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What does lake grapevine spill into?

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Pretty sure it's Eventually the Trinity

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Yes, it merges with the outflow of Lake Lewisville a few miles below the dam.

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Speaking of Belton, Lake Belton is up another foot and a half today.

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Yep. When we were first looking for houses it was somewhere around 12 feet down. Now its 6 feet over.

We bought a house right on the lake in a quiet neighborhood just outside the city limits. We dont have private lake access but it is not far. I cant wait.

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Which neighborhood?

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Speaking of Belton, Lake Belton is up another foot and a half today.

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Yep. When we were first looking for houses it was somewhere around 12 feet down. Now its 6 feet over.

We bought a house right on the lake in a quiet neighborhood just outside the city limits. We dont have private lake access but it is not far. I cant wait.

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Which neighborhood?

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I cant remember the name of the neighborhood, but its between 2305 and 2271 on the lake side of that intersection. Oak Ridge Park is to the east.

Taken yesterday in East Columbia. Water was almost even with the top of the bank.

Rio Brazos?

Shoulda come up more with the 2.5 inches I got in Greatwood.

FM 1462 is closed from 521 to 762. I expect it to be closed for the next few days.

So, how is it determined if a county/city should be considered a disaster area??

I have two sets of friends. Both in the same county, but different cities. One's house was hit by straight-line winds or a tornado, the other major flooding. Both have been told by their respective insurance companies that the insurance company will not pay. Both looked at getting help from FEMA and were told that FEMA could not help because their county was not considered a disaster area.

I think the insurance not helping is bull crap. I just want to know now, why can't FEMA help and why wasn't the county considered a disaster area....there is a lot of damage that was done due to flooding.

I don't know... Flooding caused by water rising or flowing over the ground is only covered by flood insurance. As for wind, there are areas that require wind insurance and have special rules. I don't know the details because I'm not in a wind hazard area, bit the rules are caused by tropical systems and straight screw you in a big thunderstorm or tornado.

Looks like I'm moving offices for about 2 months, at least.

Bummer. You going to take the snakes with you?

Ironically, there will likely be more snakes, and we've already seen 7 rattlers in the last 10 days.

I would tell your friends to make sure they review their policies, because it sounds like their insurance is trying to give them the run around. Sounds like it, my opinion without knowing a single detail.

Jeez, I haven't seen a rattler in 5 years, where is your office?

In a place that would really freak people out if they knew rattlers were that close. Some fairly large.

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An interesting read about the cattle drive through Dayton today...
http://montgomerycountypolicereporter.com/cattle-drive-through-dayton/

Here's the Facebook page with higher quality pictures....
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Montgomery-County-Police-Reporter/233489574447

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Texa$

One of those airboats is a friend of mine's. they were roping out of it and ramping railroad tracks.

As far as counties being declared disaster areas, the county can declare once it hits a certain $$$ level of damage outside of insurance. If many people in the county that suffered damage have insurance that'll cover the losses, it may not reach the threshold for state or federal aid.

For the house that was flooded, yes they are probably screwed without carrying flood insurance. For the house that had wind/tornado damage, they need to double check their policy to make sure they weren't covered. Some do cover wind damage, some make you carry an additional coverage.

One irony of the last few days. I've gotten a ton of emails, both personal and work, of the "oh my God, what is this snake variety". I've personally seen a ton of snakes since I got back from Chicago (at least one or 2 a day). Lots of rat snake photos, a bull snake, several copperheads, and a suprising number of rattlers. And a whole bunch of cottonmouth/water moccasin inquiries, to date, I haven't gotten a single legit cottonmouth photo. I do have lots of diamond backed water snake photos. There is some amusement on my part as a reporter/media realizes their story just got a lot less interesting.

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One of those airboats is a friend of mine's. they were roping out of it and ramping railroad tracks.

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That's an awesome shot....

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One irony of the last few days. I've gotten a ton of emails, both personal and work, of the "oh my God, what is this snake variety"

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Bet you got several of the Lake Erie Water Snakes "from Lake Texoma".

Three time already. Thankfully for 2 of them they simply were checking veracity. The third guy was unfortunately stuck in the "my friend took this picture" mode and wantes to argue about it.

Most claim Texoma, this dude was going with Grapevine.

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So, how is it determined if a county/city should be considered a disaster area??

I have two sets of friends. Both in the same county, but different cities. One's house was hit by straight-line winds or a tornado, the other major flooding. Both have been told by their respective insurance companies that the insurance company will not pay. Both looked at getting help from FEMA and were told that FEMA could not help because their county was not considered a disaster area.

I think the insurance not helping is bull crap. I just want to know now, why can't FEMA help and why wasn't the county considered a disaster area....there is a lot of damage that was done due to flooding.

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Insurance should help with tornado or wind damage
Unless your friend has a crap policy. Not saying this about your friend but people need to understand the less you pay for home insurance normally means the less you get in coverage.

Flood on the other hand is not covered under any policy by any company. Flood insurance is a separate thing done by fema us insurance agents can write it but we don't control it.

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I would tell your friends to make sure they review their policies, because it sounds like their insurance is trying to give them the run around. Sounds like it, my opinion without knowing a single detail.

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There's no reason for an insurance company to give folks the run around.. Flood is through FEMA if they purchased a flood policy... Very few companies (none of the big ones) across country cover any type of flooding and when they do it isn't much.. As for the wind/tornado claim, they need to check policy. Their main insurance carrier (All State, State Farm, Farmers, etc ) probably told them they didn't cover it because they are in one of the coastal zones where they're required to go through TWIA.. If not they probably bought some cheap policy without doing any research and deserve whatever lack of coverage they are getting..

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In a place that would really freak people out if they knew rattlers were that close. Some fairly large.

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My old back yard. Plenty of rattlers in the metroplex.

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Three time already. Thankfully for 2 of them they simply were checking veracity. The third guy was unfortunately stuck in the "my friend took this picture" mode and wantes to argue about it.

Most claim Texoma, this dude was going with Grapevine.

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.....and they're all cottonmouths!

My wife was telling me that she has heard from some of our neighbors (in NW Houston) that got flooding and tried to file a claim under their flood insurance policy and are getting the run around with the adjuster saying some line about it being wind driven water damage and not flood driven so it isn't covered under their FEMA policy.

What the hell is wind driven water damage?

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What the hell is wind driven water damage?

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Water at high speed pressed through cracks that are normally not an issue. Or through a broken window. Joke was if you get a flood, break the window and claim it blew in.

Somerville is over the spill way and is releasing 850cfs. That's a lot more water coming into the system still as well. I wish there was one boat ramp still open. It would have been neat to see in person.

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Texas Lake Levels

This is a much better website for lake levels, it updates every hour and some lake more than that.

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I noticed Stillhouse has a ways to go, but Belton is creeping towards max capacity (but that last few feet is a huge amount of water on that lake). The Brazos sure doesn't need all that water from the Leon coming down.

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And Belton just keeps coming up. My dad said the Leon is still out of banks in our river bottom. Stillhouse made a big jump.

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Texas Lake Levels

This is a much better website for lake levels, it updates every hour and some lake more than that.

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I noticed Stillhouse has a ways to go, but Belton is creeping towards max capacity (but that last few feet is a huge amount of water on that lake). The Brazos sure doesn't need all that water from the Leon coming down.

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And Belton just keeps coming up. My dad said the Leon is still out of banks in our river bottom. Stillhouse made a big jump.

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What part of the Leon? My dad has been sending me photos if the Leon being out of banks as well.

Leon was still out of banks in Gatesville this morning too.