# To all the Texas Gulf Coast Members



## Grumpy Gator (Aug 26, 2017)

_Looks like you are getting slammed by Harvey. I hope you are hunkered down and safe. Please check in when you can....**G** _


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## RandyM (Aug 26, 2017)

Yeah, we are thinking of ya.


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## David S (Aug 26, 2017)

I hope all our colleagues down there will be safe.  I can't imagine 3 feet of rain.

David


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## brav65 (Aug 26, 2017)

I just spoke to a buddy in Houston and he said it was not too bad, just lots of rain.


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## randyjaco (Aug 26, 2017)

I'm Southeast of Houston. Not too bad so far. Lots of rain, but not much wind yet. We have rain forecast through Thursday. Lots of tornadoes in the area. Got the generator hooked up and ready to go if we lose power. I've done about everything I can do, so now it's just hunker down and see what comes.
I spent most of today just playing in the shop. I hope I can continue doing just that 

Randy


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## kvt (Aug 26, 2017)

Just got off the phone with 4gsr,   His place was almost in the direct path of it.   They were pretty much forced out, and are up out of harms way at this time.    No internet, but has spotty cell service but cannot get into HM.   He and his family are ok,  just do not know what his place looks like and will prob not be able to get back there until sometime next week.


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## Grumpy Gator (Aug 26, 2017)

_Thanks for the updates...**G**_


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## 4GSR (Aug 26, 2017)

We have some phone service, so I'll update as I'm able. Won't be able to post pictures until service  is better. 
Pretty much the area I live in is devastated beyond belief. My son showed me a picture of the entrance of our subdivision. All the power lines are laid over. Our General Dollar store looked in tack. I highly doubt I'll get to check out our place until later this week. 

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## 4GSR (Aug 26, 2017)

Forgot to mention,  we are staying with family over in Cuero. About 45 miles from home.  The eye or what's left of it has been hoovering over us most of the day.  Oh, thanks to KVT for the earlier report.

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## Ulma Doctor (Aug 26, 2017)

glad you got out and are safe Ken


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## markba633csi (Aug 27, 2017)

Glad you are OK Ken, hope your stuff is too
Mark


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## dlane (Aug 27, 2017)

Me too, be safe Ken.


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## savarin (Aug 27, 2017)

Glad you are all safe, these things are damn scary when your stuck in them.


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## core-oil (Aug 27, 2017)

Thinking about you guys, Look after your loved ones, & pets  Hope you can oil up your machine's and tools  & the storm doe's not harm anyone's buildings too much


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## 4GSR (Aug 27, 2017)

A little update here.
The entire city of Victoria looks like a war zone right now.  Very few places have any power.  They are not letting anyone in or out.  We still don't know the extent of damage at our place west of Victoria.  This is what we are finding out from friends and family that rode out the storm in town.  Keep us in your prayers, Ken


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## Rootpass (Aug 27, 2017)

Im from GA  running a small pharmaceutical tube welding job in College Station TX. Two of my welders can't get out of their subdivision near Houston. The bridge washed out. So far College Station has just gotten a ton of rain.


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## 4GSR (Aug 28, 2017)

Rootpass,

Looks like you guys got a lot of rain in College Station, looking at the map.   And Houston, OMG!, and it's not over with yet! 
Let's keep them in our prayers.  This storm is retracting back to the gulf and then start heading north and hit between Houston and Beaumont around Wednesday.   

I came out okay. More wind damage than anything.  House is in tack, just no electricity.  Power should be restored soon.  We got to go get all of the food from the fridge and freezer today, so we don't loose it.

Ken


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## dlane (Aug 28, 2017)

Glad things should work out for you Ken , hopefully round two won't affect you , God bless Texas


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## Alan H. (Aug 28, 2017)

Ken, It is great to hear that things aren't too bad at your house.  Having lived on the gulf coast for many years of my life I can truly appreciate what you and your friends are going through.  

Like many, I have family and friends in Houston that I am trying to keep up with.


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## bss1 (Aug 28, 2017)

All good at our place here in Houston (memorial area).

Despite all the TV drama, everything was ok here until last night when the water in our neighborhood street began to rise to unprecedented levels at about 10 PM. In the end it came within 2" of getting into the house!  Got about an inch of water in the garage/shop but I keep most of my stuff on wheels or up off of floor so no damage to anything. No big deal. 

I feel for my neighbors and others in the city that have not been so fortunate.  

Take care Ken. I have relatives in Victoria. Other than some down limbs and loss of power they are good. Hopefully your place will have faired just as well. 

