Posted: 27 Aug 2017 Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG
Do you remember what Hurricane Katrina did to New Orleans? Well, now we are watching the same thing happen to southeast Texas. On Friday, Hurricane Harvey made landfall as a category 4 hurricane. It is the first hurricane to make landfall in the United States in 12 years, and it is the most powerful storm to hit the state of Texas in at least 50 years. One meteorologist is saying that what we are witnessing is “worse than the worst-case scenario for Houston”, and another stated that this storm “could easily be one of the worst flooding disasters in U.S. history”. It would be difficult to overstate the devastation in the Houston area at this moment. Hurricane Harvey has ripped roofs off of homes, turned vehicles over and snapped thousands of trees. Thousands have been rescued from their homes and vehicles, and it is being reported that so far five people have died. In fact, one woman’s dead body was actually spotted floating down the street. According to the National Weather Service, over 24 inches of rain fell in Houston in just a 24 hour period. More rain continues to fall in southeast Texas, and meteorologists are running out of adjectives to describe the nightmare that is currently unfolding… “It’s catastrophic, unprecedented, epic — whatever adjective you want to use,” Patrick Blood, a National Weather Service meteorologist, told the Chronicle. “It’s pretty horrible right now.” The newspaper reported the weather service said five people have died in the Houston area in unconfirmed flood-related deaths.The latest forecasts are telling us that we could see a total of 40 to 50 inches of rain in southeast Texas by Thursday, and so some areas will actually receive a “year’s worth of rain” in less than a week… “A year’s worth of rain may fall in the span of a few days near the Texas Gulf Coast,” reported Weather.com. “A multi-day deluge of the Texas Gulf Coast with catastrophic and life-threatening flooding and destructive winds through could leave areas uninhabitable for an extended period of time, the National Weather Service has warned.”Did you catch that last part? The National Weather Service is actually saying that some portions of Texas could be “uninhabitable for an extended period of time” as a result of this storm. It appears to be inevitable that more people are going to die before this is all over. Authorities are trying to rescue as many people as they can, but there just aren’t enough resources. As the water continues to climb, some people are actually climbing into their attics in a desperate attempt to save themselves, but that is a very bad idea… “We are getting calls from people climbing into their attic. This is along I-45 between downtown and Clear Lake,” Lindner said. “This is along Berry Bayou, Beamer Ditch, Turkey Creek, portions of Clear Creek, Vince Bayou, Little Vince Bayou in Pasadena,” he said. “Pretty much the entire southeast side of Harris County has had 13 to 15 inches of rain in three hours.”This is already being called “a once in a 500 year flood”, and the experts are already telling us that the total economic damage is going to be in the tens of billions of dollars. Earlier this month, I wrote about an unusual series of events that would happen over a 40 day period starting with the recent solar eclipse, but of course at the time I couldn’t account for additional unexpected events such as Hurricane Harvey. And I find it very interesting that this hurricane began forming just about the same time as the eclipse. The following comes from Wikipedia… The eighth named storm, third hurricane, and the first major hurricane of the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, Harvey developed from a tropical wave to the east of the Lesser Antilles on August 17. The storm crossed through the Windward Islands on the following day, passing just south of Barbados and later near Saint Vincent. Upon entering the Caribbean Sea, Harvey began to weaken due to moderate wind shear and degenerated into a tropical wave north of Colombia early on August 19. The remnants were monitored for regeneration as it continued west-northwestward across the Caribbean and the Yucatán Peninsula, before re-developing over the Bay of Campeche on August 23. Harvey then began to rapidly intensify on August 24, re-gaining tropical storm status and becoming a hurricane later that day. Moving generally northwestwards, Harvey’s intensification phase stalled slightly overnight from August 24–25, however Harvey soon resumed strengthening and became a Category 4 hurricane late on August 25. Hours later, Harvey made landfall near Rockport, Texas, at peak intensity.As a result of this storm, thousands could be trapped in their homes without power for an extended period of time. Do you think that those that have been storing up food and emergency supplies all this time will be glad that they have done so? Of course the answer to that question is obvious. If you wait until disaster strikes to get prepared, it will be too late. A whole lot of people down in Texas are going to end up in some very desperate situations because they never believed that something like this could ever happen to them. For those of you that would like some helpful advice on getting prepared for future disasters, I would encourage you to check out a book that I co-authored with Barbara Fix entitled “Get Prepared Now”. Barbara is a highly respected prepping expert, and she is also getting heavily involved in my campaign for Congress. So much of the information in that book is timeless, and my hope is that we can encourage as many people as possible to start getting prepared because very troubled times are ahead of us. Please pray for the people in Houston and throughout the entire southeast Texas area. We truly have not seen a storm like this since Hurricane Katrina, and many portions of the Texas Gulf Coast will be changed forever by this disaster. Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. |
Houston Five Pastor Intercedes Like Elijah as Flood Waters Devastate Houston
JESSILYN JUSTICE AND JENNY ROSE CURTIS CHARISMA NEWS
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Houston Five pastor Doug Stringer is asking for people to intercede like Elijah as flood waters devastate Houston in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.
