"Do you think we should go into the attic to be rescued?"

[KenJulio]

This was asked by my mother early tuesday morning as we watch the water rise from the downpour in West Houston around 430am.

We have never seen the water rise so aggressively in the short amount of time it had rained. Even the day after Ike hit, it rained hard and flooded the yard. This rain rose 3-4ft from the street to our front door step in 45 minutes, a little less than an hour, seeping through the walls in our front rooms and through the front door.

So, now, 3-4 long days later, the restoration company is still finishing up the work of ripping out 4 feet of drywall in each room(4bd 2baths, 3400sq ft), custom wood paneling in the living room, etc. Hopefully they'll be done gutting the house today and be out of the yard with the trash and only thing left are the fans and dehumidifiers.

Luckily for us, we had flood insurance, there are other neighbors which decided not to, even though they live at the edge of the subsidiary creek feeding the Buffalo Bayou, they had 10-15ft of water in the house.

[kenw]

an ounce of prevention.....good move on the insurance!

Hope all continues to go well (or as well as can for a flood aftermath).

[johnastovall]

If you do go into the attic to escape a flood make sure you have good heavy axe to chop a hole in the roof. People were killed in New Orleans by going to the attic and when the water reached it they had no way to go to the roof. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have large international Orange Signal Panel Marker to help helicopters spot you easier.

[ndsimm]

+1 on the insurance move
it's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it....

Good luck on the repairs

[ggeen]

Originally Posted by johnastovall

If you do go into the attic to escape a flood make sure you have good heavy axe to chop a hole in the roof. People were killed in New Orleans by going to the attic and when the water reached it they had no way to go to the roof. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have large international Orange Signal Panel Marker to help helicopters spot you easier.

Good thought John. It would not be much to leave an axe, some sort of signal or thermal blanket in the attic for such times. Katrina show everyone just how unprepared we became over the years.

[bburton]

Sorry for your tremendous inconvenience. I lived in Houston for a decade awhile back; I always tell people: "You ain't seen rain lessen you been in Houston's rains."

[ramblinray]

The question is not so much should you be rescued from the attic as it is are you aware of the conditions at hand and smart enough to evacuate before the need to take refuge in the attic.

[sandy_ruotolo]

Good luck with the renovations, hope all goes well and on time. I agree with having the insurance for floods. You just never know when you will need it.

[KenJulio]

Thanks all. Luckily we have immediate family local who have taken us in.

Ray - yeah, I wasnt too concerned with the height of the water as it had plateaued and for it to get any higher, the Buffalo Bayou and subsidiary bayous/ditches/creeks would have been WAY out of their banks.

This flood IS the worse we've seen, neighbors around have never seen 11" of rain in just about 2 hours.

So, one of the cars has gotten an estimate and comes out to approx 2500, so we'll see how that goes after deductible. Now I'm waiting for the Audi dealership to get around to mine. I'm sure it'll be worse than 2500.

Oh well, time to get back to the inventory.

[crazeazn]

ken what part of houston?

[KD5NRH]

Originally Posted by ggeen

Good thought John. It would not be much to leave an axe, some sort of signal or thermal blanket in the attic for such times.

Try an experiment; go into your attic and try to swing an axe. Now try swinging it up at the roof. Remember, you've got to hack through at least some heavy plywood and shingles.

Get a chainsaw and some stabilized gas if you really want to stay in a flood hazard area.

[KenJulio]

Originally Posted by crazeazn

ken what part of houston?

Westchase district, neighborhood at the Deerwood exit off of BW8.

If we have to go into the attic and get rescued, then there we're really in trouble. We're not living in a bowl like NO and we are above sea level, though, not by much, approx 80ft above sea level.

[johnastovall]

Originally Posted by ken74

Westchase district, neighborhood at the Deerwood exit off of BW8.

If we have to go into the attic and get rescued, then there we're really in trouble. We're not living in a bowl like NO and we are above sea level, though, not by much, approx 80ft above sea level.

All it would take is another, Chicxulub event in the Gulf. 1 to 1/2 kilometer tsunami going 20 kilometers inland.

[kenw]

this might be informative:
http://www.hcoem.org/HCRainfall.aspx

[KenJulio]

Ok ok, no more jinxing! The flooding of my house was jinxed by a friend at work saying my house was going to flood from the night before. lol