Time to stop sending 10s of billions each year to Israel, Saudi, Pakistan, Afghanistan etc and start with our own overdue rebuilding.
I’m sick of my tax dollars going overseas to someone else’s corrupt govt.

Joel Osteen has property there, heard he didn’t open the doors. Maybe that would have let the water in, but most likely he didn’t want the nice seats to get dirty.

[quote=Escoguy]Went to grad school in Houston in the early 90s. My grandfather was City Manager there in the 1960s-1970s.

Many of the flooded areas shown in the news are known flood zones. Especially some of the highway shots.

Some of the new subdivisions should have never been built as the drainage infrastructure put in place wasn’t adequate.

These were known issues during Rita (2005).

My sister’s house flooded then, she went out of her way to buy a house in a non flood zone this time. (no damage) in spite of being in Spring Texas where some new homes are up to the 2nd floor with water.

It is very tragic what has taken place. I’m not really sure most will recover, this will drag down property prices in flooded areas, increase insurance costs, taxes will likely also go up to pay for better infrastructure. A dirty little secret about Texas is the property taxes (+2%/year is not uncommon. They basically combine what we pay in income tax+property tax into one item.

This may bring about the end of 70M dollar football stadiums as communities may realize they just don’t have the funds for necessary infrastructure plus “Friday night cathredals”

On a more positive note, the Texas spirit will come through and neighbors will help each other out. The sense of community is quite strong there. On balance, I’d probably rather have small town Texas neighbors in a cataclysmic event like this.

My aunt will likely go back to work at FEMA for this one too. but eventually when you’ve seen so many disasters, one has to wonder, when will we learn and just not build in certain areas.

Houston has always been known for sprawl but we can’t throw common sense out the window.

Longer term, this may be a foreshadow of what can happen in coastal areas over the next century if the more extreme climate scenarios take place. That at the very least should make anyone living in an area that is less than 20 feet above sea level pay attention to what might happen.

One grandmother lived in Alvin for almost 97 years, her first house was up on cinderblocks (3 1/2 feet above the ground). Back in 1979 it once rained 43 inches in a day in Alvin. Needless to say, her house never flooded. It wasn’t that we even talked about why her house was different.

My great grandmothers house was used to house survivors of the great Galveston hurricane of 1900 when 6,000-12,000 people died.

It was built in Victorian style so the downstairs bedrooms were also raised at least four feet off the ground. It stands to this day.[/quote]

Great post, Esco!

[quote=Escoguy] A dirty little secret about Texas is the property taxes (+2%/year is not uncommon. They basically combine what we pay in income tax+property tax into one item.[/quote]

When my conservative friends start huffing “I’m moving to Texas with no income tax!”, I like to point out that prop taxes are 2-3 percent in most Texas cities. They usually go quiet after that. Can’t get somethin for nothin folks!

[quote=Escoguy] Back in 1979 it once rained 43 inches in a day in Alvin.[/quote]

Didn’t know that! I’ll use that as a talking point next time my liberal friends spout off saying the Houston deluge was due to global warming. 🙂

[quote=svelte]

[quote=Escoguy] Back in 1979 it once rained 43 inches in a day in Alvin.[/quote]

Didn’t know that! I’ll use that as a talking point next time my liberal friends spout off saying the Houston deluge was due to global warming. :-)[/quote]

“It happened before” is not a convincing argument. The frequency of 100-year events is clear evidence of man-made climate change.

Tampa Bay is next:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/health/environment/tampa-bay-climate-change/?utm_term=.43f48561b09e

There are some very specific areas of Houston which can make for excellent investments. Rentals near the medical center/Rice University (my alma mater). But I wouldn’t buy anything over 20 years old due to mold issues which sometimes creep in.

I’ve considered apartment complexes from time to time in Houston.
Might not be a bad time to look as rents will certainly go higher as some abandon homeownership and just rent while trying to sort things out.