Corps defends storm data

Agency researcher says Ike Dike plans use the latest info

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers disputes Rice researchers who claimed their Ike Dike plan used outdated info.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers disputes the contention made by Rice University researchers that the Corps used outdated storm and modeling information in its preference for a 70-mile coastal barrier known as the Ike Dike.

The agency’s modeling system used state-of-the-art storm simulations to test how its proposed barrier would hold up against the worst possible storms along the Texas coast, said Kelly Burks-Copes, the project manager for the Army Corps’ study, in an interview Wednesday.

“They formulated 100 storms, and we just ran another 75 this month … that potentially have never occurred before, a lot of model storms, ranging from Category 1 to Category 5.”

Kelly Burks-Copes, the project manager for the Army Corps’ study

“We did not use the FEMA flood-mapping model,” BurksCopes said, referring to comments made to the Houston Chronicle by Larry Dunbar, a project manager at Rice’s Severe Storm Prediction, Education & Evacuation from Disasters Center.

At issue are two proposals that would create a coastal barrier to protect the Houston and Galveston region from devastating storm surge during hurricanes.

The preferred plan from the Army Corps of Engineers and the Texas General Land Office would create a complex 70mile system of levees and sea