When I’ve purchased a house, I’ve always considered flood planes or not so great feature, like a house in California that the backyard, 30’ from the house is a cliff as a reason not to buy it. 🤔 Anyway I also realized some time ago, that the 100 year flood plane is no longer something you can place a reasonable bet on. Thirty years ago or so, Parsons, West Va a town near where my mother grew up in West Virginia was completely engulfed by the Monongahelia River and has never recovered as the County seat.There are so many New England towns that are centered next to or on a river because the river provided transport and power in the past. You're usually in a valley with streets descending in altitude as you approach the river.
Our primary residence is actually a half mile from a major river but the elevation delta is 200 feet. Some cities have put up barriers along the river, that are quite high to diminish flood risk and this works well in two local cities but there are areas of poor drainage that flood and the locals just have to live with it until the water goes down. Sometimes there isn't the political will or power to fix neighborhood problems.
Given the history, I think that this may be recurring for towns and cities that are set up like this as it's hard to redo your town center and the states don't exactly have a ton of money to fix things or to move things.
I envy the hell out of you and our friends who live in Minnesota… 104F yesterday here (Houston).As summer draws to a close here in Boston Massachusetts, I can only say what an odd year this has been. June was generally in cool, so much so that I think we only had a couple of days that got out of the seventies.
This past July was 2nd most wettest Julys on record and we only had 1 day that broached the 90 degree mark
August has been mostly in the low seventies - quite odd to be sure.
Now I'm the person who likes cooler/colder weather so I'm not complaining but it has impacted crops, for instance the apple crop is like 60% less then prior years and there may be little to no apple picking this year - a fun activity for many families.
My daughter wants to move to Texas or Florida for the heat. At this point in my life I'm the polar opposite. Funnily enough back in the day when I was younger, I did enjoy the heat but it saps the life out of me. I've found new enjoyment with cool and cold weather. I'd much rather go camping in December then July.104F yesterday here (Houston).
There can be too much of a good thing? A friend from Minnesota self described sun worshiper came down to visit during the summer, we hit the beach, she lasted about 45 minutes in the sun.My daughter wants to move to Texas or Florida for the heat. At this point in my life I'm the polar opposite. Funnily enough back in the day when I was younger, I did enjoy the heat but it saps the life out of me. I've found new enjoyment with cool and cold weather. I'd much rather go camping in December then July.
We had the perfect chance for a drenching (in Houston) , a tropical storm zipped across the Gulf of Mexico, hit Southern Texas and Mexico and kept going West. Normally a storm like this after land fall would vear north and then NE. That’s because of the abominable high has been parked over the central southern US for over a month blocked it as it skirted around it to the South. 😞
Desperately…wanted it.Did you want the rain?
If we're in drought, I don't mind getting drenched - short-term pain, long-term gain.
New England and the PNW are apparently in good shape for a week avoiding the extreme heat in most of the rest of the country. I'm running outside more instead of on the treadmill. It's not humid, 50s at night and sunny during the day. This is actually fall weather and I love fall in New England. Most people like it a little warmer in the 80s and we're in the 70s during the day right now.
which is not large and that’s in the shade because of a large oak and a mulberry tree.
In the meantime I’m making arrangements for a Generac standby generator that runs on natural gas. It’s pricey, $14k, they used to run $10k. But an average severe thunderstorm came through Houston a month ago and we were out of power for 11 hours.
Now you could ask how many nights in a hotel room can be bought for $14k, quite a few, but you‘d have to find a hotel with power, and the kicker is for an event like this, it‘s a matter of convienence and much more of this type of weather is anticipated.
I wonder if you get some visual (maybe an app) that shows how much of capacity you're using? Fortunately we have a natural gas stove, the biggest electric draws are AC, Pool pumps, 2 refrigerators, an oven.Looks like a good hit on Galveston. A week ago the models barely had it hitting Brownsville. And as a TS.
You won't regret it.
But I will say to not expect it to be just like regular power, it's not. You might not be able to run say the oven the same time as the dryer (if both electric). It is meant to get you by with about 90% convenience.
Beryl 2024- It came, it went , started raining last night, this morning no power, raining heavy, the pool looks like a tropical lake, with exotic vegetation growing in the bottom. After it cleared up, we spent several hours cleaning vegitation out of the pool. It really needs power to the pumps to let the cleaner get the small stuff.
I appreciate it. 😗 On Sunday I made the down payment for the Generac and should have that in 6-8 weeks, in time for the end of hurricane season. However, it was just last month that plain ole TStorms blew through and knocked outpower to 500k Houston residents. 🤔Glad you are OK!