THE EYES OF TEXAS ARE WATERING

My thoughts are with the people of Houston.

Water is both the life blood of the planet and one of the most destructive forces on the planet.

Much of civilization arose around the need to bring water and control flooding.

RIGHT NOW, is a UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY to make maps of where the water comes and goes during this flood. Once you know where there is low lying land you can set building standards and plans for the next flood.

All of Houston lies within the threatened 500 year floodplain*.

If you make maps NOW, you will have an excellent idea of the way water moves in the area around Houston.

Last night I saw the innards of a 500 year old Dutch windmill. It showed the Archimedes screw which augers up the water, the huge gears for turning a small force into a large force. They are attractive and do not kill birds. They are totally off the grid, pumping using wind power alone. They do need caretakers, who can also keep track of the water flow.

Now is the time to contact Holland. Maybe some Dutch engineers can help us with immediate answers on who to evacuate next.

The Dutch method would also work for much of Bangladesh. Bangladesh could even use wooden gears like the medieval Dutch did.

Meanwhile, we all hope that the weather reports are wrong, although I have noticed that the reports were accurate the last several times Napa flooded.

* This means an area where floods are expected about every 500 years. Currently we are building for 100 year floodplains, I think. It should be noted that the 100 years is an estimate over several hundred thousand years. Mother Nature, a flighty creature, is totally capable of giving us two 500 year floods in a single year.