On today’s BradCast, the years of ignored warnings in Houston, as the devastation continues, and what Trump did as the storm came ashore, threatened millions of Americans. [Audio link to show follows below.]
As unprecedented rains from Hurricane Harvey continue to overwhelm Houston, Texas and surrounding areas with as much as 50 inches of catastrophic flooding, the storm is now moving slowly back into the Gulf of Mexico, where it may regain strength for a second landfall on the Texas/Louisiana border. Rainfall is likely to double between now and the end of the week.
My producer and Green News Report co-host, Desi Doyen, a Texas native, joins me to discuss why evacuation orders weren’t issued for Houston, before we go on to review the years of warnings about this very type of event amid the recent population boom in Harris County (Houston), the nation’s 3rd most populous county.
As it turns out — as revealed in an excellent and detailed investigative report published by The Texas Tribune and Pro Publica late last year — the County’s 18-year flood manager aggressively dismissed those warnings for years and marginalized the scientists repeatedly offering them. All, while denying the threat of over-development and destruction of flood-mitigating wetlands, poor (and poorly enforced) flood mitigation regulations, and the ever-increasing devastation of such storms due to climate change.
Also today: the “uncharted territory” of the President of the United States issuing a pardon to notorious Maricopa County (Phoenix) Sheriff Joe Arpaio — even as the Category 4 hurricane was bearing down on Houston late Friday night — after Arpaio was convicted for contempt of federal court orders. Arpaio had, for years, unlawfully and unconstitutionally profiled Latino-looking residents in defiance of the Court. But much of what else he did during his reign of terror as Sheriff was far worse than that, as the Phoenix New Times had long reported, and as we also detail today. Even more troubling, however, is the intended message of Trump’s pardon to both law enforcement officials, the federal judiciary and the Constitution itself.
And, as if all of that isn’t enough, as we took to the air today, North Korea reportedly fired a missile that passed over northern Japan. It’s another harrowing show today as the wheels continue to come off the world…
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[audio:http://bradblog.com/audio/BradCast_BradFriedman_HurricaneHarvey_HoustonIgnoredWarnings_ArpaioPardon_NKMissile_082817.mp3]
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“All, while denying the threat of over-development and destruction of flood-mitigating wetlands, poor (and poorly enforced) flood mitigation regulations, and the ever-increasing devastation of such storms due to climate change.”
It was apparent at the time this was a corrupt, self-serving liar. Now there’s proof. People should be demanding his resignation.
Hey Houston Officials:
You say that environmental initiatives are bad for development.
Do you know what is really, really bad for development?…
Harvey…
(and other tropical storms that are in your future)
And it would not be because of a liberal media conspiracy… It would be because …
Most people don’t want to live in a place that will flood periodically and all their stuff gets ruined (see New Orleans since Katrina)
Insurance companies may not want to insure homes that are in flood prone areas, and if they do the rates will be high, making your communities too expensive for most people to live in. (Even if you don’t, insurance companies will reassess and redraw the boundaries of what is considered a 10 year, 20 year, 50 year, 100 year and 500 year flood zone after events like this, and they will take into consideration how well or poorly you mitigate flood situations in making those determinations and delineations.)
You have shown that areas not prone to flooding now will be considered in the flood plain because of your poor planning, making your area more expensive from an insurance point of view, and less attractive from a home buyers point of view. That sounds like a recipe for poor development from a free market point of view.