Harvey Remnants

Clueless. After reading the comparisons and seeing where some of you live you'd do well to know the past director of FEMA, one in charge when Katrina hit has stated the dollar impact for Harvey will surpass Katrina by a wide margin. This isn't a contest, we're blessed with such a small human loss, but you're talking 6.5 million people in Houston alone. I've seen the damage from Clear Lake to Galveston already this morning, that doesn't encompass the coastline where the direct hit happened.

Also, the infrastructure needed to turn a ship around hasn't been damaged on the island. Refrigerated storage needed for the supplies that come in hours before are intact, power hasn't been compromised and roads are passable once Clear Creek subsides. We took a direct hit from Ike and turned ships around in less than twenty days.

For the comment that "hotels are a mess" that's nonsense. Hotels, some restaurants and businesses are open in Galveston. The island had flooding in the lower levels, not along Seawall Blvd where the majority of hotels are.

Houston is a big area; it's the forth largest city in the country and growing at a record pace. Seeing flooding in one area doesn't mean the entire city was submerged. It was the same for NOLA.

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I am scheduled to cruise out of Galveston on the Carnival breeze Sept 3. What are the chances this is effected? Is there a chance carnival will load somewhere else such as the port of New Orleans if Galveston is unusable? Should Galveston be useable by next Sunday? Wondering what my next move should be. Thanks everyone

May you might get some info form here.

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Carnival Freedom 08/26/17 - CCL1

Carnival Breeze 08/27/17 - CCL3

Ballfour4... that is great news for now. Do you expect it to get worse. I am hearing the port is expected to reopen Wednesday... do you see that as viable even with the rain forcasted to continue?

The person I am speaking to indicated that at least two hotels she knew of, one of which a family member worked at, suffered significant damage. Not disabling, but enough its going to take them a few days to clean up once things settle and to take rooms here and there out of operating. Also, because of the fact that people did seek refuge in them, many hotels are storing belongings, etc. Plus, some are operating on limited staff.

In short, people coming from outside of galveston should not depend on availability.

The person I am speaking to indicated that at least two hotels she knew of, one of which a family member worked at, suffered significant damage. Not disabling, but enough its going to take them a few days to clean up once things settle and to take rooms here and there out of operating. Also, because of the fact that people did seek refuge in them, many hotels are storing belongings, etc. Plus, some are operating on limited staff.

 

In short, people coming from outside of galveston should not depend on availability.

Does the Convention Center or the Hilton next door have any damage?

Spoke with Carnival customer service this morning regarding our cruise on the Valor departing on the 31st. From what I was told it is still scheduled to depart. I am sure it all depends on when the port reopens and the roads. Planned to drive down from Ft Worth. Just taking a wait and see attitude.

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Ballfour4... that is great news for now. Do you expect it to get worse. I am hearing the port is expected to reopen Wednesday... do you see that as viable even with the rain forcasted to continue?

Scott, that's the (multi)million dollar question. I'm a numbers guy, but after 58 years living on the gulf coast here goes:

It's raining, it has to stop. The rest of my wordy answer is just details.

When Ike hit Galveston it was directly on the West End of the island. The winds were enough to push waves and water over all but the highest points along Seawall Blvd. The harbor area had water and waves strong enough to destroy cars, buildings, and prohibit normal port operations.

Harvey is much different, this is flooding problem with a lesser amount of rainfall on the island, and less wind speed. Even with the Ike damage Galveston returned to cruise ship operations in 20 days. Ships were sent up the Houston Ship Channel to the vacant Bayport Terminal while repairs were done.

Galveston doesn't have structure damage other than flooding, and nothing like Ike. Everything needed to turn ships around hasn't even lost power, including the refrigerated storage warehouses necessary to hold provisions.

The Coast Guard and Galveston harbor master will evaluate and decide when to reopen the channel. As you know it's more than cruise ships and Galveston, other ports involved are Houston, Bayport, Texas City and Barbours Cut. There is usually a parking lot of ships waiting offshore to load and unload on any given day, imagine what that looks like now. I've monitored the VHF and the Coast Guard is active today.

