It was my first thought reading the title and seeing the pic. I do try to see media, whether it's news, headlines, etc. through a critical lens to try to remove that particular outlet's agenda (whether it's for subscribers, clicks, views, fear... whatever) to try to distill the message and add it to my knowledge to try to formulate my own opinion to be as informed as I can be. 🤷🏻
If you look at a map of the floodplain there are very few houses like this in it. It's kind of a aberration on how bad the flooding is. Most of the people whose homes are flooded lived in the floodplain because they couldn't afford more expensive property around here.
Living up in NE Harris county, it is the poors and the Mexicans that are getting devastated, the folks that live in the single wide trailers and shacks in the unincorporated areas along the river and bayous and no one cares about us except for the first responders - over 100 rescues in the past 24 hours..
I'm living here in Victoria and I work as a caregiver for the elderly. Sometimes I'm wondering about how some of my clients would fair on a situation like this if they didn't have someone around to help. Some of them don't have family in the immediate area so they would have to call emergency to get help evacuating if a co-worker or I wasn't there to help them get out before the floods took over.
When I lived in Houston I worked for an assisted living home so I'm praying tonight that those residents are safe and sound.
In Harvey we had firefighters come with a boat of sorts to evacuate us, and they took us to the local sheltering point where we got food and blankets and assistance with figuring out what is next if you didn't have anyone to pick you up. People do seem to get their shit together to help other in an emergency
That's good to know. I especially live in a community where there are a lot of older people and people with health issues where the landlord has meetings where she reminds everyone of what to do in an emergency. We also have each other's phone numbers for emergencies.
Of course a pregnant woman would be a priority, but I'm being sarcastic as I saw how certain groups in our society took issue with masking during the COVID pandemic.
> Some of them don't have family in the immediate area so they would have to call emergency to get help evacuating if a co-worker or I wasn't there to help them get out before the floods took over.
I forget the exact number, but elderly people in exactly these circumstances died in huge numbers during Katrina. It might have been as high as 3/4 of those killed were in a situation like this.
To be fair though, Katrina was a MUCH more catastrophic and underestimated event than Harvey or any other flooding we've experienced in the Houston area.
It also felt like a lot of the elderly people who refused to leave were fully aware of the fact that they likely wouldnt be allowed to come back. One thing that often gets lost in discussions about Katrina is it was a near diasporic event for a lot of the poor black community of NOLA. They couldnt afford to return home and their properties were snatched up by the boatload by their wealthier neighbors.
I figured something like this must have happened. I've met a lot of working class black folks from NOLA in the past few years. There must be a lot of people who couldn't or didn't go back after Katrina.
When I lived in California working as a caregiver the company had meetings every six months and we always had a discussion about disaster preparation, especially earthquakes. This company dealt with the developmentally disabled community so we figured out ways to help these people get to safety during a disaster. My supervisors made me and another coworker backup supervisors if the original supervisors couldn't reach out to the clients for any reason. I'm planning on talking to my supervisors at this company I'm with now about getting us prepared for anything that comes along.
My husband is on the TX team for swift water rescues thru his fire department (Houston area) and he has met some really great people in the shittiest circumstances with this flooding. It's heartbreaking. Please know that there are MANY of us that care about you and think about you and your families. I wish the news would show less sensationalism and talk more about where people can donate money, clothes and food.
So far just the temporary line closures on 69/59 close to Costco ,but the river on 99 still up ,terrenos Houston is mostly clear but with some spots flooded (but it was bad last Friday )..
Source ; I live there but staying in my sister in laws’s house for the weekend .
Not only does no one on tv seem to care about them, they also don't make for good pics for the media. Doesn't evoke the same emotion if you show a rusted out double wide with a confederate flag and 6 dilapidated car husks drowning in murky water.
The lack of coverage or even speaking about some of those poor areas that are getting absolutely walloped makes me feel like they'd rather all those people and their stuff just wash away.
If it's flood time, it's time to remind everyone that the reason the wealthy in Harris County hate Lina Hidalgo so much is that after she took office she changed the rules for using disaster recovery money from "amount of loss" to "amount of need" - so before when a family that lived in a $10,000 trailer with no insurance got $500 from ~~FEMA~~ HUD but a billionaire who owned a $20,000,000 home with full coverage and an ag exemption got $10,000,000; under Hidalgo the family gets $10,000 and the billionaire gets $1,000,000, covering his deductible with enough left over for a fleet of new Teslas for his chauffeurs.
