John MacArthur wrote:
The question is what kind of a God lets anybody live? We know God is holy and righteous and we know the wages of sin is death, and we deserve to die. The soul that sins, it shall die. The fact that we take another breath is because God is merciful. It's the patience and forbearance of God leading us to repentance. You see history works this way: We all deserve to die. But instead, God lets us live and really live, you know, we live, we love, we laugh, we enjoy all the blessings of life in all its richness. What's that about? It's showing you the patience and forbearance of God, the kindness of God, the compassion of God with the intent of leading you to repentance. It's time to repent. It's giving you opportunity.

But all through human history, God punctuates His patience with events that remind us death is around the corner and we don't know when. The message is, you don't know when you're going to die, but you are going to die and you can't predict it and you can't plan it. You need to be ready.

Jim Lincoln wrote:
Dr. Rugh wrote:
"What happens is never the fault of "Mother Nature" but an event in the plan of Father God. This includes such tragedies as Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami on the west coast of Indonesia and most recently the cyclone to hit in Myanmar. There is nothing that happens by chance, even the outcome of the roll of the dice. Everything, every event is under the control of God."

some of the summary for[URL=http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?sermonID=10505121331]]]The Role of God in Natural Disasters[/URL]

Dr. Rugh wrote:
The providence of God not only works in the selection of governmental leaders, including the worst of ones such as Nebuchadnezzar, but also in the happenings of nature. What happens is never the fault of "Mother Nature" but an event in the plan of Father God. This includes such tragedies as Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami on the west coast of Indonesia and most recently the cyclone to hit in Myanmar. There is nothing that happens by chance, even the outcome of the roll of the dice. Everything, every event is under the control of God.

We cannot understand God's infinite purposes with our finite minds. He alone is all-knowing, all-powerful with a perfect plan to accomplish His purposes. We do have a human responsibility and accountability, while living under His sovereign will and authority God.

We should be moved with compassion when tragedies take place but we must have a proper perspective about tragedies....

ABC Radio News wrote:
"First we had the hurricane-style damage, the horrific winds that mowed down so many buildings and local facilities where the hurricane crossed inland all the way up to the Victoria area," Abbott told GMA. "Second then, of course, there’s the horrific flooding in the Houston area."

Abbott suggested that people expecting a quick recovery from the storm should exercise patience.

"This going to take years for us to be able to build out the repairs that are going to be needed to overcome this flooding and hurricane disaster," he said....

No doubt he will be getting input from Professor Brody, [URL=http://abcnewsradioonline.com/national-news/why-houston-is-prone-to-flooding.html#entry35960802]]]Why Houston is prone to flooding[/URL]

Nebraska Red Cross has dispatched some people down to Houston, and I just saw that the Nebraska National Guard is sending some helicopter crews down there also. Texas can expect more help from the Great Plains states, no doubt.

ABC Radio News wrote:
Houston is being inundated with "unprecedented" devastating flooding after ferocious Hurricane Harvey set in over southeast Texas this weekend, dumping torrential rain on the city, with no end in sight.

ABC News meteorologists are forecasting historic rainfall totals up to 50 inches by Wednesday....

The National Hurricane Center said at least 50 inches of rain has fallen in some areas, and one meteorologist estimated that upward of 340 billion gallons of rainfall inundated the area.

Meteorologist Travis Herzog of ABC Houston station KTRK-TV estimates that 340-370 billion gallons of rainwater has fallen so far, which exceeds other major flooding events that have affected the region in recent years by over one hundred billion gallons....

More rain is likely coming

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott briefed the press Sunday afternoon and said that as the heavy rains are expected to persist, which will lead to even more flooding, people are urged to stay off the roads....

Mike wrote:
From the news:
You see, professor flooding expert thinks the folks who get flooded annually need more awareness of flood risks. Now they can know for certain that when flood comes, they can be aware of it. Good thing to have a flood expert to enlighten the great unwashed.

Then the flooding expert comes along:

"ABC News spoke with Texas A & M Professor Samuel Brody, who is an expert on flooding causes and consequences and is also the director of the Center for Texas Beaches and Shores."

"One of the issues that could improved, Brody said, is making local communities and its residents aware of flood risks.

"There's a real lack of awareness and messaging that reaches out to those neighborhood levels," Brody said.

ABC Radio News wrote:
ABC News spoke with Texas A & M Professor Samuel Brody, who is an expert on flooding causes and consequences and is also the director of the Center for Texas Beaches and Shores.

Brody also said that's it's not just Houston but other major cities like Miami, Chicago and New York that could deal with disastrous urban flooding in the future.

"As we continue to congregate in these urban areas, particularly in coastal regions, I think urban flooding is going to be a paramount issue moving forward for this country," Brody said.

Brody's hope is that there'll be greater leadership from the local and federal government to "genuinely start dealing with this flood issue."

"It's not a matter of will we get this again in some form? We absolutely will," Brody said. "The question is what is the cost of doing nothing or not doing enough going forward?"

CNN Money wrote:
Hurricanes that land in Texas tend to have little impact on oil production, but more significant consequences for refining, according to Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service.

While refineries in Corpus Christi were already closed ahead of the storm, flooding in the Houston area forced more closures Sunday....

Houston also marks the beginning of the Colonial Pipeline, which transports more than 100 million gallons of gasoline, heating oil and aviation fuel each day to as far as the New York harbor. Power outages during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 forced the shutdown of parts of the Colonial Pipeline for several days.

Kloza said that normally refining is knocked offline for just a brief time, making the impact on prices fleeting. But that depends on the severity of the storm.

"Katrina was the exception," Kloza said, referring to the 2005 storm that badly damaged Gulf Coast operations.

You're talking about a situation where a month from now gas prices will probably be lower. But a week from now they'll be higher," said Kloza.

ABC News wrote:
Hurricane Rita (Sept. 24, 2005): The last Category 3 storm to make landfall in Texas was Rita, though it did so much farther north than Harvey is expected to land. Rita, which hit just three weeks after Hurricane Katrina, made landfall right along the Texas-Louisiana border with sustained winds of 120 miles per hour. The town of Center, Texas -- near Nacogdoches -- received 10.48 inches of rain in the storm, but it moved quickly through the area, limiting rainfall accumulation. Still, 59 people from Texas were killed in the storm, according to the NWS, and a number of others died in a bus accident during evacuations.