News Houston floods: Disaster zone declared after 'historic' rainfall

[Notebook]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36079009

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has declared a state of emergency in Houston after record rainfall claimed five lives.

Meteorologists said some 17.6in (44.7cm) of rain fell on Houston on Monday alone, levels national officials said were "historic".

Rivers burst their banks in downtown Houston and 1,200 people were rescued from rising floodwaters.

Close to 70,000 people were left without power in the city, the fourth-largest in the United States.

Strange, this hasn't been on the UK news so far.

N.

 

[Urwumpe]

Also not German news. We read what another Putin minion wants to do to Russian human rights, but such extreme weather events arrive here when it is far too late.

 

[N_Molson]

Still on "Panama Papers" there. :shrug:

 

[Notebook]

BBC News has gone completely bonkers over the EU Referendum, two months away and its in every broadcast.
Give them credit, the two earth-quakes are getting coverage.

N.

 

[Urwumpe]

BBC News has gone completely bonkers over the EU Referendum, two months away and its in every broadcast.
Give them credit, the two earth-quakes are getting coverage.

N.

Yes. But is the quarrel about a public toilet in a park in San Francisco really more important than 4 deaths after torrents of rain? :blink:

http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/just...iche-toilette-in-san-francisco-a-1087903.html

 

[Notebook]

No, that's local news for local people...
BBC News has gone a bit strange recently, they think they are an entertainment channel now. They dropped the "24" from the title, probably drop the "News" bit soon.

 

[Urwumpe]

No, that's local news for local people...
BBC News has gone a bit strange recently, they think they are an entertainment channel now. They dropped the "24" from the title, probably drop the "News" bit soon.

Sometimes I wish, I could just select a location and a radius on a map of Earth and get notified of all news about events that happened in that area...

 

[Thunder Chicken]

No, that's local news for local people...
BBC News has gone a bit strange recently, they think they are an entertainment channel now. They dropped the "24" from the title, probably drop the "News" bit soon.

And another news outlet dies for ratings. So sad.

 

[Notebook]

Its a disgrace! They had the head of BBC News on a customer complaints type prog, and he was quite unapologetic. Times have changed, audiences want more "information". Asked why a rolling-news channel has a film-critic program, a technology report program, a travel program and a "Meet the Author" program...no satisfactory reply.
We know why, the BBC is publicly funded through a licence fee, and the Government wants to reduce it. News is expensive, information programs are cheaper.

Must say the BBC News website is ok though.

N.

 

[Artlav]

Is it really that much of a news, btw?

"Flood in Houston" sounds about as big as "Snowstorm in Moscow" or "Earthquake in Santiago" - some local excitement, but not unusual enough to make the news.

 

[Notebook]

Maybe not, but if not for the two earthquakes it would have been on the main bulletins. Anything US is prime material for BBC News, I think they all want the travel expenses...

The nomination coverage has gone quiet though.

N.

 

[Quick_Nick]

Is it really that much of a news, btw?

"Flood in Houston" sounds about as big as "Snowstorm in Moscow" or "Earthquake in Santiago" - some local excitement, but not unusual enough to make the news.

Pretty much. The city kind of shut down, with people unable to get to work, but there were not many deaths. The bigger issues are ruined cars and homes in lower areas, and the lack of evacuation that would be associated with a tropical storm.
I think the storms over the next few days are not supposed to be as severe, so hopefully that affords some drainage.

 

[N_Molson]

There's a word about it on JSC website :

http://spacecenter.org/news-center/latest-news/

Weather Advisory

Space Center Houston is open for normal operating hours today, April 19, and all programs and Level 9 tours scheduled for today will operate. For our guests’ safety we will continue to monitor weather conditions. We advise all visitors to travel carefully and check road conditions, closures and flooding before departing.

 

[Col_Klonk]

Sometimes I wish, I could just select a location and a radius on a map of Earth and get notified of all news about events that happened in that area...

You should patent that.. could be a workable business model

 

[Ravenous]

You should patent that.. could be a workable business model

That's exactly what I thought... someone could market an idea like that... in this crazy world, it's a far more sensible idea than many...

 

[Urwumpe]

You should patent that.. could be a workable business model

Would need a prototype first before I could patent something... also it would be hard to get reliable geo-information extracted. But yes... maybe it is something that could actually work.

 

[Col_Klonk]

Tongue in cheek about the patent.. but it could be a viable service, if one considers the amount of world travel that goes on.

In every local area, a few contributors get their cut of local advertising, while you take a small % off the top (equals a lot worldwide) and the rest is spent on maintenance and upkeep of the services provided.

 

[Urwumpe]

Tongue in cheek about the patent.. but it could be a viable service, if one considers the amount of world travel that goes on.

In every local area, a few contributors get their cut of local advertising, while you take a small % off the top (equals a lot worldwide) and the rest is spent on maintenance and upkeep of the services provided.

I did not yet even think so far (Understanding which location is talked about is harder)... but yes. You could also get a bit of extra money by offering advertisements from the region, since you can assume that somebody who is interested in news of that place is also shopping and using services there. If you allow some decent customer profile optimization, you could also differ, if the user is a tourist or has a house in that place, and thus provide different and less annoying advertisements....

 

[Andy44]

I did not yet even think so far (Understanding which location is talked about is harder)... but yes. You could also get a bit of extra money by offering advertisements from the region, since you can assume that somebody who is interested in news of that place is also shopping and using services there. If you allow some decent customer profile optimization, you could also differ, if the user is a tourist or has a house in that place, and thus provide different and less annoying advertisements....

Stop posting and find someone to help you develop the prototype or whatever you need under German law!

I think we Orbinauts would love to see you pull it off.

 

[Urwumpe]

Stop posting and find someone to help you develop the prototype or whatever you need under German law!

I think we Orbinauts would love to see you pull it off.

Don't turn me over to the evil side.

Everything beyond a tiny prototype of a crawler and a web frontend would likely exceed my competences. Or in other words: I would need to talk to banks, have people give me advices how to milk customers better, hire employees, fire employees, all that kind of jazz that I want to avoid in my life.

I don't study economics for becoming the evil side, I study this stuff for understanding my enemy. :dry: