FLOODING IN HOUSTON TEXAS.

[Alexandrina]

Message on the FTDNA Facebook Page:

"To our Family Tree DNA Family - Our office will be closed Monday and possibly Tuesday due to Harvey. This means customer service may be offline for the next few days as we have asked employees to be safe and stay home. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. We ask that you please be patient and keep our great city of Houston and the rest of Texas in your thoughts"

[AFH]

Hopefully our samples are stored in a safe place.

[spruithean]

Hopefully our samples are stored in a safe place.

I would imagine they are, well I would hope so.

[KATM]

According to Roberta Estes' last blog post, "Houston, We Have a Problem. . . Named Harvey (she is a project admin at FTDNA, and has toured their facilities):

The good news is that Houstonians, and Family Tree DNA in particular, are not novices. For those who don’t know, the building that houses Family Tree DNA was damaged by hurricane Ike in 2008, including the lab. They were fine then, and they’ll be fine this time too – which doesn’t mean they might not have some challenges.

Family Tree DNA, along with their lab including DNA samples is located on the 8th floor of an office building on the Loop Road, on the Northwest side of Houston.

Looking out from their windows, you can see the freeway BELOW grade. Let me translate this for you. The expressway will fill up before the roads around the expressway flood. And then it would take 8 more floors of water to touch FTDNA.

If it gets that bad, the only saving grace would be some guy named Noah.

And no, for those wondering about leakage, they are NOT located on the top floor of the building.

There is automatic generator power for the entire building. Family Tree DNA also has offsite backup out of harm’s way.

[dagian]

I only recently, within last week, submitted my first sample so I am assuming that it will now take a little longer to start getting results. More important is that FTDNA and their employees are safe.

[Jim Barrett]

I only recently, within last week, submitted my first sample so I am assuming that it will now take a little longer to start getting results. More important is that FTDNA and their employees are safe.

If it is stuck in the North Houston USPS distribution center you may have to send a new sample.

[georgian1950]

If it is stuck in the North Houston USPS distribution center you may have to send a new sample.

Underwater?

[MMaddi]

Underwater?

Here's a story from a Houston TV channel about Houston area postal service, with my bolding in the quote below - http://www.khou.com/news/local/post-...ding/468405080:

"Today, U.S. Postal Service Houston District Manager David Camp announced that all retail and delivery operations, along with drop shipments and mail acceptance are suspended through the close of business Monday, August 28, 2017. The Postal Service assures customers that their mail has been secured and safe."

This about the North Houston Distribution Center that delivers large bags of returned test kits to FTDNA: "NORTH HOUSTON TX P&DC
• The Houston P&DC, located at 4600 Aldine Bender Rd, North Houston, TX 77315-9997 will not be accepting drop shipments beginning at 2:00PM on Sunday, August 27, 2017.
• The Houston P&DC is planning to resume accepting drop shipments on Wednesday, August 30, 2017 at 5:00PM"

So, they will be accepting shipments going out, starting tomorrow afternoon, although you'd have to be crazy or suicidal to go driving around Houston right now. The story doesn't specify if the North Houston Distribution Center is making deliveries, including to FTDNA, yet. Given the flooding all over the area, I doubt they've made any deliveries since last Friday and may not make deliveries until this Friday or next week.

In other words, anyone who mailed back their test kit to FTDNA about a week or two ago will probably have a delay of maybe of a week or two beyond the normal, expected time of delivery to FTDNA offices. This is just a guesstimate/speculation on my part, but at least it's better than wild speculation and panic.

[MMaddi]

Update from FTDNA's Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/FamilyTreeD...81447731907602

[dagian]

I only recently, within last week, submitted my first sample so I am assuming that it will now take a little longer to start getting results. More important is that FTDNA and their employees are safe.

.
I forwarded my test from Europe and it was tracked until August 19th as arriving in Customs in US (Airport unknown). Is it likely that it reached FTDNA before Harvey hit?

[loobster]

.
I forwarded my test from Europe and it was tracked until August 19th as arriving in Customs in US (Airport unknown). Is it likely that it reached FTDNA before Harvey hit?

No idea about that. But -
Your Kit will suffer no harm if it sits a bit longer in one or another Post Office before getting to FTDNA.
So - hang tight and wait. With any luck, all will be fine. It just may seem even more like forever.

[DaveInGreece]

dagian,

Kits seem to get from Europe to the States quickly but then take forever to get across the States to Houston. Even without a hurricane to contend with your kit would probably still be in transit. I usually have to wait 2 weeks or more for the American part of the transit.

[MMaddi]

This is the latest service notice from the US Postal Service about delivery and other services in the Houston area:

"Mail delivery to Houston-area homes and business is suspended because of Hurricane Harvey until further notice, the U.S. Postal Service announced Wednesday evening.

"Affected ZIP codes begin with these three-digit prefixes: 770, 772, 773, 774, 775, 776, 777 and 778.

"Services on hold include retail operations, mail collection, business mail units, drop shipments. The Postal Service also will not provide shipment of live animals destined for these ZIP codes until further notice and all Priority Mail Express service is on hold until 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 1."

This means that outgoing test kits from FTDNA to customers and incoming test kits from customers to FTDNA will not get into the delivery pipeline on the Houston end or move along the pipeline in the Houston area until further notice. Hopefully, "until further notice" won't be too long in coming. Until then, expect longer than normal times for receiving a test kit for a new account, returned kits being received by FTDNA and getting your test results (if the test depended on FTDNA getting a DNA sample from your recently mailed test kit).

[Cathy]

My USPS tracking code shows that my kit was delivered last Friday at 5:46 pm. Does anyone know whether the kits are delivered to a person who might put them in a safe place or if FTDNA staff have been able to get to the building where kits are delivered since the hurricane hit? From my home page, I do see a "Received By Lab" line (that I don't think was there before), but no corresponding date. I know this is a trivial matter given the circumstances, but just curious. Thank you.

[Jim Barrett]

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds"

I realize these are special conditions but I couldn't help but remember hearing this for YEARS.

I also noticed that the list of zip code provided is only a partial list. I live 150 miles north of Houston and we have not received anything other than local mail since the storm closed Houston because all of our "out of town" mails comes through Houston. I'll add 759 to their list