Re: The U.S. Flooded One of Houston’s Richest Neighborhoods to Save Everyone Else
#78Something like this happened a few years ago where I live.[0] Basically, the Army blew the levee to save a town, Cairo, IL, at the expense of (a few) homes and (lots of) farmland on the MO side. Maciej (HN user idlewords) mentioned it in one of his interesting blog posts[1]. The blog post asserts: > The farmers downriver got their fields fertilized with rich river silt and are wealthier and more resentful than ever.…
Fun Midwest fact: The name of Cairo, IL is pronounced differently than the city in Egypt. I've always heard it pronounced more like "Care-O"
Re: The U.S. Flooded One of Houston’s Richest Neighborhoods to Save Everyone Else
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
People who actively contribute to global warming deserve their fate. I'm not sure why you would defend people like that.
While this discussion is arguably (cough) pointless, it could be argued that just about any human being on this planet actively contributes to global warming. Heck, even if you live in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, you're probably torching some wood/shrubs every now and then. So - if we all contribute, it comes down to how much one can contribute before your actions become indefensible. Chances are the bulk of the…
Thats why you draw the line somewhere. I draw it at oil execs who spread disinformation and drill wherever they can no matter the consequences. Also I want to thank you for taking the time to contribute to a discussion that you consider "pointless." Awesome!
Re: The U.S. Flooded One of Houston’s Richest Neighborhoods to Save Everyone Else
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why? Houston was been flooded several times before. Particularly in 1929 and 1935 when the county finally decided to form a flood control agency. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris_County_Flood_Control_... Climate change is real, but if every time we get bad weather you call it that it’s a little like crying wolf.
Not only that, but wasn't that hurricane demonstrated to have formed over waters that were at normal temperature levels? If anything, that sort of comment actively hurts the cause.
Even in its natural state the Gulf is an extremely warm body of water. A storm that enters it immediately Hulks up. We’ve normally relied on the Gulfstream (goes North) and Jetstream (goes East) to push these storms back out to sea.