Results tagged “hurricane”

The month of September is kinda rough on a Houstonian. We had a lovely three day weekend, St. Arnold’s released Divine No. 8 - and all goodness is followed immediately by a weekend of tragedy and disaster. Eight years ago, today - the towers came down. We urge you to take a moment to think back, remember what you felt and pay homage to those whose lives were lost. If you have the opportunity, drive by 3100 Chimney Rock, pausing to view , or stopping to visitthe 9/11 Memorial created by Mike Smith and the firefighters of Station 28. In two days, you can remember last year’s Hurricane Ike and his devastation. There are people waiting for FEMA aid, for enough insurance monies to repair their homes. Don’t kid yourself one bit - this coastal region still has a lot of “blue roofs” and uninhabitable domiciles. We’re still waiting for Hollywood celebrities to descend on Port Bolivar to help rebuild…..we are so not holding our breath.

The news reports regarding Hurricane Ike are more stressful then the high winds outside the door of Houstonist HQ. In fact, if everything wasn't boarded up, we may just throw the TV out our front window.

Tropical Storm Edouard was essentially a non-event for Texans on the Gulf Coast. Please flip your Wikis to Hurricane Rita, Hurricane Alicia, and Tropical Storm Allison for real storms. Most folks got a day off which should make up for the inconvenience of the rain storms, which we needed anyway. Now, if we could only figure out a way to get the media knuckleheads from seeking out a "Storm Ground Zero" from which to file their reports.

Indie/hip-hop fans will enjoy tonight's line up at Warehouse Live, headlined by Aesop Rock. Tomorrow night, check out local rock band Days Drive at Rudyard's. Originally from New Orleans, but transplanted to Houston after Hurricane Katrina, the Rebirth Brass Band always puts on a horn-filled funk show - catch them at the Meridian Friday night. Songwriter/guitarist Anne McCue lands at Dan Electro's Guitar Bar Saturday night. The alt/rock band Brand New is playing two...

Good morning, Houston. Looks like there's another tropical disturbance out in the Gulf of Mexico — this one is called Invest 90L, and it looks like it could be headed for the upper Texas coast. The Chron's Eric Berger is keeping an eye on the system, which is located west of Florida and is headed in a general northwesterly direction; Berger reports that it could become a tropical storm by tomorrow, but isn't likely...

Good morning, Houston. In the mood for a really, really bad promotional video? It's your lucky day: May we introduce you to "The Metro Report", a quasi-Colbert Report-style production in which a host, Elliot Roberts, "interviews people on the street" about why they love riding public transportation. Which makes us wonder: Where'd Metro find all these people? Oh, right, they're actually actors — and, according to KTRK's Wayne Dolcefino, this bit of self-promotion cost...

Good morning, Dynamo fans. Ready to see the Orange in the MLS playoffs again? Well, playoff tickets will go on sale at 10 this morning. Depending on where the Dynamo finish in the standings, the team will play in the Western Conference semifinal match at Robertson Stadium either Oct. 27 or Nov. 3; pick your tickets up at Ticketmaster or the Dynamo's website. >> The scandal effect: TSU's enrollment has fallen to its lowest...

Perspectives 158: Preview Reception at the CAM We've been thoroughy impressed this year with the diverse installations and programs that the CAMH has produced, and the next Perspectives exhibit, opening tonight, is no exception. Be among the first to see the latest Zilkha Gallery exhibition, Perspectives 158: Kelly Nipper, at a preview reception tonight, Sept 20th, with the artist. Kelly Nipper, the Southern California-based photographer and installation artist, will lead a tour of the exhibition...

Houstonist recently kept you abreast of the “Humberto Incident”, where a low pressure system in the Gulf strengthened in less than 24 hours and slammed ashore, with sustainable wind gusts of 85 mph as a Category 1 hurricane, near High Island, causing power outages, localized flooding and wind damage. When storms give you little warning – the choice is already made for you to shelter in place. The media here is rife with preparedness information...

Good morning, Houston. As you might have noticed, we passed the night sans Humberto — but our friends in the Beaumont area weren't so lucky. The sudden hurricane made landfall early this morning and battered Beaumont with winds up to 62 mph and Orange with gusts of up to 85 mph, the Chron's Eric Berger reports. From across Southeast Texas came reports of knee-deep water, downed power lines and damaged buildings, including an apartment...

WOW! Houstonist knew Humberto had strengthening potential, apparently he is "strong like bull", forming and achieving hurricane status within a 24 hour period. While Houston did not get much action, our neighbors to the East have been walloped with rains and sustained wind gusts of up to 85 mph. Houstonist has heard that there are possibly 100,000 people are without power this morning, as Hurricane Humberto made landfall just east of High Island and continues...

Yesterday, members of the Caribbean Impact Foundation, a local non-profit organization, stood before the International Liaison and Protocol Committee to request that the city name this week Caribbean Relief Week due to the devastating effects Hurricane Dean had on many Caribbean nations. The mayor issued the proclamation and encouraged Houstonians to do what they can to aid the relief work: Houstonians have always shown a big heart in times of need, and I know they...

Good morning, Houston. Looks like we'll have a tougher time cracking out those fake Benjamins next year: The $100 bill will soon be getting a high-tech makeover to thwart counterfeiters. The key feature: 650,000 tiny lenses embedded in each bill, which will magnify the printing so that the portrait of Benjamin Franklin appears to move up and down or side to side, depending on which way you move the bill. "It makes for a...

Triple Threat Edition So we couldn't decide on one event for tonight, so we're giving you three. We are so damn generous some times. Besides, this week has been so long we figured you needed an extra long Friday to make up for it. Well, of course there's the Txt Me L8r SPIN Party at HCP that we'll all be at. Two of your favorite Houstonist contributors (wait, you have favorites, right?) will be participating...