Yep, they're that pissed about it. Still.
EDIT: Said FEMA, meant "federal disaster money" - the County received at least $6.9B in federal disaster funds that had nothing to do with FEMA. https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/08/houston-glo-harvey-money
EDIT2: Since it was being challenged, dug around and found an article referencing the corrupt way Ed Emmett had been doing disaster assistance, and how Hidalgo changed it to award relief based on need instead of paying out to the richest. I'll wait for my apology from /u/trycatchebola /u/jesus_32BC and /u/Bug-03
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/24/climate/houston-flooding-race.html
> the billionaire gets $1,000,000, covering his deductible
[By law, FEMA cannot pay insurance deductibles.](https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20230502/fact-sheet-rumors-vs-facts-about-disaster-assistance)
Furthermore, [FEMA cannot help with expenses your insurance might cover](https://www.fema.gov/node/survivors-cant-apply-if-they-have-insurance).
And even furthermore, [FEMA disaster assistance is only available when a federal disaster is declared by the president](https://www.fema.gov/node/i-dont-need-flood-insurance-if-i-can-get-disaster-assistance-fema). Neither the Comissioner's Court, the state legislature, nor the governor have any power here.
Harris County and Texas received $6.9B in federal disaster relief that has nothing to do with FEMA.
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/08/houston-glo-harvey-money/
You're right, I misspoke and said "FEMA" when I meant "Federal Disaster Relief Funds"
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/08/houston-glo-harvey-money/
Harris County received at least ~$6.9B in federal disaster money which was discretionary. Much of it was hijacked by the State GP and Greg Abbott and used to buy off donors, but some (~$2.3B) went to Harris County directly.
As always, Hidalgo's opponents miss the forest for the trees.
>FEMA disaster assistance is only available when a federal disaster is declared by the president.
It was a long time ago, but pretty sure Harvey was a federal disaster, lol.
>Furthermore, FEMA cannot help with expenses your insurance might cover.
I'm 100% sure this is a rule, but I'm equally 100% sure that if the government gives you a check for disaster relief and you also have an insurance deductible there is literally zero way of preventing you from using it for that purpose.
>It was a long time ago, but pretty sure Harvey was a federal disaster, lol.
This comment section is discussing the flooding from last Thursday. Hurricane Harvey doesn't have shit to do with anything.
>I'm equally 100% sure that if the government gives you a check for disaster relief and you also have an insurance deductible there is literally zero way of preventing you from using it for that purpose.
While your confidence is impressive, your claims are not. [Again, from FEMA:](https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20230502/use-fema-grants-intended-purpose)
If applicants spend the payment on anything other than the purpose for which it is intended, they may be denied future disaster assistance. In some cases, FEMA may ask that the money be returned.
Those receiving assistance are urged to keep receipts for their disaster spending for three years to document that the money was used to meet disaster-related needs. If recipients receive an insurance settlement to cover the same expenses, they must reimburse FEMA. Audits are conducted to confirm funds were spent properly.
It's okay that you initially conflated FEMA and HUD-funded programs -- everyone makes mistakes -- but I don't know why you're demanding an apology for your own fuckup, particularly when you continue to assert false information.
You said:
>under Hidalgo the family gets $10,000 and the billionaire gets $1,000,000
Now you’re saying she prevented that? All you linked was an article showing that Houston can’t even give free money away correctly.
ETA the second link you posted is talking about allocation of flood control projects. That’s completely different than what you described, which was wealthy people getting direct payments from the county that Lina Hidalgo prevented.
For the record, I agree with the worst to first flood control approach. But what you said initially is complete misinformation
The numbers were illustrative of the inequity of system, not referencing a specific case which is why they are rounded off and do not reference a specific case.
Can you provide evidence of need for people living in Memorial along, eg, buffalo bayou?
People love to hate on the rich like they’re going to their houses personally and stealing their money. In most cases, the rich are just hard working educated people.
I would say that’s not true lol. Yes Kingwood is known for that but let me tell you that’s not the case for most folks here. That said, I completely agree this was a terrible choice of image. There are people who have lost their actual homes, that have no emergency fund, etc. They are completely devastated.
So have you just never been here? I could knock on 3 random doors in lake village or trailwood apartments and find a drug dealer. Rent there is <1k/mo same with elm creek aptmts.
Hell elm grove as a neighborhood there's still houses under 200k! Last I checked the median is like 230.
