For those who live in Houston or the surrounding areas, “catastrophic” is too kind a word to describe what has happened to this city. When one looks at the images and recognizes the places in them, places many of us have been to or passed by far too many times to count, seeing these locations completely submerged in water is nothing short of apocalyptic. Here, some of the most visually startling pictures have been gathered into one place, though no picture can adequately tell the horror and shock that Houstonians are facing at this very moment, with thousands packed into densely-populated stadiums and convention centers, and while chemical plants are reportedly exploding. The road to recovery will be long and difficult, but if any city can pull it off it will be the richly-diverse and resilient city of Houston.
And finally there was this gem from POTUS on Twitter as Harvey ravaged Southeast Texas:
United States Hypocrisy 
Caleb where are you? I am so fried, I can’t remember if you are in Texas or the Carolinas?
But I think you are right, if any city can pull it off it will be the richly-diverse and resilient city of Houston! I have heard many great things about it.
The pictures are horrifying though, and I think right now, it looks very unsafe.
They are in our minds and hearts…
I’m actually in Louisiana right by Texas border at the moment. Houston is a little more than 2 hours away.
When “Houston” finally does re-emerge, it will be a much smaller version of itself. The regional economy will be in a shambles for a long, long time to come. Many people, and corporations will re-think about re-building in low-lying areas, with 30% of Harris County below sea level…and let’s not forget the rising sea level, becoming increasingly worse in the future.
Mass transit and the used car market will be devastated, and how do you know that “new” cars haven’t been under water. If workers cannot get to work, no paychecks will cause small businesses to fold. Large corporations–especially in today’s computer age–will re-locate outside the area, perhaps to higher ground. Paychecks and consumers, along with them.
Can FEMA and Texas bring-in temporary housing, and for how long? The ground floor of many buildings will have rotted-out somewhat, dry wall must be replaced, so too for wiring and plumbing. You can count on insurance prices skyrocketing.
Will the State of Texas finally stop c\p avoiding Climate Change? And Immigration problems, with 25% of Construction being performed by undocumented immigrants? Texas tax ro;les will diminish significantly, while the domain for social safety net programs will increase exponentially!
Wow. This is truly a great analysis you’ve given here.