A New Texas Seawall Could Save Billions In Hurricane Damage – And Cost Billions To Build

A variety of proposals are under consideration.

By Jill AmentJanuary 9, 2018 1:57 pm,

A seawall could go up along the Texas coast from Galveston Island to Bolivar Peninsula. Exact proposals vary but it could be 17 feet tall and 60 miles long – and it could save billions of dollars in damage from the next big hurricane.

But the fact is, it will also cost billions to build. So is it an investment that’s worth it? That’s what some Texas lawmakers are trying to convince Washington.

Susan Carroll, a reporter for the Houston Chronicle, says the idea to build the wall came from Texas A&M professor Bill Merrell.

“It’s modeled after a Dutch system that’s designed to protect them in the case of a massive hurricane,” she says.

Plenty of design options are under consideration.

“There are some concerns about what the potential environmental impact is of designing these barriers in certain ways,” she says.

Carroll says support for building the seawall started after Hurricane Ike, but the proposal is still only a dream.

“There is no funding for it right now,” she says. “That’s going to be the big question. Can Texas find the money to build something like this?”

Written by Jen Rice.