As we wait out the storm...

As I write, we're doing what half of Texas is doing today, battening
down the hatches and waiting for the hurricane known as Harvey to finish
his business with us and move on.

If you've never had the pleasure of a hurricane, this one's a little different
than the normal. Usually, in my experience at least, you've got a day or
two of the full brunt of the storm. The winds, the rain. Hoping everything
keeps together for just another hour. If it holds together just another hour,
that's all we need to make it through...

Harvey's going to be a little different. He's going to be around here causing
trouble for most of a week. Overnight, from Friday evening through now
Saturday morning, Victoria, as an example, has already had more than 16 inches
of rain. They're right in the bullseye for a projection to have more than
30 inches of rain by the time Harvey finally makes his exit sometime after
Tuesday.

This is a living example of the two varieties of rain that Texas enjoys:
too much, and not enough. Victoria, Corpus Christi, and Rockport are on the
dry side of Texas. Everyone in South Texas actually hopes that they get a
storm or two, on occasion.

It's the only time the reservoirs fill up. After a storm passes, down in the
valley, anywhere south and west of San Antonio, you can breathe easy, at least
as far as knowing whether there'll be water next year.

But south Texans don't generally pray for this. Even San Antonio and Austin
are getting hit with the rain. And if you've never seen what happens when it
well and truly rains in San Antonio and Austin?

Keep an eye on the news over the next few days. Houston's likely to be the
big news, simply because we're the big town. But people in Victoria, Austin,
and San Antonio are going to be dealing with a type of rain and flooding that's
pretty much the definition of a biblical event. If you can, be ready to reach
out and help.

And especially for the people living in Rockport, Port Aransas, Port Lavaca,
the coastal towns just north of Corpus where Harvey made his entrance. As of
what I see now, they didn't get the kind of storm surge that wipes towns off
the map. But a lot of people have moved to Rockport over the past few years,
building their retirement homes in a part of the Texas Gulf Coast that is
almost indescribably beautiful.

Until the storms come.