The recent flooding proves Houston needs storm surge infrastructure

We all witnessed the issues a few thunderstorms from the northwest caused us throughout last week. Schools were shutdown, neighborhoods were flooded, and the roads were virtually empty of traffic during the Monday afternoon rush hour because of closed businesses. Conditions were deadly, with multiple deaths confirmed due to the flooding.

Houston is known to have bad infrastructure, but wouldn’t it make sense for us to have good storm surge protection, at the very least? We live in a city that is at sea level, and the greater Houston area stretches to the coast. The events of last week show whenever a lot of water comes to Houston, flooding is almost certain to occur. In the event of a major hurricane, entire neighborhoods would be underwater, and an incredible number of lives would be lost. The major refineries and chemical plants along our ship channel would also be ruined, leaving a devastating impact on the environment and the nation’s economy as a whole. There have been talks to build protective infrastructure since Hurricane Ike left Galveston under more than 8ft of water in 2008, so why hasn’t any progress been made?

Buffalo Bayou State Park was left entirely underwater following heavy rainfall on April 18th  (picture by UH student Asim Khan)

When Hurricane Ike threatened to make landfall in the greater Houston area, state and local officials went into panic mode. The projections for Ike showed Houston underwater, with major damage done especially to coastal communities such as Clear Lake, as well as NASA and the ship channel. In Harris County alone, thousands of homes were expected to be ruined. The National Weather Service alerted: “Persons not heeding evacuation orders in single family or one or two story homes will face certain death.” I can still recall how panicked the entire city was becoming. In the case of Ike, however, Houston got seriously lucky. When Ike finally made landfall, the hurricane miraculously veered to the north, mostly avoiding Houston. Even so, the damage totaled up to $30 billion, and the local economy was seriously affected.

Following Ike, state and local officials were urged to create some sort of protective infrastructure to decrease the damages in the event a major hurricane actually makes a direct hit. While many plans have been visualized for storm surge protection, none have been enacted despite the risks. According to a collaborative project by The Texas Tribune and ProPublica, “Houston’s perfect storm is coming — and it’s not a matter of if but when. The city has dodged it for decades, but the likelihood it will happen in any given year is nothing to scoff at.” The same project described in depth the devastating effect such a storm would have on Houston, and it certainly paints a scary picture.

A Harris County street was left flooded following last week’s heavy rainfall, leaving many stuck in their driveway (picture by UH student Dave Shah)

Eight years have passed since Mother Nature’s warning shots were fired with Ike, so why haven’t we made progress? Multiple firms have worked on plans for a storm surge protection system, yet none of them have moved forward. Annise Parker, former mayor of Houston, believes progress has been far too slow, saying, “I don’t think we’ve done enough, and I don’t think we made enough progress.”

When researching exactly what has caused the lack of progress, I’ve found nothing but elaborate finger-pointing. Houston’s leaders blame scientists and businesses for not working together towards a single plan. Scientists and business blame state and federal officials for not choosing and funding a plan. State and federal officials simply claim to support protective infrastructure, but a plan has yet to be chosen, and funding has yet to begin.

Severe flooding in Towne Lake, a lake-filled neighborhood in northwest Harris Country (picture by Dave Shah)

Our government’s inefficiency is upsetting, and it’s important for the public to be aware of this situation given recent events. Despite all of the useless finger-pointing, it seems state and federal officials are the only ones that can truly get a storm surge plan rolling. We can’t afford to wait until the next series of floods to be upset about this. By the time the next monster hurricane inevitably comes towards us, it will already be too late.

Tweet at state representatives, call their offices, maybe even start a petition. Don’t stop pressuring and ridiculing our elected officials until they acknowledge and address the problem. Show them we refuse to watch our city get wiped off the map while they do absolutely nothing to stop it. Show them how tired we are of Texas’ useless public policy makers. Houston is the gem of this state, and we shouldn’t rest until Governor Abbott himself funds a plan to protect it from the disaster that is sure to come.