KHOU signs deal on new building!
NOVEMBER 16, 2017
KHOU officially moving thanks to Harvey
UPDATED: KHOU 11 studio floods again, staff forced to evacuate and relocate at Federal Reserve building
RELATED
- KHOU begins studio rebuild process
- VIDEO: Summary of KHOU 11 studio flooding Harvey
- KHOU 11 broadcasting from TV 8 KUHT behind the scenes photos
- Dan Rather's words of encouragement for KHOU
I've been up since 4am shoveling water and making a makeshift drainage system to keep water out of my house. People are boating down my street.
And I am lucky.
Watching what happened to the eastern portion of the Houston area breaks my heart. At the time of me writing this on Sunday morning before 9am, high water rescues are going on all around our metro area.
I'm sure we don't even know the extent of the damage right now, and apparently Harvey is not finished with Houston or Texas just yet.
#khou11 evacuation #hurricaneharvey @BrooksKHOU pic.twitter.com/K4LLKdxFcP
— Sally Ramirez (@SallyKHOU11) August 27, 2017
Since this is a Houston media blog, let's take a look at KHOU 11 which has flooded once again.
After I originally posted this item, the staffers announced online and on TV they were evacuating the building.
They quickly relocated to the Federal Reserve building right down the street from the station. I believe that building is on higher ground.
As of 6pm Sunday evening, the station announced it will broadcast from the studios of KUHT 8. Online, WFAA is still providing coverage, on air I see color bars.
We made it! 25 miles in 2 hours. Thanks @DarbyKHOU. Here's our new temp home - PBS station @UHouston #khou11 pic.twitter.com/KfPfE3Og9Y
— Russ Lewis (@RussKHOU) August 27, 2017
At the time of the evacuation, reporter Brandi Smith and photographer Mario Sandoval were live in the field from Beltway 8 near I-10, and continued to be the only thing on the channel for a very long time until the station signed off at 10am.
Smith even alerted rescue workers to a motorist in trouble while live on the air. People reached out to me on social media to praise their efforts.
After a few hours, KHOU sister station WFAA started providing online Harvey coverage for the Houston audience from Dallas.
KHOU began taking water in early Sunday morning - including in its new studio. The anchors and other staff members were then moved up stairs to continue broadcasting.
As you can see in the above video, the water then started pouring into the station's lobby and the call was made to evacuate.
The last report I heard was two feet of water entered the building.
Tropical Storm Allison in 2001 was the last time the station flooded.
For those of you not in Houston, KHOU is located near downtown on a scenic stretch of Buffalo Bayou. That is great until the bayou comes out of its banks...especially since part of channel 11's parking lot and building are lower than the street Allen Parkway.
When I was live tweeting Hurricane Ike in 2008 at KTRK abc13, water was coming through the ceiling in various parts of the building. During wall to wall coverage, staff members gathered behind the set to cover the weather center computers to keep them from getting wet.
You might remember during the 2016 Houston Tax Day floods when KPRC's former building took on water and was forced to broadcast from its transmitter site.
That was nothing compared to what KHOU is going through.
Stay strong.
RELATED
- VIDEO: Summary of KHOU 11 studio flooding Harvey
- KHOU 11 broadcasting from TV 8 KUHT behind the scenes photos
- Dan Rather's words of encouragement for KHOU
