You’re learning first hand all about the power of water.  The weight of water.  The relentless example of gravity it brings wherever it is. This is not like an ocean or lake where water is contained.  You’re seeing one of the most destructive elements of nature in action, again and again. I learned a few things about massive bodies of moving water over the years that might come in handy.

The Plaza Flood Of 1977, 18 people lost their lives.  That happened not in a coastal area via hurricane but in Kansas City when the heaviest rains in a quarter century, 15 inches in a 24-hour period.  Texas hurricane victims have experienced over 50 inches of rain.  In 1977, I spent two days drying off money from the cash room of a trio of popular restaurants in the city’s Country Club Plaza shopping district.  The floor that room was on went under water early in the event.  The room I was in was actually a giant safe.  Flood water leaves nothing untouched.

Learning To Surf in Mexico also brought a keen awareness of just how powerful the ocean is.  Very quickly in the training, I learned it is far easier to go in the direction of the ocean rather than against it.  This was not news really, we had a sailboat when I was a kid.  Still, feeling that much water with your body rapidly brings one to the conclusion that we are no match for its power.

Sail On Just About Any Cruise Ship and you know the ocean is a very big body of water.  You feel it even sailing in calm seas.  You live it when angry seas have their way with your ship. Still, there is a world of difference between a pleasure cruise on open seas and a small but deadly hunk of that sea coming ashore.

Those examples give me just a taste of what the people of Texas are going through.  Houses that were spared will have blue tarps over the top, much like the scene when we first moved to Florida over a dozen years ago after a series of hurricanes crossed the state.  There will be shortages of things they don’t normally think twice about having plenty of. Recovery will take a long time and require a whole lot of understanding on the part of everyone involved.

All the best to those whose lives were altered by Hurricane Harvey.  Hoping for the most rapid return to normal possible.