Swimdude wrote:It's kind of strange how most Houstonians talk about Allison... In my neighborhood [at the time, SW Houston], we had plenty of rainfall, don't get me wrong... But there wasn't significant flooding or anything of the sorts. It was just a week and a half of dreary weather. [With the exception of just after it made landfall; it was a bit heavy that night.] But otherwise, it was just a rainy week with creepy pictures in the newspaper... [I'm sure we all remember the dozen or so 18-wheelers floating down I-10.]
You have to remember how large "Houston" is...more and more everyday even. However, no matter where in the Metro you lived, you saw on TV, knew someone that got stuck somewhere, or knew those in the heavily flooded areas, so in a sense, we all went through it, just some got the actual, the rest got the visual. I do worry, especially down here on the south side and the west side where new development has increased rapidly (you can hardly tell you left Houston all the way to Galveston these days) that the next larger, heavy rain producing tropical system that rolls through could in fact be alot worse than even Allison was....just a theory however, but there is indeed alot more concrete on the ground than even 3-4 years ago. I'm afraid a direct hit of the CAT4+ nature would be devasting in terms of flooding...
(of course CAT4+ storms are devasting all by themselves, but I hope you gather what I'm saying)
cheers
loon
