After the Tax Day flood, which left 16 dead, Green introduced a bill to fund $311 million for the Harris County Flood Control District. That bill stalled out in the House Budget Appropriations Committee and never came up for a vote. (Committee Chair Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., did not return requests for comment.) The federal funds provided in the bill could have jump-started flood mitigation projects in Houston that had already been approved by the Army Corps of Engineers. Those projects had languished for years, even decades, because the federal share of their budgets was never appropriated by Congress.
As far as I know Houston is almost 600 sq. miles. New Jersey is almost 9,000 sq. miles. Houston Is not Larger than New Jersey. Massachussets is over 10,000 sq miles. Rhode Island is the smallest state at 1,500 sq miles. In reference to post number 56
It looks like these metal 5 gallon gas cans are pretty highly rated on Amazon. $32.
I was very interested to hear what Tom said about a dirt bike being a good way to get around in an emergency situations. You can cut through tight places and go over and around irregular terrain. (As long as the gas supply holds out…)
And gas stabilizer: PRI Fuel Stabilizer
From the Seattle Times graphic.
So I have an dual purpose on/off road bike (suzuki DRZ-400) that I bought with an eye towards this specific use. I picked it up used about 8 years ago for $3000. New, its about $7500. I really enjoy riding it - parking is especially easy, and in conditions of heavy traffic, lane-splitting (while occasionally exciting) is really helpful too.
The bike itself is relatively light (300 pounds), and the previous owner retrofitted it with an aftermarket plastic gas tank (4 gal, instead of 2.5 gal) giving it an extended range.
The primary issue I’ve had is the electronic ignition & electric starter. If you let the bike sit for a few months, the battery will run down, unless you have it on a trickle charger. Even then, batteries only last 2-3 years. If I had it to do over again, I’d get a bike with a kick starter. They’re more work, but the primary problem I’ve had with the bike be gone. (Failing that - learn how to push-start a 300# motorcycle - a useful skill on its own.)
Otherwise - I could easily get 200 miles on the bike on one tank. That said - I’d be tired at the end of the trip. They are substantially more work than driving a car. For me at least.
If I were really fleeing some situation, and traffic was all stopped up, and I was weaving through the traffic, I’d be extremely concerned that some desperate citizen would try to take me down and swipe my bike “to save his family.” Extremely concerned. Maybe that’s my paranoia showing.
I’d prefer side roads, and I’d also want body armor. Just in case. Riding a bike, you’re quite vulnerable. Its way too easy to drop it just in normal situations.
Plus they’re noisy. Make sure you have a bike that’s a four-stroke. They are quieter.
Also, you need gloves, a sturdy jacket & pants. And did I mention body armor? Last thing: a GPS navigator. They make them for bikes. Mount it on the handlebar. Mine is removable. They’re easy to swipe. You can get all sorts of after-market maps to download to the navigator. Topo maps might be useful too, especially if you are going off road during your exodus.
And if you really want to ride in the mud, you probably want to practice. Its not easy. Did I mention bikes are very easy to drop? Good news is, if its in the dirt, you aren’t likely to get hurt too badly - you just end up bouncing into the brush at 10-20 mph.
What’s more, a bike can’t go up hills that a 4WD jeep (in low gear) would have no problem crawling up. You need to learn what’s possible, and what’s not - at your skill level, I mean. Hitting rocks or gulleys in the (dirt) road - at speed - will bounce you right off into the brush, especially on a hill. Learning during a stressful event is not recommended.
I did my learning on the dirt fire roads surrounding (then) NAS Miramar in San Diego. I have no idea what the legality of that was, but it was a great playground at that time. At one point I ran into a big burned out area - I later found out it was the impact area of an F-14. Big burned area on a hillside, lots of melted aluminum blobs all over the place. (Pilot bailed out safely). No big hole though, so it probably wasn’t a real crash site. 
thc0655 wrote:
Logan's Run? Anyone? Something else coming (something preplannef)?
Russians just moved civilians away from the 25 mile border with NK. Maybe we are getting ready - Trump always talks about the element of surprise. . .
Rector
Rector wrote:
Russians just moved civilians away from the 25 mile border with NK. Maybe we are getting ready - Trump always talks about the element of surprise. . .
