This Hurricane Harvey SOB deserves it's own thread.
Harvey was on my tail since last week.
Made a trip to Rockport, TX midweek to secure the boat, which is/was(?) in a Rockport marina. Y'all have probably seen news (drone) video of that very same place. I'll put some before and after pictures below.
Stayed as long as I thought prudent, with a margin to drive out (NW) safely, back home (100mi, Harvey's diameter was 300mi+) without finding a flooded road or three. Even that got hairy, haven't seen rain like that in a long while, plus some buffeting cross winds.
Did this when the NHC forecasts, tracks, and discussions converged near Corpus Christi and didn't budge much.
The early likely's showed a probable landfall down near Baffin Bay, which isn't too far away, and puts the Live Oak Peninsula where Rockport, Fulton, Aransas Pass are, on the right front quadrant.
Had been following Harvey very closely since it left Africa, like I do most of the cyclones all over. Hoped it would do something else, but the track finally settled down on my homeport.
As the hurricane drew closer on Thursday 24Aug17, I made my own prognosis/forecast (or personal decision) that Harvey was probably going to be at least a Category 3, maybe a Cat 4 or even 5 at landfall, contrary to what the media and even NHC were still projecting ATT.
Landfall also looked like it would make Rockport ground zero, which it did about twelve hours after I got outta Rock.
Spent some time there at the dock redoing the lines and adding new ones, securing everything possible, as best as possible. Only so much you can do when some of it is almost fifty feet up and the wind is howling.
When I decided late Thursday evening that Harvey was inevitable, and, IMO, was going to hit as a Category 3 or 4+, I shifted my strategy from just securing things, to saving what I could in the way of the most valuable gear aboard. From past experience I know pretty much what to expect and how much devastation one of these suckers can deal out.
Man, did I stuff my vehicle full of marine electronics, an extensive suite of (very $$$$) bulky sails, and about everything else of value I had room for (and/or until I ran out of energy). The rest of the stuff would either survive or be lost.
By then it was past 0'dark-thirty Friday morning, and the rainbands, winds and lightning were ramping up pretty good. I kept advising some dockmates who lived aboard that they should leave, that it was going to be much worse than what they had heard elsewhere. Don't know what they did after I left, hope they are OK, good guys. The few pics and vids I've seen look awfully bad.
There were a large number of vessels hauled out and up on stands too in the various marinas, including some very (IMO) expensive yachts. It looked as if every boat on stands was knocked over, probably like dominoes.
I then took a drive around stormy Rockport, to get a look at one of my favorite places...and when conditions were clearly deteriorating (and I saw TV trucks rolling in), I headed home.
So, Hurricane Harvey then more or less followed me home for a while, getting as close as about thirty+ miles away to the east (as a weakened Tropical Storm), bringing some serious winds, but luckily only about 3.5" of rain over a long period. My Wunderground data shows it. So been kind of busy.
So, here are a few pictures. Hope to post more NOAA radar and sat loops (I 'snapped' a bunch of them online), and NHC text later.
Hoping y'all will delve into a discussion on the whys and wherefores of Hurricane Harvey in particular. I'm sure that the NHC is going to study this one in detail, it was a bear. I figured it would probably be the most expensive US storm ever.
Thoughts and condolences to the many others much worse off than me from Harvey.
Rockport's Cove Harbor N&S, multiple marinas, before Harvey:
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Cove Harbor aftermath (slightly diff angle...got another one similar, have to find it):
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Harvey's bullseye on Rockport and the Live Oak Peninsula:
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Downtown Rockport Thursday, before Harvey:
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Not mine (I hope):
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