September 6, 2017

Good Irma info:Mike's Weather Page

http://spaghettimodels.com/

Regular live videos explaining the models. Next one at 9am on Facebook

https://m.facebook.com/mikesweatherpage/

September 2, 2017

Disaster relief donations that dont bring relief

https://www.cbsnews.com/videos/disaster-relief-donations-that-dont-bring-relief/

Many of the items we Americans donate in times of disaster turn out to be of no use to those in need. Sometimes, they even get in the way of humanitarian workers doing their job under difficult circumstances. Scott Simon of NPR reports on the useless, often incomprehensible contributions that constitute what aid workers call "the second disaster."

Bottom line......don't donate clothing and bottled water. Its costs more to transport and store than its worth!

September 2, 2017

If you searching for an appropriate, well-run group that could really make a difference

Thank you to so many of you who have already reached out to us to see how you can help! It means a lot. If you searching for an appropriate, well-run group that could really make a difference, this fits the ticket.

For those who don’t know, our company (Keller Williams Realty) is headquartered in Austin, Texas. This means we have thousands of agents in the Houston and surrounding areas that were hit by Hurricane Harvey. At present count, at least 300 of our agents (and thousands of other non KW folks) are out of their homes and many more severely impacted. 7,000 people will take refuge in Austin where many of us will be volunteering. Not only have they lost their homes, their pets and belongings – they will be impacted for months to come since their livelihood is dependent on the housing industry.

We have many personal friends who have been impacted. And many others who have been heroes, literally pulling people out of the water. One of many stories shared yesterday: “We finally found our cat. Floating by on a mattress.”

YOU CAN HELP.
Our company has an established 501(c)3 charity (KW Cares) with a long history and lots of experience in helping with disaster relief and recovery. We own multiple 18 wheelers for this purpose, the first of which arrived in Houston with supplies today. Rather than collecting water, clothing and other supplies, the best way you can help is to donate money. KW Cares is then able to buy in bulk. They are working closely with the Salvation Army & Red Cross, and will adjust what is purchased based on needs as they change day by day. 100% of all donations go to disaster relief. (All admin costs are personally handled by our Chairman Gary Keller and Vice Chairman of the Board Mo Anderson).
We have committed to raising $20 Million. We have a LONG way to go.
Thanks for stepping up. It’s in times like this that the good in people comes out and our friends and family shine. We appreciate you. Please pray for all of those affected.

https://secure.kwcares.org/donation/wizard/donateLoad.do

(Please choose McLean or other when instructed to choose a Market Center. Designate your donation to Hurricane Harvey Relief.)
#kwcares #hurricaneharvey #texasstrong

September 1, 2017

What the Harvey deluge would look like where you live

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/08/30/what-the-harvey-deluge-would-look-like-where-you-live/?tid=pm_politics_pop&utm_term=.bdf9240e79

Hurricane Harvey has already broken the record for the most rainfall from a single storm in the continental United States, even as its diminished remnants move on to drench Louisiana. The most rain recorded in a single place during the storm was an astonishing 51.88 inches in Cedar Bayou, Tex. — just shy of the 52-inch U.S. record for rainfall set in tropical Hawaii.

It’s a huge amount of water that fell across a remarkably wide area. As a meteorologist with Harris County, Tex., noted on Twitter, enough rain fell in Houston to sink the entire county under 33 inches of water. That’s almost what happened, too, given Harris County’s broad and flat contours.

That amount of rain has been tough to visualize. To that end, we’ve created a tool that imagines a 51.88-inch deluge drenching a number of points in a circle around where you live (or anywhere else) and visualizing what the effect would be: where in that circle the water would pool and how deep it would get. (For our purposes, we’re imagining each point to receive 51.88 inches over a square yard of surface.)