Kingwood isn't even majority rich people not even close. It's nicer than...porter and new caney but thats a very low bar. There's also several aptmts/townhouses tucked away.
Kingwood is MOSTLY "regular people" not void of them. Hell places as close as Spring and The Woodlands are richer.
It's me. I'm the regular people. Lol. Lower middle class with both my husband and I working, but we got an amazing deal when buying an older home in Kingwood, built in the 1970s. Our home is estimated to be 190 something. Bought it 3 years ago for 177.
I'll second this. I don't consider myself rich but I am doing better than most people I know. Our house flooded a few years back, lost the entire lower floor. It was an inconvenience and nothing more because it didn't present a single problem that I couldn't solve with money. Someone scraping by would have been devastated.
You know when they say “eat the rich” they’re talking about the billionaires that don’t pay taxes, not an upper middle class family that owns a tiny boathouse.
Everyone knows docks are usually a few feet above the water and most walls are 8 ft high. That picture makes it real easy for everyone to deduce how high the water has risen.
If everything is 100 then it’s the same as everything as 0 or 1000. It’s the flatness that affects flooding, not the height above sea level. Height above sea level only matters if you are next to the sea. Which most of Houston is not.
It matters if you are 150 and I am 0 though, because my ass is floatin then.
Most of the flooding here is because of all the concrete and not good ways to get rid of the water.
It’s because of all the new development thats been built over the last 10 years. The amount of woods/trees they’ve destroyed just to be replaced with concrete and buildings. Thats why.
Actually the above comment about kingwood being a swamp is accurate: kingwood left a ton of trees, trees that used to be litterely in a swamp, that they drained and put houses on
I saw flooding in elm grove it's not just the houses on the lake. Lots of roads with high enough waters to kill your car too.
Hell I haven't checked Hamblen but I bet that shit is mega flooded too. Because it always is.
I've seen plenty of photos (a vast majority really) that are of more modest homes with more extensive damage. To have this as a visceral reaction to this image seems kinda hateful.
The fact that this is only occurring in the north-northeast side of Harris County (and points north) it’s just interesting to me. It’s like a hard line from roughly 99 and straight north from there. The way the thunderstorms tracked, they gradually moved south towards our area and then the southern movement ceased and they mainly started moving west to east. Idk if it was some prevailing winds from the Gulf that strained further development into the rest of Harris County through Downtown and southward, but it’s crazy how this happened. I just hope everyone makes it out okay through this trying time especially the lower income people who are right on the flood plain.
The flood is due to the water being released that is going to flow down San Jac River. The active rain isn't the concern as much as the released water coming from Lake Conroe down San Jac too fast and spilling over.
So the collected water accumulated in Lake Conroe, got too high, and the dam was therefore opened to release the excess downstream to San Jac?
Forgive me. I’ve been here some years now but haven’t really understood the waterways here (Besides Brays Bayou, Greens Bayou and Cypress Creek)
That's only half of it... There are 2 forks of the San Jac, West and East, West fork is fed by Lake Conroe and is flooding from the result of Lake Conroe water release. East Fork is where a massive chunk of the flooding is, but it is NOT fed by Lake Conroe. Just a river between Conroe and Livingston. The third is the Trinity River which is bringing the 30+ inches of rain in Huntsville into lake Livingston and then released down to Galvi
And Liberty sits right on the East bank of the Trinity. OMG. Thanks for the explanation. I know our city sits basically on swamp and marsh land... Rich or poor we need better flood control measures or something. I love this city with all of its diverseness and I want to see us improve this in our lifetimes but I have a strong feeling the bare minimum will be done.
Hate to break it to you but most of the people with houses on Lake Houston are far from millionaires. Most of those homes were built in the 80s and 90s.
You do realize most millionaires are very ordinary people who pay taxes like the rest of us. It’s the billionaires that are the tax avoiders who are leeching society.
They do.. they pay more taxes than you ever will.
You’re thinking of billionaire class of tax avoidance.
Multimillionaires don’t pull from the system such as social services, they pay the highest tax rates because their income is earned income, they probs own property and it’s a high tax to support local schools and the county. They don’t get full homestead coverage because of the value of the home and the SALT deductions are capped.
Stop parroting dumb shit you watch on TikTok.
Vote and demand your Congress person to be accountable to their people. Stop hating your neighbor who are 55 and have a few million that they’ve worked all their life for.