Brad


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## Alan H. (Aug 28, 2017)

Good luck Brad, hope the water recedes a bit.   I guess the rain is still coming isn't it?


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## bss1 (Aug 28, 2017)

Thanks Alan, Yes it's still raining pretty good but not the deluge we were getting yesterday. I emptied my 6" rain gage 3 times yesterday and it was overflowing each time. I just checked and we have only had 2.5" so far today. The water has receded in our neighborhood at the moment to normal curbside levels you would expect with a 2" rain.  The forecast looks better (for us at least) with the heavy rain supposedly moving more to the east over the next day or so.     The flood waters seem to come up then go down just as fast here. Other parts of town seem to have the water staying at high levels depending upon what watershed they are in. 

While I'm pinned down, it may be time to go put my stuff back in place and finish a lathe spider project I have been pecking at.


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## kvt (Aug 28, 2017)

Glad to here BSS1 and Ken came out in good shape,  I know there are others in the south area,  I hope they are also.   Looking at some of the pictures and stuff is bad.   One are I go every year Port Aransas looks like a war zone from the pictures.    And based on what the wife said they Mayor is saying almost 100 percent of the town had some damage.


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## 4GSR (Aug 28, 2017)

We're not out of the woods yet.  Our house is on the west side of the Guadalupe 
River.  We have only two accesses to get to our house from the main city of Victoria.  Business 59 bridge in downtown Victoria has been closed since yesterday.  And they just closed the other access HWY 77 on the north side.  And more rain on the way!

I really feel bad for you guys in the Houston, Dickenson, Conroe ares.  Rain water everywhere!  And more on the way!


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## Sandia (Aug 28, 2017)

We live about 100 miles south of Ken in Victoria, on Lake Corpus Christi, and about 40 miles east of Corpus.  We dodged the bullet on this one, very little rain and about 60-70 winds. The storm came in north of Corpus and hit Aransas Pass dead on. I have been thru every storm that hit the lower south Texas coast since 1944 but this storm moved extremely slow which became the dangerous part with creating so much rain fall as you'll have seen on the news with the towns and cities up the coast, especially Houston.  Folks up in that area have been totally devastated and it's not over with yet.  Please keep these folks in your prayers.
Thanks for your concerns Grumpy Gator and all the other forum members as well.


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## kd4gij (Aug 28, 2017)

Does Tony live any here near that aria?


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## Sandia (Aug 29, 2017)

kd4gij said:


> Does Tony live any here near that aria?



No, he lives in north east Texas, north of Houston.  I live in deep south Texas.


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## randyjaco (Aug 30, 2017)

One of the most amazing things happened today. Our neighborhood was devastated by the Harvey floods. Over half of the houses got flooded. Most of our neighbors could be considered to be senior citizens, so this was an extra hardship. About 10:00 a bunch of cars and busses showed up full of high school kids from Friendswood High school. The kids swarmed the previously flooded houses and with permission of the owners, ripped up all the wet furniture, carpets, etc. They literally cleaned out houses in minutes. I guess I am going to have to take back some of the bad things I have said about today's youth.

 This whole Harvey thing, although miserable, has brought out the best in my fellow Texans. Instead of whining for the government to help them. Houston mayor Turner seeing he had insufficient resources requested volunteers with small boats to help out. Volunteers and private businesses have showed up from all over (including out of state) with monster trucks, fishing boats, air boats, chainsaws, you name it; and have gone into affected areas and rescued people and animals from the floods. They have pretty much got the job done before FEAMA and the National Guard got organized and on site. I haven't heard anything yet about government malfeasance and ineptitude such as the debacle at the Super Dome during Katrina. Things just came together with a minimum of government control, mainly just Texans helping Texans . It one of those things that makes me proud to be a Texan.

Randy - a Texan by choice, not by birth


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## Ulma Doctor (Aug 30, 2017)

I'm sorry to hear about the devastation, but proud to hear that people will help other people when the chips are down.


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## Alan H. (Aug 30, 2017)

Randy, your observations are what I see from afar.  I do have lots of friends and family in Houston and I have marveled at the way the folks have pitched in and helped one another without whining.  There is a remarkable difference in the way things have gone down in Houston compared to another such disaster that we can remember that occured in another state.  

My brother was forced evacuated from Kingswood yesterday morning early as his house was getting water in it.  He had to leave everything including his vehicles and got out with a change of clothing for he and his wife.  I am hoping they can get back there soon to see what they are up against.   Of course the important thing is that they are safe and sound.  BTW, there was an emergency response team from another state that pulled them out by boat.


