9-11-17 Houston's Third Occurrence of a 500 Year Flood
Nearing Midnight: Houston's Third Occurrence a of 500-Year-Flood - Todd Strandberg -
Hurricane Harvey has been the fiercest hurricane to strike Texas since Hurricane Carla in 1961-the most powerful Texas hurricane on record. What Harvey lacked in intensity, it more than made up for in rainfall. If you add up the highest rainfall for Hurricanes Katrina (16.33 inches); Andrew (13.9 inches); and Sandy (12.55 inches), they would not equal the over 50 inches of rainfall from Hurricane Harvey.
This storm has dropped more than 27 trillion gallons of water on Texas, triggering catastrophic, unprecedented flooding in the Houston area. The rains have broken numerous all-time records. There has simply never been a storm in U.S. history that has dropped so much rain over such a vast area of land.
The Weather Service office in Houston reported just over two feet of rain in 24 hours between 7 a.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. Sunday morning-making August the wettest month on record. Hurricane Harvey continued to be a named storm four days after making landfall. Prior to Harvey, there has never been a named storm that has managed to last even three days, according to Colorado State University tropical scientist Dr. Phil Klotzbach.
The record of records was the 51.88 inches measured at the Cedar Bayou weather station in southeast Houston. This is the highest storm total ever in the continental U.S. The previous record was 48 inches in 1978 by Cyclone Amelia, in Medina, Texas.
The eventual insured losses from this Category 4 hurricane will likely be well over $40 billion. Hurricane Ike in 2008 was only a Category 2 storm and resulted in $13 billion of insurance losses. Since only one in six residents have insurance, there's 100 percent chance of Congress passing a huge government assistance package.
It is going to take a long time for aid agencies to help get eastern Texas back on its feet. The director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Brock Long, predicted that the aftermath of the storm would require FEMA's involvement for years. "This disaster's going to be a landmark event," Long said.
The climate change lobby is already claiming that Hurricane Harvey is the result of global warming. The Gulf of Mexico, where warm water fuels hurricanes, had temperatures just under 90 °F. Most of the water in the Northern Hemisphere has been warmer than normal for the past year. For the first time in recorded history, the daily average surface temperature of the Gulf of Mexico never fell below 73 °F during last winter.
The frequency of hurricanes has been down over the past several years. We just ended a record 13-year-drought for not seeing a category three hurricane strike the continental U.S. The vast majority the of destruction from Hurricane Harvey is the result of it being penned in by two high pressure areas. The rain kept coming down in the same location because the upper air steering currents were in neutral.
I read a 2008 article that predicted warmer Gulf of Mexico water would result in more tornadoes. Yet we've had three recent years with record low numbers of twisters.
The flood that hit Houston is being called a 500-year-event. The thinking is that if you live in a flood plain, there is a 0.2 percent chance each year that your property could be overrun by water. The entire concept of a 500-year-flood desperately needs to be reevaluated.
In 2015, Houston was hit on May 26 (Memorial Day) by heavy rains that flooded 6,500 homes. It was called a 500-year-flood. Again, in 2016, Houston was hit on April 18 (tax day) by massive rains that flooded 9,800 homes.
Houston isn't the only city to get hit by "historic" floods with rapid frequency. Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was hit with a 500-year flood in 2008, followed by a 100-year flood in 2016.
The people who manage flood planning may try to fix matters by calling Hurricane Harvey the 1000-year-flood. However, this flawed interpretation gives little comfort to people who have had to gut and rebuild their homes three years in a row.
The logical explanation for why Houston has had three so-called 500 year floods in a row may be the result of Bible prophecy. As we draw closer to the last days, calamities like Hurricane Harvey are going to occur with greater frequency.
Jesus said the arrival of the Tribulation hour can be likened to the contractions experienced by a woman about to give birth, as they increase with frequency and intensity. We can see these dynamics taking place worldwide affecting nearly every aspect of life. When Jesus foretold of these birth pangs He used the word "sorrows," in His Olivet Discourse in reference to end-time things to come.
"And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." (Matthew 24:3-8)
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