Hurricane Harvey

[mirth]

Ask him about the weather.

[Barthheart]

And their state of the art flood controls....

[Barthheart]

Maybe gameleaper can help them with that....

[BanzaiCat]

Thanks, I appreciate that. She knows the town fairly well, though, as she typically has to go there on business at least once a year and I think she lived there for a time as well. I, OTOH, was only there once. I changed planes in '86 and never left the airport.  :P

Smart laddie. ;)

[Sir Slash]

I had an uncle named 'Harvey'. He used to come over and stay too long and not go anywhere too. He also couldn't hit the toilet and so caused local flooding as well.  :pullhair:  My Mother used to send him out to the store and then we'd move to another state. I'd do the same here.

[mirth]

https://twitter.com/Noeltbrennan/status/901796416628064256

[mirth]

https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/902010486862032897

[bayonetbrant]

this is WaPo, so you know it's #fakenews but they're talking about 1-in-a-million-year flood levels

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/08/27/texas-flood-disaster-harvey-has-unloaded-9-trillion-tons-of-water/?utm_term=.71e27488216b

that's Noah-like, and that's not exaggerating.

[mirth]

Give WaPo time. They'll find a way to link it to Trump.

[mirth]

The 9 trillion gallons of water dispensed so far is enough to fill the entire Great Salt Lake in Salt Lake City — twice! It would take nine days straight for the Mississippi River to drain into Houston and equal the amount of water already there.

[bayonetbrant]

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/anheuser-busch-sends-more-than-500k-cans-of-water-to-victims-of-hurricane-harvey/598992674


cue the jokes about "how do you know they didn't just send Budweiser?"

[BanzaiCat]

Verizon texted over the weekend to tell its customers in Texas they'd cover our data to our phones through September 8.

[bayonetbrant]

that's cool of them

[OJsDad]

https://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Carriers-Offer-Free-Services-in-Wake-of-Hurricane-Harvey-140213

Wireless and fixed-line ISPs are lending a hand in the wake of the devastation caused over the weekend by Hurricane Harvey. Of the 7,804 cell sites across the impacted region, 320 are out of service, or about 4% notes the FCC. The hardest-hit areas are Aransas County, Refugio County, Calhoun County and San Patricio County, notes the agency. All told, at least 148,565 people in the path of the hurricane were without cable or wireline service as of Sunday, according to the FCC's report.

Many cell towers have battery backups or backup generators to ensure towers remain online, but getting to these towers with the level of devastation is proving unsurprisingly difficult.

"Verizon's network continues to perform well throughout the storm's impacted area," Verizon tells the Wall Street Journal. "As anticipated, commercial power is out in many places throughout Texas, but backup generators are running and refueling vendors are on standby to ensure facilities continue operating."

Sprint also stated "a relatively small number of cell sites are impacted due to commercial power outages but overall the network is holding up well." T-Mobile similarly noted that while there is damage to its network, it's less than the carrier saw during previous storms like Hurricane Matthew.

Verizon says that it's giving consumers in the impacted area free phone and some free data until September 8.

"Sometimes life throws the unexpected at you, and it could mean using extra data that you weren't planning on needing," Verizon said on its website. "Verizon is offering 3GB of bonus data to qualified Texas counties, so you can stay connected when it matters most."

Sprint and T-Mobile say they're providing free access to texting and phone service to users in the impacted area until September 1. Comcast also says the company has opened up its network of WiFi hotspots to provide an additional layer of access to storm victims.

It took a little longer, but AT&T Monday also acknowledged they're also doling out free bill credits.

"Our thoughts are with everyone impacted by Hurricane Harvey and all of those who have friends and family there," AT&T said in a statement. "Through at least Sept. 1, 2017, AT&T will issue credits to AT&T Wireless customers in impacted areas for additional data, voice and text charges, and AT&T PREPAID for additional voice and text charges."

[Sir Slash]

I saw an AT&T guy say before the storm hit that there would be service regardless of Harvey's impact. I was wondering then if that would actually be the case or not. Looks like the services have handled the storm better than I was thinking they would. During Hurricane Charlie in 2004, the landlines were the only thing working-- no power or any other services. Also, I was kind of surprised to see despite the awful flooding, that power was still on throughout most of Houston. Has our tech become 'hurricane-proof'?