Author Topic: Hurricane Harvey (Read 39383 times)

DaveS · « **Reply #20 on:** 08/27/2017 01:19 pm »

Speaking of Houston, this the latest on JSC: http://jscsos.com/jsc-closed-to-non-essential-personnel/

"DATE: August 27, 2017 1:04:43 pm UTC

JSC Closed to Non Essential Personnel
JSC is closed. If you were planning ro report in today, call your supervisor or onsite contact to arrange for gate access. Gates and surrounding roads are still experiencing flooding and you’ll be directed to the appropriate gate at that time. If you must drive, use extreme caution."

collectSPACE · « **Reply #21 on:** 08/27/2017 06:54 pm »

Johnson Space Center will continue to be closed on Monday.
http://jscsos.com/jsc-today-special-aug-27-tropical-storm-harvey/

TS Harvey is forecast to move slowly southeast towards the coast and may briefly move offshore before moving nothing onshore again on Tuesday. No significant redevelopment is expected for the storm center. The main threat from Harvey continues to be outer rainbands rotating through the JSC vicinity capable of additional flooding rains. As Harvey moves back nearer the coast the stronger rain bands may slide a bit further east of JSC reducing the threat for very heavy rains, but more rain bands are expected. A Flash Flood Watch is in effect until Wednesday evening.

This is still a dangerous storm; residents and visitors in areas potentially affected by the severe weather should continue to monitor local radio or TV stations for updated emergency information.

The Center will be closed tomorrow to all but Mission Essential Personnel. Senior management will evaluate on a day-to-day basis after Monday.

yokem55 · « **Reply #22 on:** 08/27/2017 07:06 pm »

What happens with ISS mission control? Is there a backup facility elsewhere?

Dave G · « **Reply #23 on:** 08/27/2017 07:15 pm »

Another map showing rainfall.

Looks like Nomadd dodged a bullet.

collectSPACE · « **Reply #24 on:** 08/27/2017 07:30 pm »

Quote from: yokem55 on 08/27/2017 07:06 pm

What happens with ISS mission control? Is there a backup facility elsewhere?

At last report, the space station flight control room continues to be staffed at Johnson Space Center (part of the "Mission Essential Personnel" as noted in the JSC update above).* If that were to change, then there is a backup FCR at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama in the same facility as the Payload Operations Control Center (POCC). The backup FCR was upgraded a few years ago to be ready for storms like this.

* From NASA.gov: "The Mission Control Center remains operational and fully capable of supporting the International Space Station from Houston."

Chris Bergin · « **Reply #25 on:** 08/27/2017 08:24 pm »

This is every shade of bad. How are the rivers doing? Being from a city that has severe flooding (Roman Army built it on the fork of two rivers for defensive purposes), flood defences can only cope with so much. If the river gets overloaded, things get far worse really fast.

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #26 on:** 08/27/2017 10:08 pm »

Very grim.

Quote

Buffalo Bayou in Downtown Houston, a little after 9:00 am, more rain coming. #Harvey

https://twitter.com/christofspieler/status/901817787924013057

mlindner · « **Reply #27 on:** 08/28/2017 06:15 am »

For those not realizing, this is basically Katrina-scale (though not quite the same level) flooding right now. They're now having to dump water out of the water reservoirs that are north west of Houston because the water level is rising at like 1 foot per hour and approaching the top of the reservoirs. The dumping of water will cause further downstream flooding but will avoid catastrophic dam failure.

Oh and we still have 15-30 inches of more rain coming in the next few days.

Lee Jay · « **Reply #28 on:** 08/28/2017 12:57 pm »

This looks like no fun whatsoever.

Looking more carefully, many of the rivers shown in black are literally running at 1,000 times the flow rate they were before Harvey.

Lee Jay · « **Reply #29 on:** 08/28/2017 12:58 pm »

This is interesting:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurricane-harvey-flooding-nasa-johnson-space-center-shelter-in-place/

"Space station video of Harvey can't be processed due to storm"

Targeteer · « **Reply #30 on:** 08/28/2017 01:14 pm »

The UStream ISS feed seems to be down which is not surprising with min-manning at JSC do to the flooding...

Lee Jay · « **Reply #31 on:** 08/28/2017 01:38 pm »

An interesting stat. The total amount of water that Harvey has dropped on Texas would be sufficient to fill lakes Powell and Mead from empty (they're currently less than half full). Too bad we can't move that water from where it is to where it's needed.

High Bay 4 · « **Reply #32 on:** 08/28/2017 01:49 pm »

I understand JWST is at JSC for testing. Any idea what precautions have been taken to protect the $8 billion instrument?

Lee Jay · « **Reply #33 on:** 08/28/2017 02:13 pm »

Quote from: High Bay 4 on 08/28/2017 01:49 pm

I understand JWST is at JSC for testing. Any idea what precautions have been taken to protect the $8 billion instrument?

It's sealed in a vacuum chamber and not expected to be at risk.

From the article I posted just above:

"NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, the $8.6 billion successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, is sealed in a huge thermal vacuum chamber at Johnson for extensive pre-flight tests. So far, NASA said in a statement, the weather has not posed any threat to the costly instrument and "there are no concerns.""

Chris Bergin · « **Reply #34 on:** 08/28/2017 04:55 pm »

Good they've activated the entire State's national guard. A lot will be well trained in flood disaster mitigation and recovery.

russianhalo117 · « **Reply #35 on:** 08/28/2017 05:25 pm »

Quote from: Chris Bergin on 08/28/2017 04:55 pm

Good they've activated the entire State's national guard. A lot will be well trained in flood disaster mitigation and recovery.

More than that, The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC) has placed the Wings of the Civil Air Patrol (United States Air Force Auxiliary) on Alert Level 2 (Deployment Readiness) with deployment scheduled to start as early as this week as Harvey heads back out to the Gulf to regenerate again for a few days before making landfall to the east Along the Texas/Louisiana State line to Track up through Arkansas and Tennessee respectively as a Storm, Depression, and Remnant.

10am CDT ground track

mlindner · « **Reply #36 on:** 08/28/2017 05:41 pm »

Quote from: Chris Bergin on 08/28/2017 04:55 pm

Good they've activated the entire State's national guard. A lot will be well trained in flood disaster mitigation and recovery.

From what I've seen they've been doing quite well without so far. Look up "The Cajun Navy". A bunch of folks from all over coming with flat-bottomed marsh boats (which only need a few inches of water to float) to go scooting all over town on the flooded streets to pick people up. They've got a dispatch system that goes out via facebook and via an app that tracks all their locations live so that people can coordinate pickups based on requests. I've seen lots of people requesting pickups on reddit and twitter and cajun navy folks responding that they've been added to the queue.

wally · « **Reply #37 on:** 08/28/2017 06:02 pm »

Does anyone know if the Saturn V rocket from JSC is damaged?

DaveS · « **Reply #38 on:** 08/28/2017 06:10 pm »

Quote from: wally on 08/28/2017 06:02 pm

Does anyone know if the Saturn V rocket from JSC is damaged?

No problems reported with it or N905NA/Independence. You can see both here: http://www.insecam.org/en/view/227116/

wally · « **Reply #39 on:** 08/28/2017 06:15 pm »

Quote from: DaveS on 08/28/2017 06:10 pm

Quote from: wally on 08/28/2017 06:02 pm
Does anyone know if the Saturn V rocket from JSC is damaged?
No problems reported with it or N905NA/Independence. You can see both here: http://www.insecam.org/en/view/227116/

Thank you! Phew.