Bored yet? If not, read on. The biggest problem is not on the island, it's Houston. Hobby airport had water in the lower level baggage claim area. That airport just completed a monster renovation to accommodate the international flights Southwest Airlines started, and all of that is damaged. Northwest of Houston the holding reservoirs like Addicks, Conroe and Lake Houston need to release water ASAP from the monster amounts of rain inland. That has to go downstream and into the bays. Not a good sign...

I haven't answered your question after at least ten poorly written paragraphs, so I'd say by next Saturday when the Freedom is scheduled to sail the port will be at normal operations for cruise ship travel. That would give them time to prep, as the Breeze and Liberty of the Seas are scheduled for Sunday.

If it does and your close to the island come join us to celebrate for a late lunch at Olympia Grill at Pier 21 for the best guacamole hummus and cold Shiner around. We usually bring Ellie our Golden Retriever and watch both ships sail.

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The RC ship is planing on docking on Friday. Port should be open by then, if not earlier. Anyone know the record for "Free" days on a cruise ship?

Should be driving down from Fort Worth as well for the trip on the 31st. My concern isn't the ship - my concern is the ability to get to the ship and whether Carnival is understanding that there is one way in and one way out and right now that one is blocked by flooding! Things don't look to get a lot better since the new projection has the eye of Tropical Storm Harvey coming ashore in Galveston on Wednesday (of course it could change again). I haven't even tried to call the hotel we stay at the night before to see if the folks there are ok. Again, not worried about Galveston just not sure how we will get there.

Texas national guard sending 9,000 additional soldiers to disaster area. Rescuers are reporting coming under gunfire by looters and hijackers.

the port of Galveston wont be a problem next weekend

Getting to the port of Galveston will if the flooding doesn't go down

Every natural disaster has been really bad for each affected area

Take the last 3 great disasters

Hurricane Andrew

Hurricane Katrina

and Superstorm Sandy

Take the rain totals from all 3 of those and it doesn't add up to what Harvey is pouring on Houston

If the rain doesn't stop

the flooding doesn't stop

than nobody is driving anywhere

I'm currently stuck in SFO cant fly into Houston

was going to fly into Dallas but the freeways and frontage roads north of our house in Kingwood are flooded

If I fly into Austin roads from there are flooded like La Grange So I'm stuck

We are also suppose to sail sept 3rd on the Breeze wont know till probably Saturday if we actually are

The cruise ships wil be there but ??????

Texas national guard sending 9,000 additional soldiers to disaster area. Rescuers are reporting coming under gunfire by looters and hijackers.

That scares me a bit since my Son In Law is one of the 9000.

Texas national guard sending 9,000 additional soldiers to disaster area. Rescuers are reporting coming under gunfire by looters and hijackers.

Do me a favor, send a link to that rubbish. Not one media outlet is reporting that. Not one.

http://abc13.com/

https://www.click2houston.com/news

http://www.khou.com/

Stop your nonsense or send the proof.

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This is the NWS weather prognosis as of 10:28 AM CDT today. It does not look all that encouraging for Galveston. A major problem is that it is an island serviced by one large bridge, I45, and a small bridge on the SW end of the island that leads to Lake Jackson south of Houston. TXDOT is listing road closures all through the Houston/Galveston area including parts of I45 that goes to the island. Anyone including pax wanting to board the ships are going to have a difficult time getting to the port. Harvey just does not want to leave any time soon.

Today

Tropical storm conditions expected. Showers and thunderstorms. High near 83. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between 1 and 2 inches possible.

Tonight

Tropical storm conditions expected. Showers and thunderstorms. Low around 75. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between 3 and 4 inches possible.

Tuesday

Tropical storm conditions expected. Showers and thunderstorms. High near 83. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between 3 and 4 inches possible.

Tuesday Night

Tropical storm conditions expected. Showers and thunderstorms. Low around 77. Chance of precipitation is 80%.