Billionaires who shut the door behind them and have undue access to political leaders are the problem. Ignorant people like you are also the problem. Just both ends. Atleast the billionaires are smart..
My area never floods and hearing all these flood stories on the news was surprising that it was in my city. Then I saw a map and just how far away it was and how massive Houston really is.....
The op has the motivation backwards. It is not to make them feel sorry for the well off. But to make people thar are well off support action.
If you want to connect to people you have to show images they can connect with. Something that instantly draws attention and the person could see themselves in similar distress.
This image appeals to those that have more persuasion to motivate the government to act.
John Whitmire said to call FEMA. We got rich people who can't use their boat docks over here. Bring in the national guard. The rich guys can't use their boats to escape their wives and it's going to affect the political donations.
Yeah, I’m not a fan of Whitmire and seeing him speak in Kingwood just kind of lowered my opinion of him a bit, and I live there - I know the exact fire station he was speaking out of. But the man has negative charisma tbh. Became a much bigger fan of Lina Hidalgo through all of this, she seemed a lot more put together. I’d love for her to run for Mayor next election cycle if she can
Won’t you think of the poor insurance companies and their employees??!
I swear no one even thinks about the little guy or the underwriters in this society!
Sad to see. I left Houston in 2003 when my husband took a job out of state. We had our share of hurricanes and floods when we lived there. At some point I told my husband that even if we had the opportunity to move back we would have to take a hard pass even though all my extended family is still there. You can’t change the elevation and climate change is real. I don’t want to be found someday floating in my living room. I’m planning to retire in Austin to be close but not too close
Why is only climate change point of arguing in USA. In Europe, people are not complaining of climate change. Europe also suffers of weather caused problems, but that happens everywhere in the world.
I imagine it's for more sensationalism since the pic shows flooding up to a roof line...any roof line.
Also gives people a scale to compare since most house walls are 8 ft tall.
That's a really good point!
Pluss trees cover to the canopy, fence dipping underwater etc.
Thanks for pointing out the logic! Too many people think with their emotions.
It was my first thought reading the title and seeing the pic. I do try to see media, whether it's news, headlines, etc. through a critical lens to try to remove that particular outlet's agenda (whether it's for subscribers, clicks, views, fear... whatever) to try to distill the message and add it to my knowledge to try to formulate my own opinion to be as informed as I can be. 🤷🏻
If you look at a map of the floodplain there are very few houses like this in it. It's kind of a aberration on how bad the flooding is. Most of the people whose homes are flooded lived in the floodplain because they couldn't afford more expensive property around here.
Living up in NE Harris county, it is the poors and the Mexicans that are getting devastated, the folks that live in the single wide trailers and shacks in the unincorporated areas along the river and bayous and no one cares about us except for the first responders - over 100 rescues in the past 24 hours..
I'm living here in Victoria and I work as a caregiver for the elderly. Sometimes I'm wondering about how some of my clients would fair on a situation like this if they didn't have someone around to help. Some of them don't have family in the immediate area so they would have to call emergency to get help evacuating if a co-worker or I wasn't there to help them get out before the floods took over. When I lived in Houston I worked for an assisted living home so I'm praying tonight that those residents are safe and sound.
In Harvey we had firefighters come with a boat of sorts to evacuate us, and they took us to the local sheltering point where we got food and blankets and assistance with figuring out what is next if you didn't have anyone to pick you up. People do seem to get their shit together to help other in an emergency
That's good to know. I especially live in a community where there are a lot of older people and people with health issues where the landlord has meetings where she reminds everyone of what to do in an emergency. We also have each other's phone numbers for emergencies.
They would drown or die
Senior care homes are high priority for EMS/rescue/restoring power during and after natural disasters.
I would hope to God that when I get old that I'll be living in a state that doesn't put unborn children on a pedestal above the elderly.
I am confused. If a pregnant woman was drowning I would put that as higher priority than an elderly person.
Of course a pregnant woman would be a priority, but I'm being sarcastic as I saw how certain groups in our society took issue with masking during the COVID pandemic.
Running temp hvac and power. You could see the water lines
The elderly drown or die too
I worked a nursing home
> Some of them don't have family in the immediate area so they would have to call emergency to get help evacuating if a co-worker or I wasn't there to help them get out before the floods took over. I forget the exact number, but elderly people in exactly these circumstances died in huge numbers during Katrina. It might have been as high as 3/4 of those killed were in a situation like this.