"Thousands of Houston homes flooded already," Stringer, founder and president of Turning Point Ministries International, tells Charisma News. "Many stranded. We're getting messages for need for help and seeing many FB notices for people who need rescue. I'm actually currently stranded in my home too. Our street is like a river, and the retention lake behind us is rising rapidly. It's like a river rising next to our home because there's nowhere for the water to go. Our roof is leaking in different places, and our chimney is like a slow waterfall. There are tornado warnings every few minutes in our area. My wife and I are praying for everyone we can as we hear of their need. We are declaring like Elijah the word of the Lord for the diminishing of the rain and waters to recede throughout the region."
Reports confirm the storm has killed three people, and the death toll continues to rise. Though the initial Category 4 hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm, damage escalates.
More than 30 inches of rain are expected to saturate the city and beyond. Some areas are expecting up to 50 inches, the highest ever recorded in Texas.
Houston's mayor says more than 2,000 residents have called for rescue.
Hope, though, is rising faster than the flood waters. In one viral image, a dog is seen carrying a bag of food. The dog, who quickly captured the heart of the internet, is just one refugee of thousands.
Stringer says 12 million out of the 28 million residents of Texas are now under a flash flood warning. Tornadoes have been touching down in Houston's surrounding area due to air shifts.
"Water is now rising from the street and almost to the house," Stringer says. "We are praying, worshipping and declaring the greatness and goodness of the Lord. 911 in Houston is overloaded and already has thousands of requests for rescue. I'm moving my mother-in-law, wife and daughter upstairs soon with water and supplies."
Dozens of ministries answered Houston's call to help, including the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team, Convoy of Hope, Somebody Cares and Samaritan's Purse, among others.
Jodie Chiricosta of Somebody Cares tells Charisma News the nonprofit is prepared to respond with direct aid like hot meals, generators, cleaning supplies, tarps and volunteer clean-up teams to help those in Harvey's wake.
"We have identified staging locations from Brownsville, Texas; to Corpus Christi; to San Antonio and Houston. Our network has assets positioned within hours of the forecasted landfall area and supplies are being brought into the region to distribute once the storm subsides. We have mobile kitchens, a shower trailer, BBQ pits, generators, hygiene supplies and teams ready to move into the area as soon as it is safe for teams to respond."
She continues:
Harvey stormed ashore as a Category 4 hurricane and has left a path of devastation. As of Saturday afternoon, officials say that half of Texas' 25-plus million residents and 1/3 of Texas' landmass have been impacted by Harvey. The cities of Rockport and Victoria have been particularly hard hit.A Somebody Cares team has arrived in Corpus Christi and is currently assessing the damage and needs along the coast from there northward to Victoria and Rockport. Since Harvey continues to dump rain as a tropical storm, many additional communities in and around Galveston, Houston, the Texas Hill Country and surrounding areas are preparing for evacuation due to the expectation of severe flooding. Current plans are to establish a first-staging area and service base in Victoria, where we will begin serving hot meals in conjunction with ministry partner Mercy Chefs and distributing needed supplies. We continue to be in constant communication with churches, ministry partners and government agencies so we have real-time assessments. Of course, these plans may change and will expand as conditions and needs on the ground shift.The scale of this disaster is expected to be unprecedented in recent history, with millions of families, homes and businesses impacted. Please pray for those who are being impacted by this ongoing storm, and give a generous donation today so we can rush real aid to meet the needs of real people!
The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team deployed chaplains in response to the hurricane's extensive damage. Because flooding is expected to last for days, the team will initially focus its ministry efforts on areas near evacuation centers.
"We see this as an opportunity to demonstrate God's love and care for people," saysJack Munday, international director of the Rapid Response Team. "For them to know that God hasn't forgotten them."
Convoy of Hope arrived in Texas on Friday, saying: "Our Disaster Services team continues to respond to Hurricane Harvey. Winds reached 130 mph overnight, and southeast Texas is expected to receive up to three feet of rain. ... The advance team is in Corpus Christi today working with local partners to identify the areas of greatest need and stage product where we can host distribution sites in the coming days. The rest of our team and disaster services fleet plan to arrive later today, weather permitting."
Prayer continues to be a huge focus as disaster relief efforts take on the flooding and rain.
"My heart continues to be heavy for the good people of South Texas as they begin to deal with the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey—and the flood waters are still rising in many areas," said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan's Purse. "We have pre-positioned Samaritan's Purse disaster relief trucks and materials outside Dallas and will be moving into the hardest-hit areas as soon as we are given the all-clear by the state authorities. We hope that over the next few months there will be thousands of volunteers who will want to come and help those whose homes have been damaged by this destructive storm."
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