Hurricane Harvey ( Archived) (62)

It is causing unprecedented flooding in Texas. Isn't it unusual?

Why Houston Flooding Isn’t a Sign of Climate Change
August 28th, 2017 by Roy W. Spencer, Ph. D.

In the context of climate change, is what we are seeing in Houston a new level of disaster which is becoming more common?

The flood disaster unfolding in Houston is certainly very unusual. But so are other natural weather disasters, which have always occurred and always will occur.

(By the way, making naturally-occurring severe weather seem unnatural is a favorite tactic of Al Gore, whose new movie & book An Inconvenient Sequel [ currently #21,168 in Kindle] is dismantled in my new e-book, An Inconvenient Deception [currently #399]).



Downtown Houston flood of 1935.


Floods aren’t just due to weather

Major floods are difficult to compare throughout history because the ways in which we alter the landscape. For example, as cities like Houston expand over the years, soil is covered up by roads, parking lots, and buildings, with water rapidly draining off rather than soaking into the soil. The population of Houston is now ten times what it was in the 1920s. The Houston metroplex area has expanded greatly and the water drainage is basically in the direction of downtown Houston.

There have been many flood disasters in the Houston area, even dating to the mid-1800s when the population was very low. In December of 1935 a massive flood occurred in the downtown area as the water level height measured at Buffalo Bayou in Houston topped out at 54.4 feet.


By way of comparison, as of 6:30 a.m. this (Monday) morning, the water level in the same location is at 38 feet, which is still 16 feet lower than in 1935. I’m sure that will continue to rise.

The Mexican government offered the state of Texas, affected by Hurricane Harvey, humanitarian aid to serve the thousands affected by the floods.
The offer was made by Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray, directly to Governor Greg Abbot.

"The Most Devastating Flood in Houston's History": Emergency in Texas Largest City After Storm Harvey Pass
Storm Harvey: "We could not escape the hurricane because here we are all poor and now we have nothing left"

Chancellor's Undersecretary for North America, Carlos Sada, tells BBC Mundo that it was a "normal" procedure.
"Help is offered to the authority that is in a critical situation," and so the first contact was with Abott, who "immediately accepted" the offer.
But concrete aid needs the authorization of the government of Trump, who has the last word on that subject.

In any case, it would not be the first time that Mexico helps its neighbor. In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina swept New Orleans and killed some 2,000 people in coastal towns from Florida to Texas, then-President Vicente Fox offered help to his colleague George Bush.
In a few days 200 soldiers, sailors and doctors supported hundreds of Americans who lost everything in the flood.
The offer is repeated 12 years later, but in a very different diplomatic environment.
Lesson?

Harvey killed at least 8 people and affected about 30,000.
But he has not left. It can still cause more damage. The Federal Emergency Management Agency warns that rains and floods may intensify on Wednesday.

Even Trump said that "there was never anything like it" in Texas, referring to the devastation caused by the weather phenomenon.

Galveston 1900!





August 26, 2017 Craig Rucker,

Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas as a category four hurricane, ending America’s 4,324 day major hurricane drought.

Parts of Texas are in for a walloping.

The National Weather Service described the hurricane as “about as fierce as they come” … and they are right.

Hurricane Harvey is severe, entirely natural — and not unprecedented.

In 1900, America’s deadliest ever hurricane devastated Galveston, Texas.

The practice of naming hurricanes was not yet in vogue, but this category four hurricane didn’t need a name to become a true human tragedy.

The storm brought 145 mile per hour winds and a 15 foot storm surge which flooded the city.

Estimates range from 6,000 to 12,000 dead. The loss of life was so extreme that Texans couldn’t cope with the sheer number of bodies. They were forced to resort to mass graves, barges for mass burials at sea, and mass funeral pyres on the beach. The loss of homes, life and property was staggering.

The City of Galveston rose again, but never fully regained its former prominence.

As can be expected, already climate campaigners are rushing to attribute Hurricane Harvey to global warming.

This is nonsense.

Exploiting the suffering in Texas for propaganda purposes is both shameless and insensitive; just as exploiting the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy was in the past.

In truth, America recently enjoyed a prolonged period during which no higher level hurricane made landfall. The last was Hurricane Wilma which struck Florida on October 24, 2005 – 12 years ago.

This has been very inconvenient for Al Gore and others anxious to hype natural weather tragedies as the product of man-made global warming.

Team warming’s climate simulations have not only failed to predict America’s prolonged hurricane drought, but also the full gamut of extreme weather events which have been on the whole historically benign. They’d do better tossing coins.

The good news is that although there is heart-rending suffering and hardship ahead for Texas, we can be confident we will not see the kind of suffering the Great Galveston Hurricane caused 117 years ago.

The economic might and advanced technology we have at our disposal, thanks to our free markets (which the Greens despise), is there to provide warning in time for people to prepare and evacuate. Today we are able to rush in help and resources enabling people to cope with the storm and recover.

Meteorology is also a far more advanced, solid discipline than flimsy climate science. When meteorologists use short-term computer models, they are actually able to accurately project hurricane paths they save lives.

Anyone telling you that Hurricane Harvey would have been meaningfully less ferocious in any way had we never had the industrial revolution, or harnessed energy to serve mankind, is selling something. Something you don’t want to buy.

In fact, the reverse is true. Hurricane Harvey is natural. The ability to cope with it is man-made.

The ability of free market capitalism to provide for people in need is unmatched.

The financial loss of a Hurricane like Harvey can today be greater than ever before. There’s a simple reason for that. It’s NOT because of the size or strength of the storm. It’s because the strength of our economy has dramatically increased the value of the property in the hurricane’s path. There goes the power of the free market again. There’s no economic force to match it.

Today our thoughts, prayers and assistance must be with those whom Harvey strikes.

And to anyone looking to exploit this hurricane to push global warming, Socialism, or to make their fortune from government subsidies, we say:

DON’T MESS WITH TEXAS!