Hurricane Harvey

[Urwumpe]

Keri Blakinger on Twitter: "#arkema spox says: "It's misleading to say it was an explosion. It was an overpressurizatiom that was followed by a fire.""

Well, I'm glad that we set this straight!
I'm sure the chemicals aren't toxic. They're merely "lifespan decreasing".

Sounds like Radio Yerevan.

Radio Yerevan was asked: "What is the difference between an optimist and a pessimist?"
Radio Yerevan answered: "An optimist learns English – a pessimist Chinese."

 

[Hielor]

Most likely, the chemicals are known to the State of California to cause cancer.

 

[RacerX]

All is well here in Lake Jackson Texas (South of houston down 288 freeway) We were one of the lucky ones. The brazos river is about 0.8 miles from my house and still rising. So far so good. Oyster creek is taking most of the runoff although it is starting to overflow on the north east side of the city. The amount of rainfall was not measured in inches but in feet! It was and still is a surreal experience that looking back on it I will never forget. Its one of those kinds of memories like 9/11 that will be etched in my mind forever. But if there is a bright spot in all this is the caring and sharing and humanity of folks from all backgrounds,all races,all back grounds,all helping each other to get through this. It really is a sight to see and witness. There were some first responders from NYPD and NYFD that drove 36 hours during the storm to Angleton high school, where all my kids graduated, to help with water rescues and whatnot. Just amazing. President Trump along with all the Federal Officials have just done a great job communicating with the media and in turn the public and getting the channels open in order to get aid flowing where it needs to. The outpouring of generosity really gives me hope for the future. It wont be easy for alot of people. But Texas was already a Kick-ass state and will be even more Kick-ass when all is said and done. This I know to be true!

 

[jedidia]

Radio Yerevan.

Is that still a thing? :blink:

 

[Linguofreak]

Keri Blakinger on Twitter: "#arkema spox says: "It's misleading to say it was an explosion. It was an overpressurizatiom that was followed by a fire.""

Well, I'm glad that we set this straight!
I'm sure the chemicals aren't toxic. They're merely "lifespan decreasing".

What they probably mean is "The tank contents did not decompose in a thermal runaway inside the tank, leading to overpressure and structural failure of the tank. The tank failed due to overpressure at or near ambient temperature, and the tank contents then caught fire outside the tank and burned in a relatively orderly fashion at ambient pressure."

That said, I would generally consider a structural failure due to overpressure to be an explosion with or without fire.

 

[Andy44]

I imagine some of you may have heard about Harvey the Hurricane Hawk by now. Long story short, this hawk apparently has some kind of injury and decided to hide from the storm in this cab driver's car. The cabbie tried to shoo him away, but the bird, who got named Harvey, attached himself to this guy and spend a few days at the guy's house until a lady from an animal shelter came to pick him up. There are several videos updating the story. Harvey is being cared for at the shelter last we heard, but the lady said they were near one of the reservoirs that was about to let go so they were warned they might have to pick up and move.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6MjdV_8E6Q"]A Hawk is seeking refuge in my taxi from Hurricane Harvey - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Linguofreak]

The Dallas - Fort Worth area has seen a gas panic in the past few days: with a lot of Gulf Coast refineries being out of commission, rumors started going around that there night be a gas shortage. Normal demand probably could still have been met, but with the rumors, everybody decided to go get gas to make sure they weren't caught with an empty tank, so there has been a huge enough spike in demand that there are long lines at gas stations and the price of gas has spiked significantly (over $5/gal last I heard, from around $2.20 on Tuesday), and it's expected that local gas stations will run out over the weekend due to the greater demand.

Fortunately, my regular schedule for filling up had me topping off on Tuesday before I'd heard anything about this and while gas was still cheap. With any luck, by next Tuesday or Wednesday when I need to fill up again, the panic will have passed and filing up won't be a problem.

 

[barrygolden]

As a Blackhawk pilot I have done over 100 lifts so far and called in at least that for ground evac. To see this from the air as far as the eye can see is amazing. the water knows not the color of skin nor size of bank accounts it has overwhelmed everybody.
Yes I did see a Dem blame Trump for Global warming and thus cause this. How stupid are we as was the case with Bush. That debate is for later now we need prayers and support for those in dire need. I suggest "Samarians purse" as a place to give. They have done great work around the world.

JSC seems to still be dry but water all around it.

