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mac
Joined: 07 Mar 1999 Posts: 17744 Location: Berkeley, California
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 11:44 am Post subject: Texas Flooding |
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Many people don't know that large parts of Texas have no zoning. The anti-regulation fervor run amuck? Perhaps. Here's what can happen:
Quote: | As torrential downpours ripped through San Marcos, Texas, earlier this week, the town’s two rivers swiftly burst over their banks and surged into homes and across roads. At the Woodlands of San Marcos, a new housing complex, thick brown waters flooded the buildings’ first floors.
Stephen Ramirez said he wasn’t exactly surprised to see the damage. The 306-unit development is being built in a floodplain and sits just steps from the San Marcos River. When city officials were mulling a zoning change in 2012 to allow the project to proceed, Ramirez and other opponents repeatedly warned about the risks of flooding.
“It’s kind of like, ‘We told you so,’ ” said Ramirez, a local photographer and board member of the San Marcos River Foundation, a conservation group. “We saw this coming,” he added with frustration.
The damage to the Woodlands apartments pales in comparison to the scale of destruction and devastation wracking the region this week. At least 35 people have died -- including 15 in Central Texas, 14 in northern Mexico and six in Oklahoma -- in the severe flooding and tornadoes that began over Memorial Day weekend. A further nine people are missing, and thousands more are displaced.
But the flooded complex in San Marcos and other damaged properties in the region point to the broader challenges facing America’s communities: As populations swell and urban development abounds, cities and towns are increasingly allowing developers to build squarely in harm’s way.
The dilemma is especially pronounced in Central Texas, where cities are growing at a faster clip than other parts of the country. Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth were five of the top 10 U.S. cities for population growth between 2013 and 2014 thanks to a rise in technology, healthcare and education jobs, a survey of U.S. Census Bureau data showed this week.
The area around those cities is known as “Flash Flood Alley,” for its unique geographic and climate conditions that make it prone to quick but violent storms.
In San Marcos, about halfway between Austin and San Antonio, the population rose 8 percent last year, making it the fastest-growing U.S. city when measured by percentage change. The surge comes amid rising enrollment at nearby Texas State University, which set a new record for student enrollment for the 17th year in a row last fall. The Woodlands of San Marcos complex and others like it are being billed as off-campus housing for students.
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Now, how many of you think that the free-market folks in Texas--many of whom support dismantling Federal agencies like FEMA--will pass up disaster relief funds because they knowingly took risks?
Of course, many leaders in Texas prefer the bible to scientific subjects like hydrology:
Quote: | When a major disaster happens, does every out-of-left-field crazy fringe preacher race to become the first to blame LGBT people?
This time, the "winner" was chaplain John McTernan (pictured above), the founder of Defend and Proclaim the Faith ministries. Hurricane Sandy has caused dozens of deaths and billions of dollars in damage, but McTernan used the then-pending hurricane to remind followers that the massive storm is just another bit of evidence that America is going to pot.
"God is systematically destroying America," McTernan wrote in a blog post on his website this week. "Just look at what has happened this year."
Then of course there was the ever-consistent folks at the Westboro Baptist Church, who praised God for the storm. Shirley Phelps-Roper, the daughter of the church's founder and leader Fred Phelps, tweeted Tuesday morning, "We bow in humble thanks 2 God 4 Sandy! Thank God for a plain message delivered to a puddle of states that proudly flip Him off! #FagMarriage"
As we know, blaming death, destruction, and mayhem on LGBT people simply isn't new. By now, we're used to it. But you still might be surprised just how often it happens.
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Maybe we should then blame the floods on climate change denial and hatred of gays? |
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nw30
Joined: 21 Dec 2008 Posts: 6485 Location: The eye of the universe, Cen. Cal. coast
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 1:39 pm Post subject: |
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Hmmm? |
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MalibuGuru
Joined: 11 Nov 1993 Posts: 9293
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 2:21 pm Post subject: |
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Now this is my kind of Texas flood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVjdMLAMbM0
Seems like it's been happening for thousands of years.
PS Mac, Fastest growing economy because regulations and red tape are sparse. More importantly, they'll be able to rebuild those homes within a year. PEOPLE ARE MOVING THERE FOR OPPORTUNITY, NOT HANDOUTS.
