Texas Hurricane

http://news.discovery.com/earth/oceans/hurricane-ike-dike-to-protect-texas-130917.htm The “Ike Dike” — a proposed dike in Texas modeled on the one that protects The Netherlands from storm surges — could cost as much as $2.4 billion, according to Explorations in Applied Geography. Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and other consultants, partnering with Texas A&M, this week suggested the dike should resemble The Netherlands’ Maeslant or the Eastern Scheldt storm surge barriers in scope and life-cycle costs. The Eastern Scheldt, which was finished in the late 1980s, cost the proposed amount to build. William Merrell, a professor from Texas A&M University, first proposed the ”Ike Dike” for Texas soon after Hurricane Ike made landfall in September 2008 as a Category 2 storm. It caused significant flooding in Texas and Louisiana, killed 112 people and caused $38 billion worth of damage, making it third in the list of costliest hurricanes in U.S. history. Though support for the project waned after Hurricane Sandy, recent research funding and partnerships may bring the “Ike Dike” back to the drawing table. The proposed barrier would stretch across the mouth of the Galveston Bay. It would attach to Port Bolivar on one side and Galveston on the other and become an extension of the existing Galveston sea wall. The barrier would allow ships to pass into Port Houston through a gate, which would close when sea level rises during a storm.