ResilienceTexas coastal areas still unprepared for disaster
When Hurricane Ike struck Galveston, Texas in 2008, leaving billions of dollars in damages and at least 100 people dead, residents knew that they were underprepared. Experts say that Texas coastal residents still are. Unlike Louisiana and New York after Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, Texas has not developed a plan to protect its coast, and the state has failed to seek the same level of federal funding after Ike as the two other states sought after their hurricanes.
When Hurricane Ike struck Galveston, Texas in 2008, leaving billions of dollars in damages and at least 100 people dead, residents knew that they were underprepared. Since 2009, less than half of the $3.1 billion allocated by the federal government to Texas for rebuilding efforts after Ike has been spent. Some considered it an improvement, though, since less than 20 percent of the funds were spent since 2011, when two different state agencies were leading recovery efforts.
Today, the General Land Office (GLO) has control and 45 percent of the recovery funds have been spent.
At last week’s hearing of the Joint Interim Committee to Study a Coastal Barrier System, held on Texas A&M University’s Galveston campus, experts warned legislators that the coast is underprepared for another Ike-like hurricane. “Are we ready for the next storm?” state Representative Armando Walle (D-Houston) asked during the hearing, noting that since 1980, Texas’s Gulf Coast has experienced nineteen significant storms that occurred during the month of August.
No, “we’re not protected. We are extremely vulnerable,” said Jim Blackburn, an environmental lawyer from Houston who also directs the Severe Storm Prediction, Education, and Evacuation from Disasters Center at Rice University.
According to the Texas Tribune, unlike Louisiana and New York after Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, Texas has not developed a plan to protect its coast, and the state has failed to seek the same level of federal funding after Ike as the two other states sought after their hurricanes.
Today, researchers at Texas A&M University have proposed the “Ike Dike,” a large seawall-type barrier or gate which would span the entire Galveston Bay, along with extending a seawall on Galveston Island across the Bolivar Peninsula. Critics say that plan would disrupt the local fishing industry by cutting off Galveston Bay from salty sea water that allows oysters and other species to thrive.
As researchers and government engineers try to recommend alternative solutions to protect the Texas coast, they face a challenge in deciding the most important areas to protect. Tony Williams, an environmental review coordinator at the GLO told lawmakers that not all plans will be accepted by all people, but a plan must be implemented soon. “People are going to ask, ‘Why are you protecting this person and not me?’” However, he warned that if nothing is done, “people will say, ‘Why did you not protect me when you had the opportunity?’”
