Texans' do-it-ourselves rescue effort defines Hurricane Harvey [telecom]

In Message-ID: Likewise for Houston: there just doesn't seem to be anyone with the

Well yeah. But the vast majority of south Texas houses (including mine) are built on concrete slabs a few inches above grade. When floodwater exceeds those few inches, it enters the house. In most cases the water level doesn't rise much above a foot or two. That's certainly enough to be a major disaster for the homeowner but the damage can usually be repaired by removing all floor coverings and all wallboard/sheetrock/panelboard up to a couple feet above high water, drying the place out, then reconstructing the wall and floor coverings. This is done in the vast majority of such cases. It's certainly not a permanent solution but it doesn't require razing the entire building and rebuilding it.

As for me, my wife, my dog, and I left our house in Brazoria, Texas a week ago and we're camping out at my daughter's place in Katy, Texas. Before we left the house we put everything of any value on tables or counters, at least three feet above the floor. I don't know what has happened since we left because all roads in the area are closed due to flooding. There's still a chance that water didn't enter the house, but if it did, hopefully it didn't rise above two feet.

As soon as the County opens a road I'll head down there and take a look.

Neal McLain

Think of prohibition: it took years, but America realized that the cure was worse than the disease. The costs of both solutions are frightening, but the one we (as a nation) chose was the one that put the responsibility back into individual hands, instead of having the government dictate it.

Our taxes subsidize flood insurance. Since those without flood insurance turn to the government for help, our taxes are used for that, too. I'd like my tax money to be used more effectively: we could either require anyone building or rebuilding in a flood plain to buy the insurance, or tell them to go to higher ground. Those who choose to remain in the flood plain would have the option of paying full- price for the insurance, or of constructing homes which are much less likely to be damaged by a flood, thereby justifying substantial discounts.

Either way, it's a solution that allows people to make a choice which is in *EVERYONE's* best interest.

There's historical precedent for this, in South Texas even. all the homes in my parents' neighborhood (on the mainland but in Galveston County) that had to be rebuilt after the last major hurricane are constructed on pilings at least 10 feet above ground level. This is to protect them from storm surge-driven beach overwash; they can still have some ground-level structures, like garages, but they have to be constructed to break away in a storm rather than transferring the force of the seawater onto the pilings. Their A/C condensers sit on platforms hanging off the back of the house.

-GAWollman

In article you write:

Our house on Long Beach Island at the Jersey Shore is in a similar zone. After the town was largely washed away in 1962, all new construction has to be on pilings, with nothing of importance at ground level (in our case, just the garage.) We came through Sandy pretty well, no damage to the house other than the garage walls. Oh, and the A/C which I guess we should put on higher platforms someday.

ObTelecom: I realize that I have no idea whether Verizon restored phone service on LBI after Sandy; they got a great deal of grief for offering Voicelink in Mantoloking farther north. We do have wired phone service but it's from Comcast, not Verizon.

R's, John