Wednesday

Tropical storm conditions possible. Showers and thunderstorms likely. Cloudy, with a high near 83. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Wednesday Night

A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 77. Windy.

So with the rain at least slacking off Wednesday, is it feasible that there will be SOME route into Galveston Sunday?

Texas national guard sending 9,000 additional soldiers to disaster area. Rescuers are reporting coming under gunfire by looters and hijackers.

A TX Guard Colonel was on TV last night who is in charge of the troops. He said that they had 2000 guardsmen on duty right then and expected to get 1000 more soon. He also said that IF they needed more, they could call up 9000 total to help out but there were no plans to do so at this time. Situations like what is happening now to SE Texas is one of the major reasons to have a National Guard. Thank you to those who have chosen to serve their state and country.

I'm here in Houston, 1 mile from downtown. Please remember that the news reports focus on the most extreme stories. Many of us are sitting in our homes watching the rain come down. In a metro area with 6.3 million people, there are some bad apples; however most people are being neighborly and helpful.

Travel to Houston completely depends on when the rain stops. I only got 2 inches last night, but there's been another 2 inches this morning, That's on top of the 33+ inches we already had. The water usually goes down pretty fast when the rain stops. My step-mothers car was underwater yesterday, but the water has completely receded in her parking lot. The rivers will continue to rise after the rain stops, but these are not a concern for travel to Houston or getting to Galveston. The radio is just now reporting that the waters are starting to recede on I-45 near downtown and you can now see the submerged cars.

I would say that by Wednesday, you should know if you will be able to get to the ship. I really sympathize; I would be quite stressed out if I was in your position - trying to decide to go or cancel. I've taken 5 cruises out Galveston and just got off the Disney Fantasy 2 weeks ago. My step-mother thought I was very foolish to be sailing during hurricane season.

Boarding Triumph in New Orleans today. It's a bit chaotic with Breeze at Carnival's normal terminal and Triumph using the smaller terminal that NCL uses.

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The Galveston-Port Bolivar ferry is currently running with limited service, depending on weather. According to the ferry's Twitter page, they currently have two boats running.

https://mobile.twitter.com/GalvestonFerry

Do me a favor, send a link to that rubbish. Not one media outlet is reporting that. Not one.

 

http://abc13.com/

 

https://www.click2houston.com/news

 

http://www.khou.com/

 

Stop your nonsense or send the proof.

 

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Here is one link... https://www.cbsnews.com/news/harvey-entire-texas-national-guard-activated/

Here is one link... https://www.cbsnews.com/news/harvey-entire-texas-national-guard-activated/

Find the quote "Rescuers are reporting coming under gunfire by looters and hijackers" in there...

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Here is one link... https://www.cbsnews.com/news/harvey-entire-texas-national-guard-activated/

There is zero zip nada in that story about looters, let alone them shooting at first responders.

Ball Four, the reports of gunfire directed at rescuers were broadcast in an interview on the Weather Channel at 11:15 PST. The interviewee was a member of a rescue group called the Cajun Navy, which is also facing panicked people rushing their boats, swamping them.

Ball Four, the reports of gunfire directed at rescuers were broadcast in an interview on the Weather Channel at 11:15 PST. The interviewee was a member of a rescue group called the Cajun Navy, which is also facing panicked people rushing their boats, swamping them.

The Cajun Navy is a group that formed after the great flood in Baton Rouge in August 2016. They used their own boats to rescue people that were trapped in their homes.

for the people still on the ships out at sea who cannot dock, I hope the ship is offering free laundry?

 

and where and if possible, free medication to those who may have only brought "enough for the cruise". Which makes me think I best bring more than I need.. just in case..when I sail next month.. I never even thought of my medication until just now.. never imagining I'd ever be in this situation, and as in the past have only ever brought exact count of what I would 'need' . yikes..

I used to take my meds in a pill case, but a couple of years ago I stopped doing so for just this reason. Now, I carry 2 weeks worth of prescription meds in their own bottles for a 1 week trip. Vitamins still go in the pill case. I can live without them if I get delayed somewhere.