The folks at Space City Weather are saying that Harvey is the greatest flood producing event in history. The hurricane did damage to the area where it landed, around Corpus Christi. However, it dropped trillions of tons of water on the fourth largest city in the United States and rendered it into a swamp. All of Harris County, where Houston resides, had an average rainfall of 25 inches over a three day period. Damage estimates have not been tabulated as of this writing, but are bound to be “astronomical.”
The view from one residential street
O’Meara is a typical Houston street in the southwest part of the city, near where the West Loop meets the South loop.
It is populated mainly by professional people, young families, a few retired couples, typically middle class. One thing that O’Meara rarely does is flood. The Sunday after Harvey made landfall and started dumping rain on Houston was history making in one sense. O’Meara not only flooded, but the water threatened to inundate some of the homes the lined the street shaded boulevard.
Front yards became lakes as the rains persisted and water started lapping onto porches and was literally knocking at front doors. Flooded homes are not uncommon in Houston. If you live near a bayou, you can expect to see your home flooded during a heavy storm or an event like Harvey or the 2008 Hurricane Ike. However, no one living on O’Meara ever supposed to see their homes threatened by water.
Needless to say, no one bothered to take out flood insurance.
A 'miracle' occurred
Just as the flood waters were at the point of invading peoples’ homes, a "miracle" happened. The waters began to steadily recede. First, people started to see green grass where minutes before they saw a lake. By Sunday night, most yards had been uncovered, and the waters flowed in a street that had become a river.
However, by Monday morning, O’Meara Street had been restored to vehicular traffic. Power came back on for most people by Monday afternoon, though as of this writing local businesses were not yet opened, also not having power.
Sunday had been a day and a night of terror. The sound of helicopters filled the gray clad air as the Coast Guard evacuated people whose homes had been consumed.
However, the residents of O’Meara were spared that fate.
Ike had been a night of terror and weeks of misery because the hurricane had passed through as a proper storm should and burned itself out inland. Because of a high-pressure area, Harvey moved inland a few miles and then stayed for a while, causing three days of terror and misery. However, the Houston area will be years rebuilding.