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## T. J. (Aug 30, 2017)

Praying for all of you affected by Harvey. I have many friends that have been affected. One, who lives in Rockport, says that the entire landscape there has been changed forever. Thankfully, I haven't heard reports of any lives lost.

God Bless Texas
T. J.


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## silence dogood (Aug 30, 2017)

You Texans are a tough bunch and it's great how you guys are helping each other out.  Too bad that some of that excess water can't come farther west out here.  We've had so many fires that both the sun and moon glow red.


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## bss1 (Aug 30, 2017)

It really has turned into quite a situation here. After an 18 inch rainfall on Sunday, we barely escaped flood by a few inches. Made it through another 16 inches of rain on Monday. Rianfall began to slow on Tuesday and thought we had turned the corner.  Went to get fuel in cans to head down to Rockport to help my Sister with the storm mess down there and came back to the house to find trees toppled due to saturated soil at neighbors houses.  Got out my chainsaw and as soon as I made the first cut 3 truckloads of guys were on scene with chainsaws to assist and cleaned up,and cleared trees in minutes!  

While our streets were clear of flood water at the time, some of my neighbors got together and we went to the south side of memorial drive towed Buffalo Bayou to help others who were getting flooded. We had everything from big trucks, kyaks, rubber rafts, jet skis, and some really nice boats hauling people to dry ground. The coast guard was overhead in choppers pulling people out on a string. 

After working on that all day we returned home in the afternoon to find that water was backing up in our storm drains and our street was beginning to flood even though there was no rain and the sky was clearing.   Reports were that the water was to rise 3 feet. We all went into panic mode put up what we could and left as the flood waters got so high in the street we could barely make it out.   

Got up early and went back to find that fortunately the water level only came up a little more over night. The morning news was still calling for an additional 3 feet so we parked at high ground waded in and continued to put things as high as possible. Throughout the day the water level only increased a few more inches. We have about 12 more to go before it gets to the house so I am feeling pretty good about it. During this, a friend who lives on a golf course knew we were in bad shape because of news reports, shows up today with a truck load of sand! Strangers out at the parking area helped him bag it and carry it in on rafts and kayaks. Unbelievable! 




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## Alan H. (Aug 31, 2017)

Thanks for the update Brad.  Sure hoping all stays dry for your house.


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## kvt (Aug 31, 2017)

TJ,   I know that people up in that area use to help each other out a lot,   I'm from a little town called Gruver originally,   Twisters create H**l up there.  
I'm glad that things in TX have started to settle down a bit,  Seems water levels have started to recede from what I here.   Hope our members is south Texas can get back in and see what the need,   others off us may be able to help them out in various ways, and will keep all on our mind and in our prayers.


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## 4GSR (Aug 31, 2017)

Still out of electricity.  They telling us late Saturday before power comes on. And internet, well, probably longer.

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## bss1 (Aug 31, 2017)

Water is still too deep to get a car into our part of the neighborhood but thankfully not in our house. Anderson Cooper with CNN is broadcasting live from our neighborhood entry tonight.  I just waded down and saw JJ Watt was on the broadcast. 





Lots of good things happening with regards to people helping going on here. Someone with a monster truck and a flat bed trailer was in our neighborhood loading people's cars that were stranded in our garages and hauling them to high ground.  This guy was from the other side of town, knew no one in the neighborhood and would take no compensation for his efforts. He hauled at least 50 cars out to safety giving people a means to have transportation to get to work or groceries. 

I have a sister who lives in Rockport which was ground zero for the hurricane.  I have felt bad that I have not been able to return to help her. She said a volunteer crew all the way from Fort Worth showed up with a front loader and chainsaws and cleared her drive of trees and debris restoring access to her property. Again, they would accept no compensation. Things like this are going on all day, all over. These are just a few  small examples of the selfless giving that is going on here. It's just amazing and restores your faith in humanity. 


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## dlane (Sep 7, 2017)

Ken, so how's it going with cleanup ,rebuilding , restoration , is insurance going to help you ?
Sounds like FEMA will be stretched thin this year


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## 4GSR (Sep 7, 2017)

dlane said:


> Ken, so how's it going with cleanup ,rebuilding , restoration , is insurance going to help you ?
> Sounds like FEMA will be stretched thin this year



I'll be okay.  In fact, I probably will have to fight with my insurance company to get money out of them to fix my roof and fence! 

My biggest worry now is my kids in South Florida.  They can't get out!


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## dlane (Sep 7, 2017)

O no, Hopefully they will find safe shelter, along with everyone else


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