Rector
Dollar rebounds, stocks gain as N.Korea missile fears recedeUm. Say what? This is still the "narrative" that they are trying to use to make sense of the stock market rebound vs. just saying what's more likely true; the central banks and their proxies dumped massive amounts of liquidity into the correct vehicles to get stocks moving back upwards again. Because otherwise this is the actual news about NK during this week of steadily rising stock prices:
North Korea Fires Missile Over Japan - The New York Times Trump says 'all options on table' after North Korea missile launch Putin warns US, North Korea tensions on verge of 'large-scale conflict US flies bombers, fighters in show of force against N.Korea - CNBC.com South Korea drops eight heavy bombs on border with North Korea South Korea holds live-fire drills that simulate destroying North Korea'sAs always, what I see here is central banks so afraid of any decline in stocks, no matter how slight, that they are willing to dump whatever amounts of new liquidity is necessary to keep stocks from falling. I could be wrong, but that fits the data far better than the stupidly false narratives being put forth by the media to "explain" the movements in the world's main stock indexes.
Perhaps it should read
“Central Bankers Fire Missile over Japan”
“Trump says all options are on the table - except his own”
sand_puppy wrote:
It looks like these metal 5 gallon gas cans are pretty highly rated on Amazon. $32.
I think the above gentleman is correct to use kitchen garbage bags as the safety lids. Open buckets do tend to slosh after all, so he's clearly thinking ahead.
/sarcasm off
Okay folks, do *not* try this at home!
This behavior, while falling squarely into the hoarding category, is profoundly unsafe.
One saying I'm fond of is "it won't be the economic crisis that harms people, but their reaction to it."
We can say a similar thing here; "it won't be the gasoline shortage that harms people, but their reaction to it."
If you ever have wondered why Donald Trump became President of the U.S. or why MSM seems to have captured the vast majority of American minds or why people use plastic bags as lids for pails of gasoline; perhaps the attached video might explain it. In our “oil saturated world of convenience”, we have, quite simply, forgotten how to think.
If you’ve wondered how big Harvey’s footprint would be if placed over other areas of the country, this article is for you. Here are a few examples … Grover
http://www.chron.com/news/local/article/Maps-show-what-Harvey-s-weekend-impact-would-look-12161601.php
To SP #102, I had bought the dirt bike less than a year ago after thinking about how hard it is to get around Houston during an evacuation (even without the flooding the gridlock can make quick movement impossible). I bought a used Honda 150F (small enough that my 14 yr old daughter could drive it…she loves it). This proved to be a GREAT way to get around Houston during the flood. It handles deep water pretty well but more importantly you can pull it out if it gets stuck (as mine did as I tried to traverse a mud-filled street). I was able to pull this out by myself and continue to find a better route across Houston.
<img alt="" src="https://peakprosperity.com/files/users/u_56548/dirt_bike_stuck_in_mud_at_street_river_crossing_medium_img_8819_0.jpg" width="495" height="372" />
The dirt bike also allows you to go completely offroad when needed to go around obstacles (note the towing chain which is strapped to the gas tank to help me pull our stuck truck out of a ditch which my son had been driving). Regarding gas, I had ordered 2 x 55 Gal Epoxy Coated Drums along with a Stainless Steel Drum Pump and to insure long term storage I had ordered PRI-G Gas Stabilizer and PRI-D Diesel Stabilizer about 2 months ago as part of my preps (wanted this as backup fuel for vehicles and generator but also calculated this was enough fuel to get our truck to Costa Rica if we ever needed to drive there…its a 25 hr drive from Houston to our vacation/bugout spot in CR).
<img alt="" src="https://peakprosperity.com/files/users/u_56548/gas_85_gal_drums_w_pump_img_8860_medium_large.jpg" style="width:640px;height:481px;" width="640" height="481" />
Very happy not having to think about going to a gas pump for next few weeks.
This really displays a very profound sense of self-interest.
Yikes!
Hopefully he made it home OK, doesn’t smoke, and has a (really) big funnel. Probably not the sharpest knife in the block, kind of like some of our Congress critters it would seem.
Otherwise, I suppose he might have “blow’d up real good”.
If you can’t tell, this man was filling a 30 gallon trashcan (!) in the back of his truck with gasoline. Friend of a friend took this photo in Allen Texas (North of Dallas). I can only imagine the severity of the injuries that will befall our idiotocracy in the first 90 days of the collapse. God help us all. . .