And the 10 or 12 members of WBC are imbred morons.....Kind of like many on the streets of SF.. |
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swchandler
Joined: 08 Nov 1993 Posts: 10588
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 2:48 pm Post subject: |
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Up here in Santa Barbara, we had a big flood recently. A flood of oil coming from a ruptured oil pipeline spoiling the ocean and the environment. Do you think a better path here should be deregulation and less rules on oil development and equipment maintenance?
Being stupid can have consequences, particularly in places where people can die as a result of poor planning and weak regulations. |
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mac
Joined: 07 Mar 1999 Posts: 17744 Location: Berkeley, California
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 3:30 pm Post subject: |
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Golden Dawn--both you and the Texans seem to have fallen short in your biblical studies. You've forgotten the lesson where "Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage"
How's the surfing and windsurfing off those closed beaches? Any second thoughts about deregulating mrgybe's industry? I'm sure he can parse the semantics so that the oil spill is Obama's fault. |
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beaglebuddy
Joined: 10 Feb 2012 Posts: 1120
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 5:21 pm Post subject: |
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Building in flood plains is nothing new and it's happening all along the Mississippi and other places. Cheaper land and demand for housing. They can just strip out the flooring and drywall and repair it. Insurance premiums will determine if it remains affordable and if they have to make changes as they continue building such as building homes up off the ground. Homes likely wouldn't have to be built way up off the ground, 4 or 5 feet might take care of it in most cases. They like to build on slabs because it's cheaper and quicker. |
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MalibuGuru
Joined: 11 Nov 1993 Posts: 9293
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 6:40 pm Post subject: |
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swchandler wrote: | Up here in Santa Barbara, we had a big flood recently. A flood of oil coming from a ruptured oil pipeline spoiling the ocean and the environment. Do you think a better path here should be deregulation and less rules on oil development and equipment maintenance?
Being stupid can have consequences, particularly in places where people can die as a result of poor planning and weak regulations. |
OMG Chandler, more oil bubbles up through natural seepage in a month than was brought to the water via that busted pipeline. ASMOF, no one here wants one drop of oil put into our beautiful ocean, but we don't want to go back to the horse and buggy either. Most of those beaches are open now, and they will all be back to their pristine beauty by Thursday according to news reports. |
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KGB-NP
Joined: 25 Jul 2001 Posts: 2856
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 6:51 pm Post subject: |
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MalibuGuru wrote: |
And the 10 or 12 members of WBC are imbred morons.....Kind of like many on the streets of SF.. |
According to wikipedia they had 40 whole members in 2011, but if that lets people extrapolate to support their prejudice upon all Christians and assign motivations and character then just smile because, well, it just reflects their hypocritical motivation too. |
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mac
Joined: 07 Mar 1999 Posts: 17744 Location: Berkeley, California
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 7:52 pm Post subject: |
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NP--true that. Now substitute "Muslim" for "Christian" and tell me how the far right is not exactly the same as the concerns you've expressed:
Quote: | According to wikipedia they had 40 whole members in 2011, but if that lets people extrapolate to support their prejudice upon all Christians and assign motivations and character then just smile because, well, it just reflects their hypocritical motivation too. |
Billions of devout (and peaceful) Muslims, but the prejudices expressed here are identical.
I'm assuming that Malibu Golden Dawn will not apply for FEMA relief when the waves or the fire get him because he knows he is living in a place full of dangerous conditions and is a true conservative. Right. |
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nw30
Joined: 21 Dec 2008 Posts: 6485 Location: The eye of the universe, Cen. Cal. coast
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 7:55 pm Post subject: |
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MalibuGuru: "Most of those beaches are open now, and they will all be back to their pristine beauty by Thursday"
A slight modification, but kind of important, "pristine" Santa Barbara style.
"You can always tell if a surfer is from SB by the tar stains on his board", an old axiom that goes back decades.
Natural seepage, the Indians used to use it as waterproofing for everything, roofs and canoes mostly, just like along many places along the gulf coast.
That's how the first oil companies were first alerted to those areas. |
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