Thank you for caring and keep orbiter flying
Barry

 

[Quick_Nick]

1M barrels of oil are being released from strategic reserves to maintain prices.
Like Linguofreak says, there would probably be plenty of gas if people didn't panic and hoard.

 

[RisingFury]

The Arkema chemical plant is expecting a further 8 explosions as there were a total of 10 tanks that have gone without cooling. Arkema successfully lobbied the Trump EPA against tightening safety regulations:

http://www.ibtimes.com/political-ca...cal-plant-exploded-lobby-against-safety-rules


It's not really known if the smoke coming from the plant is toxic or not. FEMA is saying one thing, EPA is saying another, State officials and Arkema are being evasive,...

1M barrels of oil are being released from strategic reserves to maintain prices.
Like Linguofreak says, there would probably be plenty of gas if people didn't panic and hoard.

It's horrible seeing that in the same week that we saw people helping each other out when losing everything, those still dry are hoarding anything they can hold on to and fighting over gas. Some just outside of the disaster zone.

---------- Post added at 19:14 ---------- Previous post was at 17:19 ----------

Holy ! I just realized! The guy in the image isn't filling an oil barrel, he's filling an open top trash can! And there are two trash cans! :facepalm:

For 's sake!

 

[Andy44]

I wonder if the type of plastic those trash cans are made of dissolves on contact with gasoline...if so that guy's going to get home and find his gasoline all over the bed of his truck and all over the road for miles behind him. And at $5 or more per gallon, that's a lot of money he is blowing right there.

And then there are the issues of safety and legality of transporting flammable liquids in such a manner.

 

[Quick_Nick]

From my brother: "Let it never be said this city lost its sense of humor. Beltway 8 and I-10."

 

[Hielor]

Worth noting for those not familiar with the area--that's a freeway that's under water. It looks kinda like those big runoff ditches that you sometimes see...but it's not.

 

[barrygolden]

super job with Harvey the Hawk. your a Hero

 

[RisingFury]

Two more tanks in the Arkema plant have ignited. Officials are telling people to avoid the smoke, but still not releasing the list of chemicals in the plant.

 

[Graham2001]

Sadly it seems there are low-lives who just cannot resist using a tragedy to stir the racial pot for LOLs

Amidst devastating flooding in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, fake Twitter accounts were used sow fear and racial hatred.

The Houston Police Department says very little looting occurred during the first week of flooding in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, citing a total of 18 arrests in the nation’s fourth-largest city as of 1 September 2017. You might not have received that impression if you’re a heavy Twitter user, however, thanks to the proliferation of dozens of tweets hashtagged #HarveyLootCrew threatening widespread looting and purporting to prove that a great deal of looting had already taken place.

http://www.snopes.com/2017/09/01/harvey-looting-troll-tweets/

 

[Quick_Nick]

Sadly it seems there are low-lives who just cannot resist using a tragedy to stir the racial pot for LOLs



http://www.snopes.com/2017/09/01/harvey-looting-troll-tweets/

Yes, rumors may have been as detrimental as anything real that happened.

Local officials had to remind citizens practically hourly that the water was NOT being shut off because certain social media pages kept parroting the paranoid.
Then there's the claim of "looting is coming to your neighborhood, get your guns!" which is rather hard to deal with.
And the gas shortage rumors outside Houston leading to actual gas shortages.

 

[Donamy]

I don't think many Texans, are gonna stand for any looting.

 

[RisingFury]

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he will NOT call a special session for Harvey aid, which means state won't tape the Rainy Day Fund until 2019.

Is he trying to get his own ass kicked in the next election?

 

[RacerX]

I don't think many Texans, are gonna stand for any looting.

And by the way this "hoarding" you guys are referring to is due to people stockpiling gasoline in order to power their generators. Its getting hot and elderly people require electricity for Air conditioning and whatnot. Electricity is required for power tools and the such. Some peoples job it is to be the "Go for" to top off fuel tanks for multiple generators for multiple people. Your average personal generator only holds around 2-5 gals of fuel and running 24 hours 24/7 you can imagine there is a need to re-fuel constantly. When you mow your yard how often do you have to refuel your lawnmower? A generator motor is nothing more than a glorified lawn mower engine if you think about it. The bigger diesel engine generators also require refueling. So its not just gasoline they are using. pumps,power tools,heavy equipment,light towers,generators,etc etc all need fuel. Its not uncommon at all to have one person tasked with "refueling" many different things for many people.