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[Flasher]

I've been watching your weather on the news.  All that rain and flooding is so crazy.  I hope all is well with each of you!

[blbabe1234]

Hi Laura, I'm okay down here. I live far enough south in Texas where the Nueces River would be the only one to affect us. That river is about 8 ft above flood stage and I live about 5 miles away from the river.

I am however, worried about all the Central Texas Cherries, Cherries in Houston (Kim & Laurie - ya'll had a tornado 2 days ago), and cherries on the TX and OK border. Speaking of OK, I hope Kim is doing good too.

[Scrap Bug]

Everything is fine here.  Thank you for thinking of us.  Quite a bit of flash flooding, but nothing too terrible where I'm at.  About a week and a half ago I was in Corpus for work and on my way home (normally a 2.5 hour drive) I ran into flooding and they were turning everyone back.  I had to find a different route and so it took me about 4 hours to get home. 

[1scrappymom]

I heard that on the news this morning.  Prayers going out to all affected!  Hoping all the cherries are safe and dry!

[sdwhru]

I don't know where exactly Kim lives at but I'm good where I'm at.  I live close to Lake Thunderbird but I'm up on a hill and I'm still far enough away that all the people who were being flooded/rescued Saturday night are about 5 miles (or more) from us.  My DH comes home from work Sunday morning a lil after 1 am and he can see the lights on the emergency vehicles from our house.  The horse ranch (a mile from us) you could only see the top part of the fence the rest was all underwater (or had been swept away).  The pictures of Texas just break my heart.  I am so over this weather.  I know everyone complains about the cold, but at this point I would rather have cold.  

Our office did flood - not too bad but so far this has been all that's been affected (for me anyways).

[killarney_rose]

I am so glad to hear from fellow Cherries they are ok!  Brandy, have you heard from Laurie.  I have no idea how her part of town did last night.  She's out on west side near Beltway 8.

Hi everyone!  I'm fine and dandy.  Where do I start about last night or maybe when you read it will be 36 hours.

All of us were in Angleton.  For those who might not know Angleton is considered a cottage community of Houston.  It's about 15 miles outside of suburbia due south towards the coast.

All four of us in Angleton.  Larry and I left the ranch Monday about an hour and half before the line of storms hit the ranch.  The ranch is on the southeast side of the highest hill in the county so we won't flood.  And we know on the ranch where the "drains" are when it does rain like it did and which drains can be dangerous.  We recorded 6 inches at the ranch but got more because the wind was so bad it was coming down almost horizontal.  When Lynn arrived home yesterday, she found all the photos and other things on the walls on the floors.  Apparently the wind really jiggled the Mobile home which is under a shed roof.  The shed roof is well built and tied together with a fourteen foot wooden porch.  There are some trees down and if it ever dries up we'll be cutting them up.  No damage to barn.

After Texas Rising ended Larry, James and Lynn hit the bed and like tonight James and Larry asleep and I'm the night owl.  I was watching the the radar more concerned about what the Brazos River would do with this line of storms.  All weekend we listened to weather via Waco TV saying Monday would be a heads up for severe weather which in Central Texas terms means very high probability of tornadoes.

So at 10:15 I switched to Houston weather.  Wasn't good and reports on Facebook from friends in Central Texas wasn't good.  So I stayed on Channel 11.  About an hour later they went off air.  I'm thinking serious at this point.  Switch to second choice on Channel 13 and preceded to spend the next two hours watching Houston go under. It's now pushing 2am and I realize I need to allow Larry to sleep as he has a Doctor's appointment at Baylor in the Med Center for Pre-op to have his gall bladder out Thursday.  By three I realize he's not going to have the appointment.  Larry got up at 5am, I told him about what Houston looked like and to call the Doctor's Office before he went to appointment.  I went to bed.

I thought we would get the tail end of the line and started to get some lightning popping down ahead of the storm with one strike about 350 yards at the end of our cul-de-sac on the edge of the woods around 3:30am.  Started to rain shortly after that strike and then quit.  Looked at radar on my iPad and the tail end just vanished.  We had a trace of rain last night.

When I woke to see Houston in the light and my heart broke.  Worse then with Hurricane Alicia or Ike!  I spent most of the afternoon tracking down friends who I had not seen on Facebook and making sure they were ok.  Fortunately none of my friends or mother had flooding into homes.

I am tired of rain as are the cattle.  Yet I refuse to begrudge the rain.  2011 drought cured me of that.  I have said a prayer to lesson fears of his people and flooding.  And yet another round is coming.  Almost all of Texas Reservoirs are full to capacity.  Both the ranch and our Angleton home are on the Brazos River Drainage Basin.  As I said we are on the highest hill in the county for the ranch so no flooding will happen there.  Angleton home a whole other concept.  1994 Flood of the Brazos and our house took 2 inches of water.  Would not have taken any if Angleton hadn't built a levy around the city after the 1913 flood.  We crossed the Brazos twice yesterday on the way home and it had four feet to bank full.  I have been monitoring the Rosharon gauge on the river and today the river is recording it's record high of water per cubic foot being moved.  It's also at bank full.  What we did not have in '94 that we have today is the desktop computers and ability to read those gauges on whatever time interval the Brazos River Authority wants.  All of the lakes are full or almost full.  They can plug in numbers received from gauges throughout the Basin and get flow rates to know how much to release from each Reservoir in the chain using whatever logarithm(s) they have.  Possum Kingdom started to release Sunday night.  The gauge at the dam was rising half a foot every 15 minutes.  Conservation Pool at 1000ft above sea level and they have to release at 999ft.  They did a host of turn on some lakes and turning off others.  Hopefully we don't flood.  But Western North Texas was to get more rain today.  And then it moves south and east.  Brazos River Authority just opened the 3rd gate at Possum Kingdom with a current rate of 27,700 cubic feet per second.  My heart has sunk.  TXDOT has closed Hwy 16 Bridge over the Brazos. BRA is reporting lake system on Brazos at 99% full. Ugghhh!!!!

