HURRICANE HARVEY

Houston was built on a swamp that is now paved over. Drainage is slow and floods are common. They have excellent dinning, especially sea food.

It is rare to see a hurricane reverse direction as fast as Harvey did. After coming ashore as a major Category 4 hurricane, it weaken over land as expected but soon hit a brick wall and just about died. What was left was barely a tropical storm and bounced back into the Gulf.  Conditions were not favorable for re-intensification. Tropical Storm Harvey turned northeast just offshore toward Houston, dropping substantial rains and storm surges along the way.

A weather front approaching Houston stalled and became stationary over the city for two days. Tropical Storm Harvey continued pumping copious amounts of moisture into the system. It is likely that recent global warming added to the rain event but certainly was not the cause of the event. 

Houston airport winds were below tropical storm speeds and the storm surge was not significant.  The rain event was "historic but not unique." (NOAA_NHC) 

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