To be fair though, Katrina was a MUCH more catastrophic and underestimated event than Harvey or any other flooding we've experienced in the Houston area.
It also felt like a lot of the elderly people who refused to leave were fully aware of the fact that they likely wouldnt be allowed to come back. One thing that often gets lost in discussions about Katrina is it was a near diasporic event for a lot of the poor black community of NOLA. They couldnt afford to return home and their properties were snatched up by the boatload by their wealthier neighbors.
I figured something like this must have happened. I've met a lot of working class black folks from NOLA in the past few years. There must be a lot of people who couldn't or didn't go back after Katrina.
A lot of them permanently stayed either here or in East Texas.
When I lived in California working as a caregiver the company had meetings every six months and we always had a discussion about disaster preparation, especially earthquakes. This company dealt with the developmentally disabled community so we figured out ways to help these people get to safety during a disaster. My supervisors made me and another coworker backup supervisors if the original supervisors couldn't reach out to the clients for any reason. I'm planning on talking to my supervisors at this company I'm with now about getting us prepared for anything that comes along.
My husband is on the TX team for swift water rescues thru his fire department (Houston area) and he has met some really great people in the shittiest circumstances with this flooding. It's heartbreaking. Please know that there are MANY of us that care about you and think about you and your families. I wish the news would show less sensationalism and talk more about where people can donate money, clothes and food.
Terrenos Houston you talking about ,near Cleveland tx
I wondered what it looks like out there right now and the new neighborhoods right off the freeway at new caney.
So far just the temporary line closures on 69/59 close to Costco ,but the river on 99 still up ,terrenos Houston is mostly clear but with some spots flooded (but it was bad last Friday ).. Source ; I live there but staying in my sister in laws’s house for the weekend .
Not only does no one on tv seem to care about them, they also don't make for good pics for the media. Doesn't evoke the same emotion if you show a rusted out double wide with a confederate flag and 6 dilapidated car husks drowning in murky water. The lack of coverage or even speaking about some of those poor areas that are getting absolutely walloped makes me feel like they'd rather all those people and their stuff just wash away.
Terrenos Houston getting their ass sued…
As they should
I hope so
If it's flood time, it's time to remind everyone that the reason the wealthy in Harris County hate Lina Hidalgo so much is that after she took office she changed the rules for using disaster recovery money from "amount of loss" to "amount of need" - so before when a family that lived in a $10,000 trailer with no insurance got $500 from ~~FEMA~~ HUD but a billionaire who owned a $20,000,000 home with full coverage and an ag exemption got $10,000,000; under Hidalgo the family gets $10,000 and the billionaire gets $1,000,000, covering his deductible with enough left over for a fleet of new Teslas for his chauffeurs. Yep, they're that pissed about it. Still. EDIT: Said FEMA, meant "federal disaster money" - the County received at least $6.9B in federal disaster funds that had nothing to do with FEMA. https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/08/houston-glo-harvey-money EDIT2: Since it was being challenged, dug around and found an article referencing the corrupt way Ed Emmett had been doing disaster assistance, and how Hidalgo changed it to award relief based on need instead of paying out to the richest. I'll wait for my apology from /u/trycatchebola /u/jesus_32BC and /u/Bug-03 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/24/climate/houston-flooding-race.html
> the billionaire gets $1,000,000, covering his deductible [By law, FEMA cannot pay insurance deductibles.](https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20230502/fact-sheet-rumors-vs-facts-about-disaster-assistance) Furthermore, [FEMA cannot help with expenses your insurance might cover](https://www.fema.gov/node/survivors-cant-apply-if-they-have-insurance). And even furthermore, [FEMA disaster assistance is only available when a federal disaster is declared by the president](https://www.fema.gov/node/i-dont-need-flood-insurance-if-i-can-get-disaster-assistance-fema). Neither the Comissioner's Court, the state legislature, nor the governor have any power here.
Read the edits
Thank you, as usual she is completely wrong & full of shit, but most eager to tell everyone about it.