Does anyone know from 1st or 2nd-hand experience if Dallas and San Antonio are feeling a squeeze on gasoline as well?
Tanker truck drivers are being given the option of working extra shifts to get more gasoline and diesel to market amid social media-fueled rushes that left some gas stations without any fuel.
Hurricane Harvey shut down refineries and pipelines but many are coming back on-line a week after the storm passed but more than 100 gas stations in San Antonio were left without fuel on Thursday and Friday after on-line rumors of a shortage caused a rush by panicked consumers. [bold mine]
With three out of San Antonio's six fuel storage terminals out of gasoline and diesel, Coastal Transport Co. lead dispatcher Beau Jay told the Business Journal that the company's tanker truckers are traveling to terminals as far way as El Paso, Midland and Waco to get fuel for local gas stations.
And:
Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton spoke to WFAA on Thursday, assuring Texans the temporary gas shortage is due to consumers placing too high of a demand on the resources available.
Ironically, according to Sitton, the fear over a gasoline shortage is causing one to occur. When refineries shut down during the storm, residents took that as a sign that gas may be scarce in the coming months. To stock up ahead of the shortage, people raced to the pumps. In the aftermath of the storm, it has become harder for suppliers to truck in more gas. Even Dallas and San Antonio are feeling the pinch. “There’s plenty of gasoline,” Sitton insisted in his interview with WFAA. “This will subside.” Reference: http://www.icflorida.com/news/is-there-a-gas-shortage-what-you-need-to-know/601854449
Texts from several different family members indicating gas stations are dry in San Antonio and looking for gas out past the city limits.
Quote:
Any ideas on where to get gas right now? Preferably on the NW side of town 
?
Quote:
Can't get auto gas in SA. All the stations are sold out.
pinecarr wrote:
Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton spoke to WFAA on Thursday, assuring Texans the temporary gas shortage is due to consumers placing too high of a demand on the resources available.
Ironically, according to Sitton, the fear over a gasoline shortage is causing one to occur. When refineries shut down during the storm, residents took that as a sign that gas may be scarce in the coming months. To stock up ahead of the shortage, people raced to the pumps.
"So, yes, that's a lot," Sitton said. "However, we have 230 million barrels of gasoline in storage in the United States right now. So if that three million barrels of refined capacity stayed offline for an entire month that would be 90 million barrels that wouldn't be produced. That would be less than half of what we have in inventory." And Sitton said that shouldn't even be a concern.Sure, if you look at it completely wrongly, that would be correct what he said. An entire month of offline production would represent 50% of total inventory by his math. However, much of that "inventory" number quote (230 MB) by the EIA represents gasoline that cannot be used. It's in a pipeline, or keeping a storage tank minimally full. Yes it exists, and, no, it cannot actually be used. How much of that 230 million barrels is available for use? The WSJ got it right in an article yesterday:
Yes, there's 230 million barrels, but it's hard to draw down past 200 million barrels without running into trouble. So the actual working storage is 30 million barrels. Now when we use the TX RRC's own math we find that there's only about 10 days of working inventory at the current levels of refinery shut downs. Where the TX RRC said that with 3 MBD gone we'll have only burned through half the inventory in a month, the truth is that it is 100% gone in just ten days. See the difference? /s Worse, the gasoline is not readily available to any point in the country. If the TX region runs past its minimum inventory number it really doesn't help if there's extra in Maine or Alaska, or California. The Tx RRC should, and I mean really should, be familiar with all this. So, it's either he's just dumb or being purposely ignorant. The former is unfortunately all-too common in positions of authority, and the latter happens when officials don't want to be honest with the public because they think it's their job to not sow concern among the public. Maybe that's fair, but then one should also be instituting rationing or really working hard to convince people that they should be conserving right now. But spreading ridiculously false or misleading information is really a very bad idea in this day and age. We have this thing called the internet.The amount of gasoline stockpiled in the U.S. stands at about 230 million barrels, as refiners spent most of the summer running their plants at record rates. But not all of it can be withdrawn.It’s hard to draw supplies lower than 200 million barrels without seeing tanks in certain parts of the country run out or some pipelines not be full enough to operate, said Adam Sieminski, former head of the U.S. Energy Information Administration and current energy and geopolitics chairman at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.