Sparrowhawk
09-07-02, 02:46 PM
Well not really, but since they do thing big in Texas, I figured they might do storming big also. LOL
Tropical storm batters Texas
http://a799.ms.akamai.net/3/799/388/11416a5a9be3c2/www.msnbc.com/news/1618717.jpg
HOUSTON, Sept. 7 — Tropical Storm Fay sloshed ashore early Saturday on the Texas coast southwest of Houston with heavy rain and wind approaching 60 mph, causing some flooding but no major damage as it weakened.
This weekend will be the anniversary of a 1900 hurricane in Galveston in which 6,000 peopled were killed — the deadliest natural disaster in the nation’s history.
THE STORM’S POORLY defined center was detected about 25 miles northwest of Palacios after daybreak. It was moving inland to the west-northwest about 5 mph.
It began losing its punch after making landfall and its sustained wind subsided to near 50 mph. A hurricane watch that was up since Friday from Port O’Connor to High Island was discontinued.
Tide gauges at Freeport early Saturday showed the storm surge at 4½ feet above normal tide level. The surge, usually the most destructive part of a tropical storm or hurricane, was expected to slowly decline throughout the day.
There had been fears that the storm, which had stalled off shore all day Friday, would strengthen and reach the minimum needed to be classified as a hurricane: sustained wind of 74 mph.
That didn’t happen, but Fay remained a rainmaker, dumping more than a foot of rain on portions of Brazoria County, immediately south of Houston.
Upwards of 100 people fled their coastline homes there overnight and were housed in a pair of shelters in Brazoria and Freeport. By dawn, however, much of the street flooding had subsided. A few trees were down and there were reports of scattered power outages southwest of Houston.
“Right now the skies are clear and the streets, for the most part, we don’t have much water,” said Ronald Draper, who opened a Salvation Army shelter in Freeport and had about 60 people after a couple of streets had knee-deep water. “They’re beginning to go back home.”
The storm comes on the same weekend as the great Galveston storm of 1900, when some 6,000 people were killed. That hurricane remains the deadliest natural disaster in the nation’s history.
“I don’t worry about my house at this point in time,” said Bill Miller, whose house is on stilts on Galveston’s west end. “But I’ve got stuff down in my garage and the flood gets that.”
Damage in his neighborhood was limited to “just blowing debris, chairs, things that are not tied down.”
“That’s always a problem when it runs into windows.”
Fay became the first tropical storm to threaten Texas since June of last year, when remnants of Tropical Storm Allison dumped up to 3 feet of rain on the Houston area, killing 22 and causing an estimated $5 billion in damage.
The last hurricane in Texas was Bret, which packed 140 mph wind Aug. 22, 1999, as it came ashore in a sparsely populated area of Kenedy County, midway between Corpus Christi and Brownsville. That storm was blamed for four highway deaths in Laredo, and scattered damage and flooding.
Tropical storm batters Texas
http://a799.ms.akamai.net/3/799/388/11416a5a9be3c2/www.msnbc.com/news/1618717.jpg
HOUSTON, Sept. 7 — Tropical Storm Fay sloshed ashore early Saturday on the Texas coast southwest of Houston with heavy rain and wind approaching 60 mph, causing some flooding but no major damage as it weakened.
This weekend will be the anniversary of a 1900 hurricane in Galveston in which 6,000 peopled were killed — the deadliest natural disaster in the nation’s history.
THE STORM’S POORLY defined center was detected about 25 miles northwest of Palacios after daybreak. It was moving inland to the west-northwest about 5 mph.
It began losing its punch after making landfall and its sustained wind subsided to near 50 mph. A hurricane watch that was up since Friday from Port O’Connor to High Island was discontinued.
Tide gauges at Freeport early Saturday showed the storm surge at 4½ feet above normal tide level. The surge, usually the most destructive part of a tropical storm or hurricane, was expected to slowly decline throughout the day.
There had been fears that the storm, which had stalled off shore all day Friday, would strengthen and reach the minimum needed to be classified as a hurricane: sustained wind of 74 mph.
That didn’t happen, but Fay remained a rainmaker, dumping more than a foot of rain on portions of Brazoria County, immediately south of Houston.
Upwards of 100 people fled their coastline homes there overnight and were housed in a pair of shelters in Brazoria and Freeport. By dawn, however, much of the street flooding had subsided. A few trees were down and there were reports of scattered power outages southwest of Houston.
“Right now the skies are clear and the streets, for the most part, we don’t have much water,” said Ronald Draper, who opened a Salvation Army shelter in Freeport and had about 60 people after a couple of streets had knee-deep water. “They’re beginning to go back home.”
The storm comes on the same weekend as the great Galveston storm of 1900, when some 6,000 people were killed. That hurricane remains the deadliest natural disaster in the nation’s history.
“I don’t worry about my house at this point in time,” said Bill Miller, whose house is on stilts on Galveston’s west end. “But I’ve got stuff down in my garage and the flood gets that.”
Damage in his neighborhood was limited to “just blowing debris, chairs, things that are not tied down.”
“That’s always a problem when it runs into windows.”
Fay became the first tropical storm to threaten Texas since June of last year, when remnants of Tropical Storm Allison dumped up to 3 feet of rain on the Houston area, killing 22 and causing an estimated $5 billion in damage.
The last hurricane in Texas was Bret, which packed 140 mph wind Aug. 22, 1999, as it came ashore in a sparsely populated area of Kenedy County, midway between Corpus Christi and Brownsville. That storm was blamed for four highway deaths in Laredo, and scattered damage and flooding.