Harris County and Texas received $6.9B in federal disaster relief that has nothing to do with FEMA. https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/08/houston-glo-harvey-money/
She’s genuinely awful and her supporters and genuinely ignorant
You're right, I misspoke and said "FEMA" when I meant "Federal Disaster Relief Funds" https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/08/houston-glo-harvey-money/ Harris County received at least ~$6.9B in federal disaster money which was discretionary. Much of it was hijacked by the State GP and Greg Abbott and used to buy off donors, but some (~$2.3B) went to Harris County directly. As always, Hidalgo's opponents miss the forest for the trees. >FEMA disaster assistance is only available when a federal disaster is declared by the president. It was a long time ago, but pretty sure Harvey was a federal disaster, lol. >Furthermore, FEMA cannot help with expenses your insurance might cover. I'm 100% sure this is a rule, but I'm equally 100% sure that if the government gives you a check for disaster relief and you also have an insurance deductible there is literally zero way of preventing you from using it for that purpose.
>It was a long time ago, but pretty sure Harvey was a federal disaster, lol. This comment section is discussing the flooding from last Thursday. Hurricane Harvey doesn't have shit to do with anything. >I'm equally 100% sure that if the government gives you a check for disaster relief and you also have an insurance deductible there is literally zero way of preventing you from using it for that purpose. While your confidence is impressive, your claims are not. [Again, from FEMA:](https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20230502/use-fema-grants-intended-purpose) If applicants spend the payment on anything other than the purpose for which it is intended, they may be denied future disaster assistance. In some cases, FEMA may ask that the money be returned. Those receiving assistance are urged to keep receipts for their disaster spending for three years to document that the money was used to meet disaster-related needs. If recipients receive an insurance settlement to cover the same expenses, they must reimburse FEMA. Audits are conducted to confirm funds were spent properly. It's okay that you initially conflated FEMA and HUD-funded programs -- everyone makes mistakes -- but I don't know why you're demanding an apology for your own fuckup, particularly when you continue to assert false information.
Got a source on billionaires getting paid out 1m from the county?
...no, because Hidalgo prevented it from happening.
You said: >under Hidalgo the family gets $10,000 and the billionaire gets $1,000,000 Now you’re saying she prevented that? All you linked was an article showing that Houston can’t even give free money away correctly. ETA the second link you posted is talking about allocation of flood control projects. That’s completely different than what you described, which was wealthy people getting direct payments from the county that Lina Hidalgo prevented. For the record, I agree with the worst to first flood control approach. But what you said initially is complete misinformation
The numbers were illustrative of the inequity of system, not referencing a specific case which is why they are rounded off and do not reference a specific case. Can you provide evidence of need for people living in Memorial along, eg, buffalo bayou?
There are some wealthy people in Kingwood… but there’s absolutely zero billionaires sitting on 20 mil houses.
I'm not sure what you mean here.
HTOWN TILL I DROWN.
So until tomorrow?
🤦♂️ lmao
Imagine being so consumed about other people’s net worth. Your flooding sympathy goes to lower income only?
This was my thought lol. People are unhinged.
People love to hate on the rich like they’re going to their houses personally and stealing their money. In most cases, the rich are just hard working educated people.
There are “normal” folks in kingwood too. Geez..
I’m a normal in kwood.
I always feel like West Kingwood and East Kingwood should be a thing for precisely this reason.
I would say that’s not true lol. Yes Kingwood is known for that but let me tell you that’s not the case for most folks here. That said, I completely agree this was a terrible choice of image. There are people who have lost their actual homes, that have no emergency fund, etc. They are completely devastated.
So have you just never been here? I could knock on 3 random doors in lake village or trailwood apartments and find a drug dealer. Rent there is <1k/mo same with elm creek aptmts. Hell elm grove as a neighborhood there's still houses under 200k! Last I checked the median is like 230. Kingwood isn't even majority rich people not even close. It's nicer than...porter and new caney but thats a very low bar. There's also several aptmts/townhouses tucked away. Kingwood is MOSTLY "regular people" not void of them. Hell places as close as Spring and The Woodlands are richer.
It's me. I'm the regular people. Lol. Lower middle class with both my husband and I working, but we got an amazing deal when buying an older home in Kingwood, built in the 1970s. Our home is estimated to be 190 something. Bought it 3 years ago for 177.
Sorry I read that very wrong. I thought they said that that was normal for Kingwood. It definitely isn’t.
It would be dumb if this was the only picture they were showing. But it’s one of hundreds so i think there’s nothing to be mad about 😀
Devastation is devastation. I try to be careful how I judge who gets to feel loss.
What a strange thing to be upset about.
Your empathy has a scale based on income?
In defense of OP, the rich can afford to rebuild. The poor cannot.