Good morning, Houston. It's back to the books for many area students this week, although HISD won't begin until August 27. Many local private schools have already started classes, and many will start up again this week, and many colleges will begin class this week as well. Although the temperatures are still pretty summer-y, these next couple of weeks have that end-of-August, book-reports-due feel to them. >> Hurricane + no tax = shopping!: Stories...

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. City WiFi Still On Hold It's been a few months since Mayor Bill White approved a multi-million dollar deal with EarthLink to provide over 640 square miles of wireless service to Houston and we are still waiting. Earthlink should have already started installing wireless nodes on light poles around the city but has failed to do so. EarthLink is still within time constraints set by the...

Callaloo, among the top literary magazines in the country, is sending four writers (all faculty from Callaloo's Creative Writing Workshops) to read in Houston for one night only. Terrance Hayes, Mat Johnson, Tayari Jones, and Tracy K. Smith will give a public reading Thursday, August 16 at 6:00 p.m. at the Ensemble Theatre, located at 3535 Main Street. These four writers have won more than a dozen national awards and fellowships; they are at...

Good morning, Houston. It's August, and that means hurricane season is starting to get heavy. The country's got fins to the left and fins to the right, so to speak. As of last night, Tropical Storm Dean was crossing the open Atlantic with winds at 50 mph, while Tropical Depression #5 had put part of the Texas coast under a tropical storm watch. And over in the Pacific, Hawaii's dealing with Hurricane Flossie. Time...

Good morning, Houston. Sure, we've had a lot of rain, but there haven't been any hurricane scares yet — so it's pretty easy to overlook the fact that we're headed into the peak of the 2007 hurricane season. Not that easy, though: The Chronicle's Eric Berger reminds us that there's still some storm activity in the Atlantic, including a system 650 miles east about 650 miles east of the southern Windward Islands that could...

If you're anything like us, you're probably waist deep into fantasy football magazines, watching ESPN's "Sportscenter" five times a day to catch the latest NFL training camp updates, and surfing the Internet until the wee hours of the morning to find out how that starting running back's knee is holding up to the rigors of two-a-days. No, it's just us? Either way, the dawn of a new NFL season brings with it another year of...

We knew there had to be some history behind Houston's opening its doors to hurricane evacuees from New Orleans a couple of summers ago — and now, thanks to the Chronicle's addictive Bayou City History blog, we know what it was: Early in 1949, the Houston City Council annexed the city of New Orleans. So, hey, all you transplanted New Orleanians: Welcome home! It all started Dec. 31, 1948, when Houston annexed more than...

Good morning, Houston. As we prepare for the rain chance to increase again — yeah, sorry, we hate to be the bearers of bad news — we're stopping for a second to realize just how much it's rained so far this month. Officially, we've had 8.34 inches of rain so far in July, smashing the 2.34-inch average for the month and making this the eighth-wettest July on record. And there's still a week left...

From the Rita Sure Was a Headache Department comes this news story: a plan that could reduce the number of stranded motorists - and traffic - during a hurricane evacuation. Pre-Rita, fuel supply was not covered in the state's evacuation plan, which weighed in at a hefty 200+ pages. But now, state leaders and oil execs have teamed up - this time for something good - to come up with a plan that will help...

Good morning, Houston. Have you heard the one about the bees that took over a neighborhood? Three years ago, a family (tribe?) of bees moved into a vacant home in Ruth Gray's neighborhood. Over time, they grew in number and ferocity, and when calls to the city were fruitless, Gray contacted a pest control company which said the situation was "instant, instant death." After destroying the hive, the bees attacked and three children were...

Houstonist has been aggressively eating our way through crawfish season and have no plans to stop until the season ends. Beer is the beverage of choice (Turbodog) for the feeding sessions at the crawfish table, but we prefer to display our sophistication during the post-berle cocktail hour(s). Your mind may jump to a hurricane or hand grenade, but they are as sophisticated as a monster truck show. We prefer the Sazerac, America's first cocktail. The...

Good morning, Houston. Are you planning on taking a summer vacation? Here's something to consider, if you are: Continental, along with several other airlines, raised their fares in 30% of the top U.S. markets this week. Some one-way fares are up $10, some $5, and some remain the same. This was a relatively small increase, but will still hit the wallets of summer vactioners. With airfare increasing and gas prices so high, how about...

Well, here's something to be proud of: Houston's homicide rate is now the second-highest among large American cities, according to FBI figures released Monday. Keep in mind that this is the homicide rate we're talking about — Houston's was 18.2 per 100,000 residents last year, putting us second only to Philadelphia and ahead of Dallas (fifth place), which has had a higher homicide rate than Houston for each of the last 11 years. The numbers...

Let the good times roll! Tomorrow, from 11:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. as the Museum of Natural Science premieres "Hurricane on the Bayou". Food will be available for purchase from Good Ole Boys Cajun Food Catering. Plus, you can shake your groove thing to the tunes of Willie T and the Zydeco Posse, and Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band - who are featured in the IMAX film. Radio station 104 KRBE will be...

The first day of June, which means summer is upon us. It also means that it's time for another Houstonist iMix! Here's a collection of what Houstonist is currently listening to. We're ready for summer to begin (minus the extreme heat, humidity, and hurricane potentials), so we started the mix out with a few party songs: a new one from L.A. Latin/rock band Ozomatli; a classic summer song from Jimmy Buffett; a catchy hip-hop song...

Happy June, everyone. Today is the first day of hurricane season, which might bring back some bad memories for some of you. But next time a hurricane's headed our way, the Chronicle reports that most of us shouldn't be so quick to blow this popsicle stand. During Rita, about 40% of households outside of the designated evacuation zones tried to leave Houston. Many residents who lived closer to the coast had an unnecessarily difficult time...