 

[blbabe1234]

Kim - so glad to hear ya guys are okay. No, I haven't heard from Laurie yet. I haven't seen anything on her FB page. I know she lives basically SW Houston. Right around the corner from where DH's work's Houston office is.

The amount of rain we have gotten, the whole state of Texas I mean...is just crazy. I'm only 35 yrs old, so this is a first for me. I have family scattered all over Texas - particulary Corpus Christi, Victoria, Houston, central Texas and Dallas. Its scary when you see the news/pics on FB. The tornadoes. The flooding. Lake Corpus Christi is at full capacity. That will be rushing into the Nueces River. They had to shut down Labonte Park off of I-37 due to the flooding. Its a common place for folks to celebrate a holiday  -- fishing, playing soccer, grilling. Not this holiday weekend.

And on CR 73 near FM 624 in Robstown...its flooded too. People need a BOAT to get out! CRAZY!!

[mgehrke]

I've been keeping tabs on this post. I'm so happy to start hearing from all of you and that everyone is safe. I too have not seen anything from Laurie on FB, so I am a bit worried. I hope we hear from her soon.

[blbabe1234]

I texted Laurie and she's safe too! She was stuck at home yesterday with no internet due to the flooding. The tornado that touched down in Houston Sunday was approx. 2 miles away from her house. But she's okay. She's at work right now - actually at her client's office. But she's good and safe!

[oceanbreezes423]

You are all in my thoughts and prayers!

[mgehrke]

I texted Laurie and she's safe too! She was stuck at home yesterday with no internet due to the flooding. The tornado that touched down in Houston Sunday was approx. 2 miles away from her house. But she's okay. She's at work right now - actually at her client's office. But she's good and safe!

What a relief. Thank you Brandy for the wonderful update.

[killarney_rose]

Thank you Brandy!  I am so glad she is ok.  

It is heartbreaking to hear the death toll rise.

[love2stamp]

I'm glad all you Texas cherries are safe. I've been keeping up with the news. So sad and devastating. I hope you all remain safe.

[blbabe1234]

I texted Laurie and she's safe too! She was stuck at home yesterday with no internet due to the flooding. The tornado that touched down in Houston Sunday was approx. 2 miles away from her house. But she's okay. She's at work right now - actually at her client's office. But she's good and safe!

What a relief. Thank you Brandy for the wonderful update.
 

You're welcome Mildred.

[blbabe1234]

Thank you Brandy!  I am so glad she is ok.  

It is heartbreaking to hear the death toll rise.
 

You're welcome Kim.

And it very heartbreaking. And not only the death toll..but the MISSING....

[average_kim]

I live about 18 miles north of the red river (as the crow flies), and we aren't in a low area, so we are ok here. I just got back from church v amp at Davis, Oklahoma. It's in the Arbuckle mountain area near a river. The low road in was closed and the sports complex was under water and unreachable. Also they would let the kids swim in the little lake or stream that they usually use for swimming. Too high and swift flowing. They had alternative activities, and it was still fun ... now I need to go check all the news I missed ... heard some about the flooding in norman.

[JillinIN]

I'm so glad you Texas and OK cherries are alright. I've been thinking about you and hopping all is well.
 

[newgirl]

I too, live in OK. We in Lawton have had flash flooding several times, again last night. At one point the east side of town was cut off from the main side, last Sunday (unless you drive 50 miles out of town through the country and back up the interstate). We have been in a drought situation with water restriction for 3 levels. However, that is no longer true and all restrictions have been lifted. Our home is not in the direct flooded areas.
We know these storm patterns are affecting many. God's protection to you all.
Karey

[emarie803]

I am very grateful that our flooding here in Abilene is "normal" for our area (everytime it rains, we have minor flooding- this place was not set up for rain very well!) Those who are south and even the DFW area are in my thoughts. Texas needs a break from the rain so it can dry out!

[mgehrke]

I too, live in OK. We in Lawton have had flash flooding several times, again last night. At one point the east side of town was cut off from the main side, last Sunday (unless you drive 50 miles out of town through the country and back up the interstate). We have been in a drought situation with water restriction for 3 levels. However, that is no longer true and all restrictions have been lifted. Our home is not in the direct flooded areas.
We know these storm patterns are affecting many. God's protection to you all.
Karey

I read about a solider who got swept away in a river that runs through Ft Sill. I'm so sad and sick about it. I actually was on the base this time last year as my DD graduated Basic Training there last year. I am trying to find out if they ever found him.