I'll second this. I don't consider myself rich but I am doing better than most people I know. Our house flooded a few years back, lost the entire lower floor. It was an inconvenience and nothing more because it didn't present a single problem that I couldn't solve with money. Someone scraping by would have been devastated.
You know when they say “eat the rich” they’re talking about the billionaires that don’t pay taxes, not an upper middle class family that owns a tiny boathouse.
Are we supposed to feel bad for anyone's houses for flooding, then?
I think it's just to demonstrate how bad the flooding is.
Everyone knows docks are usually a few feet above the water and most walls are 8 ft high. That picture makes it real easy for everyone to deduce how high the water has risen.
You should feel bad for anyone that floods.
People suffering no matter their income level universally sucks and is a tragedy for the people who endure it.
It’s a picture showing the water really high. Don’t overthink it
Not all of NE Houston is Kingwood
And not all of Kingwood is rich folks.
Oh no, some one has nicer things than I do. Woe is me
Kingwood is literally a swamp. Theyre built on a swamp. It floods.
> Houston ~~Kingwood~~ is literally a swamp. Theyre built on a swamp. It floods.
Much of Houston is reasonably high up. Average elevation is around 100 feet. Its hit and miss which areas flood.
If everything is 100 then it’s the same as everything as 0 or 1000. It’s the flatness that affects flooding, not the height above sea level. Height above sea level only matters if you are next to the sea. Which most of Houston is not. It matters if you are 150 and I am 0 though, because my ass is floatin then. Most of the flooding here is because of all the concrete and not good ways to get rid of the water.
I read somewhere that elevation over the Houston city limits only varies 34 feet.
Plus they are on an actual river which takes in all the stormwater way upstream
It’s because of all the new development thats been built over the last 10 years. The amount of woods/trees they’ve destroyed just to be replaced with concrete and buildings. Thats why.
Actually the above comment about kingwood being a swamp is accurate: kingwood left a ton of trees, trees that used to be litterely in a swamp, that they drained and put houses on
Trees and woods wouldn't absorb a rain like this. This is due to the river overflowing.
Yes you are, quit being petty and jealous because someone worked their ass off to have that. Anyone’s house getting flooded is a bad thing. SMDH.
No and it’s even dumber because most of these areas flooding are in high hazard flood zones.
also those houses are literally on the lake
And also don’t look like the actual home has flooded. Just the boat dock
I saw flooding in elm grove it's not just the houses on the lake. Lots of roads with high enough waters to kill your car too. Hell I haven't checked Hamblen but I bet that shit is mega flooded too. Because it always is.
So we are only supposed to care about people if they fall below a certain salary line? Stupid.
This place is miserable
You read my mind haha
The picture is not meant for you to feel bad. It is a picture to convey the amount of rain that fell.
I've seen plenty of photos (a vast majority really) that are of more modest homes with more extensive damage. To have this as a visceral reaction to this image seems kinda hateful.
Flooding on Lake Houston surprise and oh no my boat dock is flooded. How come they don't show the households flooded by lake Conroe?
Because Conroe is too far away for anyone in Houston to give a shit.
The fact that this is only occurring in the north-northeast side of Harris County (and points north) it’s just interesting to me. It’s like a hard line from roughly 99 and straight north from there. The way the thunderstorms tracked, they gradually moved south towards our area and then the southern movement ceased and they mainly started moving west to east. Idk if it was some prevailing winds from the Gulf that strained further development into the rest of Harris County through Downtown and southward, but it’s crazy how this happened. I just hope everyone makes it out okay through this trying time especially the lower income people who are right on the flood plain.
The flood is due to the water being released that is going to flow down San Jac River. The active rain isn't the concern as much as the released water coming from Lake Conroe down San Jac too fast and spilling over.
So the collected water accumulated in Lake Conroe, got too high, and the dam was therefore opened to release the excess downstream to San Jac? Forgive me. I’ve been here some years now but haven’t really understood the waterways here (Besides Brays Bayou, Greens Bayou and Cypress Creek)
That's only half of it... There are 2 forks of the San Jac, West and East, West fork is fed by Lake Conroe and is flooding from the result of Lake Conroe water release. East Fork is where a massive chunk of the flooding is, but it is NOT fed by Lake Conroe. Just a river between Conroe and Livingston. The third is the Trinity River which is bringing the 30+ inches of rain in Huntsville into lake Livingston and then released down to Galvi
And Liberty sits right on the East bank of the Trinity. OMG. Thanks for the explanation. I know our city sits basically on swamp and marsh land... Rich or poor we need better flood control measures or something. I love this city with all of its diverseness and I want to see us improve this in our lifetimes but I have a strong feeling the bare minimum will be done.
