Thread: Houston

I think that the reasons for the difference in news coverage are twofold - firstly language, cultural, historical, political and business connections, and secondly the difference that as you say, the monsoon is annual, where in Houston, hurricanes, although a common event, are certainly nothing like annual, and, moreover, the rainfall from Harvey is not only unprecedented locally, but sets new records for rainfall in a single event for all of the USA. In other words, Harvey is a 'one off', where the monsoon floods are regular.

But undoubtedly, we see more news about those places that as Australians we have connections with, for a variety of reasons, although I suspect that SBS may have more to say about the monsoon flooding than is seen on the mainstream channels.

Glad he's ok too.

While comparisons certainly don't value any one life over another, it is very sobering to note that the India, Nepal and Bangladesh death toll is now more than 1200! Tropical storm Harvey in US, death toll 26.

The Guardian does s fairly good job:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/30/mumbai-paralysed-by-floods-as-india-and-region-hit-by-worst-monsoon-rains-in-years

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2017/aug/30/tropical-storm-harvey-news-live-louisiana-texas

Yes, good points above.
I hadn't heard the 1200 figure, but I'm not surprised.
Our son is off to Sri Lanka on Friday so he may get his feet wet.
I did actually see the Indian floods on the ABC, so it and SBS are giving time to our region. The commercials are another story.
I guess although monsoons are annual, they do seem to be getting worse. I remember from our time in Bangkok that parts of the city, where the poor people lived, would flood every year. There are gates on the foreshore on the south side of Bangkok holding back the rising water of the bay from flooding the city.
Houston is an oil city of course and vehicle emissions are contributing to global warming so it is coming back to bite them.

I talked to my brother on the phone a few minutes ago. He is doing fine, still got his sister in law with them. His daughter went to work yesterday - freeways are out of action, but using other streets worked - for a meeting of managers to assess what to do. His wife is planning to go to work tomorrow (actually they are a day behind us) for a similar meeting - but as far as she can find out the office building has no power, and one of her key staff, sent a text about the meeting, responded with a text showing the road just away from the house on the way to the office, that looks like a river.

Another interesting issue - as a geophysicist, I follow the industry activities. The Society of Exploration Geophysicists is scheduled to hold their annual meeting in Houston in three weeks time. One of the largest regular conferences in the USA, it is impossible to move at this short notice, and the only alternative would be to cancel it - but up to about ten thousand delegates are expected, and most of these would have already paid for attendance, booked airline flights from all over the world, and made hotel bookings. But right now, the conference centre is home to about ten thousand evacuees! Glad it is not my problem.

Hopefully the water will have gone down in three weeks and people will have left to go home. Otherwise, I guess the conference sessions might have larger crowds than normal!

A consequence of the floods , far reaching, and not really thought about.

World's most crucial chemical suddenly in short supply on Harvey

Another unexpected consequence.

Raft of floating FIRE ANTS in Hurricane Harvey flood waters is mesmerising - but terrifyingly dangerous

More news, and it is not good.

Two new tropical threats are taking shape in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean