Hurricane Harvey

1
Didn't know where else to put this so I just stuck it here.

Sorry for my lack of activity the last couple of weeks. I started out a few weeks ago on vacation in Washington state and drove up to Vancouver and met Val in person and got to see his wonderful and awe-inspiring collection. Then after my vacation in Washington was due to end... my flight was delayed for a while because of Hurricane Harvey. I was finally able to get home but the day I got home (Tuesday August 29)... Harvey made another landfall where I live. Long story short, my house got 2 inches of water (not bad compared to many many others), so I have been ripping floors and carpet and cleaning for the last week and a half or so, so I havent had much time for the forums.

Luckily, we didn't lose much other than floors and replaceable things and I can safely say my collection (it wasn't on the floor to or anything) made it safely through the storm. Although something odd has happened, my Helm of Isildur is now covered in rust on the top part of the helmet and it never had rust before. I dont know if humidity or anything had to do with it, but after the storm it has become a problem for that helm.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Re: Hurricane Harvey

3
Sorry to hear of your troubles. I hope you get the floors back down soon.

I think you'll find the Helm is due to the humidity. Sustained 100% humidity can cause the surface rust to form. I have had that myself after cyclones and wet weather events. Hit it with some vinegar to remove it and then your usual wax - like Ren wax.

Hope these next hurricanes don't cause you any more pain

Re: Hurricane Harvey

4
Hey BC! While I'm sorry to hear of the damage to the floors, I'm glad the damage wasn't more severe for you. I think I speak for everyone when I say that if there's anything we can do to help, don't hesitate to ask.

As far as your helms go, humidity rusts the hell out of the Isildur and Elendil helms. When I picked up those helms years ago from Florida, those were the worst. The recent spell of extreme humidity and thunderstorms in SoCal caused my Isildur helm to get surface rust. I mean, it was sort of a blessing in disguise as it allowed me to forgive out where my exterior office wasn't sealed properly, letting in that humidity.

The best way to get that rust off is vinegar soaked paper towels laid over the rust spots. Let it sit overnight and then use the 000 or 0000 steelwool to remove whatwever rust didn't wipe off.

Re: Hurricane Harvey

5
Hey BC,

You were the first person I thought of when Harvey whipped through, but I literally didn't give it a second thought because I didn't know where Nederland was...thought it was much farther north and inland.
So once I read your post I actually looked it up on a map.

Jeez, you're not only almost right on the coast, your elevation is only 16 feet above sea level.

When I saw that--- 16 feet , my God... :jaw: You were extremely fortunate that you only had 2 inches of water in your house.
Last edited by Deimos on Sat Sep 09, 2017 4:26 am, edited 1 time in total.

"Eternity is an awful long time, especially towards the end."

"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.” -- CSL

Re: Hurricane Harvey

6
Yes, I was really thinking about you when I heard Beaumont's water system went down and was wondering if you had water, as you're near Beaumont, right?. I tried to PM you but I was doing it on my phone and it didn't take. You wouldn't have had time to reply anyway.

I have a cousin in Port Arthur. She got flooded. She lost her car and all her furniture.

But, I'm very sorry to hear your home got flooded. I'm very much a home sort of person...home is where I prefer to be, and I have a strong connection to my house. I'd be devastated by something like what you went through. Fortunately, we don't get hurricanes up here. We do get tornadoes, obviously, so that's always a risk.

In any event, I'm glad you're ok :thumbs_up , and it sounds like you're well into the cleanup phase. I hope your insurance covers this!
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Hurricane Harvey

7
Olorin wrote: Sat Sep 09, 2017 3:46 am Yes, I was really thinking about you when I heard Beaumont's water system went down and was wondering if you had water, as you're near Beaumont, right?. I tried to PM you but I was doing it on my phone and it didn't take. You wouldn't have had time to reply anyway.

I have a cousin in Port Arthur. She got flooded. She lost her car and all her furniture.

But, I'm very sorry to hear your home got flooded. I'm very much a home sort of person...home is where I prefer to be, and I have a strong connection to my house. I'd be devastated by something like what you went through. Fortunately, we don't get hurricanes up here. We do get tornadoes, obviously, so that's always a risk.
In any event, I'm glad you're ok :thumbs_up , and it sounds like you're well into the cleanup phase. I hope your insurance covers this!
Yep, same here.....modest tho' my home be, it's my refuge. I'd be beside myself with "only" 2 inches of water flooding it.
We don't have hurricanes out here, but we can get torrential downpours (along with those fantastic dust walls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W4Cx44XKZ4) during monsoon, which we are at the tail end of now,...we get an occasional tremor, and in 35 years I've heard that maybe a half dozen tornadoes have been reported.
(I'm from St Louis, so I know tornadoes and don't miss them at all.)

"Eternity is an awful long time, especially towards the end."

"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.” -- CSL

Re: Hurricane Harvey

8
Thanks everyone. We were lucky compared to a lot of other people.

We fortunately never lost water at home but my job is in Beaumont, so we haven't had potable water at work, which typically wouldn't be the end of the world, but I work for a university, so we have students living on campus with no water but we are providing bottled water for free.

Our drainage works great in Nederland but drainage can only do so much for 45-50 inches of water, which for a while was coming at 2 inches per hour!

Not to mention it was only a tropical storm when it came here!
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
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