I would tell you you shouldn't live your life "scared" all the time, but, the fact is this town goes full batsh** insane when we are in the Forecast Cone. I mean 20 hour drive to Dallas in 100 degree heat crazy.
Planet Houston should be preparing first for those dumb f'ers from the phantom zone. Then u move onto Hurricanes.
True, it could have been worse. But this is a state (much like the rest of the world) that has a "so what" attitude. The coastal spine system would be best, not just for protection of Houston's petrochem industry, but for the remainder of Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula. Extending the sea wall would allow for greater real estate investment as less area will be exposed to erosional flooding and instead be prone to back and side channel flooding (like the areas in Galveston currently protected by the sea wall). But at a cost of $12 billion I fully expect our ACORN army-fearing, Barbara Bush ass-licking Republican politicians to scoff at such a proposal.
Hurricane Ike proved that Houston can't be hit dead on by a hurricane -- a lot of people are forgetting the Coriolis effect.
As someone who's been dealing with the aftermath of natural disasters this is no surprise and something that I've suspected all along. Houston is very low and if you look at the floods last year a hurricane hitting just right could be devastating to Houston from both wind and water. Houston needs to improve it's flood and other infrastructure and very importantly needs to improve the procedure for evacuating. Rita was a disaster but I don't think much has improved. Natural disasters can strike anywhere and everyone should be prepared with a few days of food and water and emergency first aid. In the case of flood prone areas figure how to get to the roof and even keep an axe in the attic in case you need to hack your way to the roof top.
They talked about the storm barrier proposals on "Houston Matters", today. For anyone interested: http://www.houstonmatters.org/show/...ectual-property-wednesdays-show-march-16-2016 <iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/252198888&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false"></iframe>
I posted this thread last year. Seems appropriate for necro bump. More here: https://www.propublica.org/series/hell-and-high-water
That article isn't really that great -- it isn't able to take in enough variables beyond simply generalizations. Even with a Cat 5 direct hit Houston probably won't see the levels of water that Harvey brought -- the city is in rough shape, but I guarantee it will be looking relatively normal much faster than anticipated. Houston isn't going to be another New Orleans with a decade plus half-assed rebuild plan.
