The last few days not only marked the anniversary of the day that changed our lives, September 11, 2001, but it also marked the anniversary of Hurricane Ike September 13, 2008. Ike was the third most destructive hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. He made landfall over Galveston, Texas as a category 2 hurricane with a category 4 equivalent storm surge. The storm surge reached as high as 20 feet and hurricane force winds extended 120 miles from the center.
While most of the media attention was focused on Galveston and/or the Bolivar Peninsula, people in Orange County, TX were struggling silently. Jefferson County (where I live) is neighbor to Orange County so needless to say; many of our friends and co-workers lost everything that they had. We, Jefferson County, were only spared because of the seawall and floodgates that have been in place here for as long as I can remember. Everyone knew that most of the folks in Orange County may not have lost their homes had they too had a wall in place. So today when Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson announced this huge coastal protection project, $135.4 million, I had to wonder why no one has tried to acquire funds to build a wall in Orange County.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with Patterson’s coastal protection plans, other than accepting matching funds from the Federal Government. We have needed to take action on coastal erosion for a long time. I am only curious as to why Orange has yet to take steps towards protecting their citizens a little better.
Video of Orange County, TX after Hurricane Ike………….
http://setxhomepage.com/content/fulltext/?cid=20401
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