Galveston, Texas — Oceanographer Invoice Merrell will always remember the night time he spent trapped inside a constructing in Galveston, Texas, as Hurricane Ike slammed ashore in 2008. The storm precipitated $30 billion in injury.
"Ike was in all probability a 30-year storm," Merrell, who works at Texas A&M College, instructed CBS Information. "There's loads worse storms on the market."
Merrell was reminded of the large flood gates he had seen within the Netherlands.
"These are gates you'll be able to see from area. These are movable objects you'll be able to see from area. These are big!" he stated.
He sketched out a Texas model, which got here to be generally known as the "Ike Dike." The preliminary response to the concept?
"Oh, ridicule. Craziest concept they ever heard," Merrell stated.
That loopy concept could quickly stand guard at Galveston Bay, dwelling to the nation's largest export harbor and the largest petrochemical complicated within the Western Hemisphere. It's a part of the Military Corps of Engineers' $29 billion plan to defend a big a part of the Texas Gulf Coast. It calls for large gates designed to fend off 22 ft of storm surge and 43 miles of sand dunes to guard towards hurricanes.
Kelly Burks-Copes, who works for the Military Corps, stated the plan can be the biggest infrastructure venture within the nation and take as much as 20 years to design and construct.
"If we need to stay right here on the coast then we've to offer a stage of protection," Burks-Copes instructed CBS Information. "The intent right here is to maintain the surge that comes with hurricanes out within the gulf and never let it into the bay."
If Congress funds the venture, the federal authorities will decide up 65% of the associated fee, and Texas would pay the remainder.
State Sen. Larry Taylor stated there is not any time to waste with local weather change making storms extra intense.
"Constructing this one time goes to pay for itself time and again," Taylor instructed CBS Information. "It is not a matter of if we've a storm, it is when and what number of, and right here we've an opportunity for our authorities to be proactive as a substitute of reactive."