Seawall moment

Harvey should motivate us to take bold steps that will protect people from future disasters.

“It would be impossible for any cyclone to create a storm wave which would materially injure the city.”

Isaac Cline, the chief meteorologist at Galveston’s Weather Bureau, issued that expert — and grievously misinformed — opinion in an influential newspaper article published in 1891. At the time, Galveston was in the midst of a longrunning civic debate over whether the city should build a seawall as a defense against hurricanes. Cline’s essay dismissed the idea that a tropical disturbance could cause serious damage on the island as “an absurd delusion.”

Galveston kept dithering about building a seawall and skeptics kept ridiculing the proposal until the fateful night of Sept. 8, 1900. On that evening, which one survivor described as “a night of horrors,” a monstrous hurricane slammed ashore and killed an estimated 8,000 people. Only after that cataclysm did Galveston come to grips with the inevitable: It was time to construct its seawall.

The Great Storm of 1900, a time before hurricanes had names or forecasters had radar, remains the deadliest natural disaster in American history. The storm we have just endured may be the most expensive. Just as survivors of the 1900 storm finally realized they had to stop deliberating about defending Galveston against future hurricanes, we survivors of this storm find ourselves at a historic turning point.

Hurricane Harvey is Houston’s seawall moment. This disaster should be the impetus for immediate action addressing flood-related issues we’ve discussed far too long without governmental action.

We’ve known for years that, just as a hurricane storm surge killed thousands in 1900, a storm surge today could devastate the Clear Lake area and the Bayport Industrial Complex. The refineries and chemical plants around the Houston Ship Channel provide most of the nation’s jet fuel and almost a third of the country’s oil refining capacity. We’ve long discussed how a coastal barrier system could protect this area. Now is the time to build it.

We’ve also known for years that we’ve been drawing too much groundwater from the earth beneath us, causing subsidence that aggravates flooding. Over the last century, aquifers here have lost 300 to 400 feet, turning some parts of our area into giant bowls in the ground. Meyerland dropped about 18 inches over the course of 13 years. Nonetheless, at least 30 of the 50 major water suppliers in Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties draw all of their water out of the ground. Now is the time to break our area’s dependence on ground water. We’ve also known for years that the Addicks and Barker dams are a fracture away from triggering an apocalyptic flood. The Army Corps of Engineers has rated them among the nation’s half-dozen most unsafe dams. If they fail, half of Houston will go underwater and thousands could die. Critics also believe the Corps has allowed development to go too far, increasing runoff and impacting the deteriorating dams. Now is the time to stop development affecting the reservoirs and do whatever is necessary to ensure the dams’ integrity.

In short, the massive tragedy we’ve suffered through this week should incite us to undertake bold initiatives. This page has addressed these issues before and we will continue to do so in the future.

The 1900 storm that killed an estimated 8,000 people taught Galveston a very hard lesson. Another hurricane struck the island in 1915, but city death records indicate fewer than 100 people drowned in that event. The storm surge was blocked by the seawall, the structure civic leaders argued about for decades before a disaster finally forced them into action.

Just as that storm drove Galveston to build its seawall, Hurricane Harvey should be the catalyst motivating us to finally act upon difficult and expensive flood protection measures. Let’s stop talking and get to work.

We’ve known for years that the Addicks and Barker dams are a fracture away from triggering an apocalyptic flood. The Army Corps of Engineers has rated them among the nation’s half-dozen most unsafe dams.