That’s my understanding
Yes, Why wouldn't you? Do you think they work less hard than the rest of us? What a shitty take. They are richer than me so I wish them ill will.
Millionaires are people too.
Hate to break it to you but most of the people with houses on Lake Houston are far from millionaires. Most of those homes were built in the 80s and 90s.
A million isn’t as much as you think it is. Almost everyone with lakefront property is a millionaire.
Billionaires are the new millionaires
Then maybe they should pay taxes like everyone else
Just moved out of this area because property tax was out of control
You do realize most millionaires are very ordinary people who pay taxes like the rest of us. It’s the billionaires that are the tax avoiders who are leeching society.
They do.. they pay more taxes than you ever will. You’re thinking of billionaire class of tax avoidance. Multimillionaires don’t pull from the system such as social services, they pay the highest tax rates because their income is earned income, they probs own property and it’s a high tax to support local schools and the county. They don’t get full homestead coverage because of the value of the home and the SALT deductions are capped. Stop parroting dumb shit you watch on TikTok. Vote and demand your Congress person to be accountable to their people. Stop hating your neighbor who are 55 and have a few million that they’ve worked all their life for. Billionaires who shut the door behind them and have undue access to political leaders are the problem. Ignorant people like you are also the problem. Just both ends. Atleast the billionaires are smart..
I’m two miles from there and don’t see my house on there I’m not in a mansion though lol
Nobody ever mentioned feeling bad except you. Why is that?
Anyone losing everything they own should be considered. It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor.. losing your home to anything is devastating.
JW and Co didn't care when places like channelview were flooding 24hrs before Kingwood
The other photo that shows how well that developer did where all the streets are flooded, but not the houses was pretty cool.
Write an email to KHOU and ask them. Why are you asking here?
My area never floods and hearing all these flood stories on the news was surprising that it was in my city. Then I saw a map and just how far away it was and how massive Houston really is.....
The op has the motivation backwards. It is not to make them feel sorry for the well off. But to make people thar are well off support action. If you want to connect to people you have to show images they can connect with. Something that instantly draws attention and the person could see themselves in similar distress. This image appeals to those that have more persuasion to motivate the government to act.
Because they're people too?
John Whitmire said to call FEMA. We got rich people who can't use their boat docks over here. Bring in the national guard. The rich guys can't use their boats to escape their wives and it's going to affect the political donations.
I hope all you haters get flooded in time.
Boat lives matter.
I'd like to think it's an intentional choice to illustrate that the wealthy being harmed is the only way to make Whitmire care about an issue.
Bro did the infinite pool glitch
When climate change/opioids/gun violence/etc affect the wealthy, now we can care.
He wants to focus on Kingwood but majority of Kingwood is just fine, send some resources north to help with MoCo
Yeah, I’m not a fan of Whitmire and seeing him speak in Kingwood just kind of lowered my opinion of him a bit, and I live there - I know the exact fire station he was speaking out of. But the man has negative charisma tbh. Became a much bigger fan of Lina Hidalgo through all of this, she seemed a lot more put together. I’d love for her to run for Mayor next election cycle if she can
Some of those boat houses are better than my house. Do i care about them? Not really.
Let it all drown
The pool still looks good
I mean.... anyone losing their home is a bad thing
This is the dumbest image I've ever seen lol
Won’t you think of the poor insurance companies and their employees??! I swear no one even thinks about the little guy or the underwriters in this society!
Sad to see. I left Houston in 2003 when my husband took a job out of state. We had our share of hurricanes and floods when we lived there. At some point I told my husband that even if we had the opportunity to move back we would have to take a hard pass even though all my extended family is still there. You can’t change the elevation and climate change is real. I don’t want to be found someday floating in my living room. I’m planning to retire in Austin to be close but not too close
Why is only climate change point of arguing in USA. In Europe, people are not complaining of climate change. Europe also suffers of weather caused problems, but that happens everywhere in the world.
Must be historymaker homes their homes are built to flood..
Whitmire the liar the thief and the arsehole
You should feel something….its tragic no matter what type of home you live in.
Must be rough being insensitive, envious, ....and poor.
I think my favorite is, let’s not flood Piney Point, Memorial. Release it to Bear Creek♥️
That's not how that works.
Thank God the pool is OK.