A few folks at the Halstead apartments surveyed the scene along Brays Bayou late yesterday morning, catching sight of all kinds of action in the water. The video above captures the part of the lonely journey of an unmoored porta-potty floating away from the site of the under-construction Starbucks on the former gas station corner next door; the trip was also also tracked from further upstairs in the complex, where another photographer was documenting the flood:
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That’s the future Starbucks in white in the bottom left corner, with some earthmoving equipment wading around in the parking lot. They were joined briefly by some other heavy-duty machinery:
Here’s some more up-high shots from yesterday, showing the area surrounding the complex waist-deep or so in the drink:
Here’s a view up toward Beechnut St., with Outback Steakhouse and IHOP hunkering down in the parking lot in front of the Lowe’s Home Improvement store:
And across N. Braeswood to the south, the Meyergrove Apartments:
Previously on Swamplot:Â Starbucks Brewing at Former Gas Station Site on Brays Bayou
Photos: Chris Klesch
Video: Simone Rieberger
Thank you for posting but I am sad to see this. Those apartments are now spawning toxic mold that will be almost impossible to remove completely, poisoning all unsuspecting future residents. They should be abandoned but probably won’t. These are the unintended costs of increasing population density in a geological setting that is totally unfit. As long as the cash keeps flowing though, few will question the endless sea of stucco and concrete.
Toxic mold is a myth, it’s the boogie man of real estate industry. We live in a very hot and humid climate, there’s mold everywhere, there’s not way to get rid of it, it’s always been present, but only now people scream in hysteria when they hear word ‘mold’. 99% of the mold present is your run of the mill normal mold, the rest might be more onerous but only to people with genuine allergies and those with chronic hypochondria. If you buy organic single source humane fair trade gluten free vegan meat, chances are you are allergic to mold.
@Matt – Sheesh. Lighten up a bit. Mold grows when you have constant moisture and decomposing material. Eliminate one or both, and you’re back in business. Also, you could argue that no “geological setting” is ideal for 6 million people to live in close proximity to each other. And yes – for the history of all human civilization – commerce has been the main driver of culture, progress, and general advancement of the species.
The toxic mold madness explains the entire history of our region. Think about it: the cannibal Karankawas on the Island of Doom, the ignominious and mysterious defeat of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the mass hallucination that Buffalo Bayou was a navigable waterway on which a major port could be constructed, the race for space, the Candy Man, Mattress Mack and the subsequent mattress obsession, Robert Durst, the tree holocaust, and so on. We should name toxic mold as the official mold of the City of Houston.
I hear ya commonsense, it’s just like all that lead nonsense. My hole famillee drunk from lead pipes and we ain’t no problems.
In all seriousness though I had to deal with a tenant who figured out that mold is the bulletproof small claims offensive (too hard to disprove for such a small amount of money) and it was unpleasant. We were a small scale non-profit housing group and it was pretty shifty of her to come after us for health problems that were entirely due to her diet and lifestyle (alcoholic vegan who lived inorganic potato chips).
I do think there is validity to some of the claims, and there’s a fair amount of evidence for it. It’s just a sore subject for a lot of people because it gets so heavily abused.
Pictures like this amaze me even more when you see people “frolicking” in the bayou and any other backed up water after a rainstorm. I can only imagine what is floating around the dog park next to Montrose and Allen Prky!
Awesome… That overturned portapotty spilling its contents into the floodwaters reminds me why it’s so disgusting to wade in and let your children play in the floodwaters during/after a storm like this. Although not quite as disgusting, the same goes for those attention whore kayakers and boaters that love to float around in this stuff.
“TOXIC MOLD! OH NOES!”
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I swear every time a tenant leaves a spilled cup of water, and gets even a spot of mildew, they freak out like their hair is on fire. One lady had kids that would always splash water out of the tub and literally point the shower head out of the tub area.
She got some type of mildew and she called the city. Yeah. Called the city. Oh and she called the news. It was as if this was the biggest event in Houston or something. Finally we were told, saw what happened, fixed it, and opted to not renew their lease as the damage was obviously due to their own actions (they even admitted their kids would do that — but still said it was our fault)
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Normally even if it is mold, it’s not going to be ‘bad’ mold. But even if it’s bad mold, you remove the source of water so it doesn’t come back, clean it (bleach), replace any damaged materiel, toss up some killz, you’re good to go.
I heart Memebag!
I had a flooded house with MDF base and casing. That grew black mold within a day!
If you have the same, rip it out and throw it away and never let your insurance adjuster see it.
They want you to be in purgatory while they decide mold is not covered by your policy and thay don’t have to do anything for you.
Back on topic: I stopped by the Lowe’s today (Tuesday) and they had the aisles filled with everything needed for flooded homes to use. New laminate flooring, Damp Rid, tons of dehumidifiers, tile, mops, you name it.
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One can barely move around with the amount that is piled in there – but, obviously, Lowe’s knows a good business opportunity. I chatted up a clerk and he said that they’ve mobilized trucks to bring in more stuff to sell. If my home got flooded last Memorial Day, I’d be pissed if it flooded again now. Luckily, I live a good distance from the bayou. The people living in Meyer Grove truly are in the stew and the Halstead residents don’t have it much better. Note to self: Do NOT seek refuge from flood in that new Starbucks.
One hopes that when HCFCD’s Project Brays is completed, flooding in this area will be less severe in future. Completion date is no sooner then 2021, so be patient…..
Major Market documents that Lowes arrived before FEMA.
movocelot: I had a flooded house with MDF base and casing”
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Hmm. I opted for MDF when I redid the floors in my house. We had some flooding and they were okay. Did you have them painted? We had a few coats of semigloss paint that I guess kept the water from the wood. (or your flooding was worse)
Move to Austin or San Antonio.. This kind of flooding is becoming ” the norm “. The projections were 100 year and 500 year flood events would happen decades away. NO. It’s starting this decade and we’re f**ked !!