A home surrounded by floodwater is seen in this aerial photograph taken above Kinston, North Carolina, on Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. Record floods cover much of eastern North Carolina
in the wake of Hurricane Florence, and the waters are still rising.
Photo:
Alex Wroblewski / Bloomberg
It has been over a year since Hurricane Harvey caused an estimated $125 billion in damage and claimed the lives of at least 75 of our fellow Texans, including some 50 people in the Houston area. It was the most economically devastating hurricane to hit Texas and, adjusted for inflation, Harvey was the second most destructive in American history. As we pray for those on the East Coast recovering from Hurricane Florence, and monitor tropical activity in the Atlantic Ocean, we should pause and reflect to ask: Are we ready?
The risk of hurricane damage is an economic and social issue of enormous consequence to Texas and our nation. Protecting Texas taxpayers is one of several purposes behind the reforms proposed in my report, “
Hurricane Harvey: Texas At Risk.
”
The estimated $125 billion in Harvey damage will eventually be footed by taxpayers, survivors and businesses through federal taxes, increased insurance premiums and increased personal and national debt. Taxpayers repeatedly fund disaster recovery efforts, while equivalent preventative measures have not been taken to reduce future damage from inevitable hurricanes.
We need to prioritize mitigation to prevent hurricane damage — it is the fiscally conservative thing to do.
Preparedness and mitigation are the best remedies to address the threats posed by natural disasters. With Hurricane Harvey, the Texas General Land Office was uniquely positioned to observe issues that exacerbated damage and hindered recovery efforts. Our report is the result of a collaboration of input from local, state and federal officials who contributed their candor and expertise. It is a comprehensive roadmap for preventing damage by establishing a regional building code to increase resiliency against future disasters, innovating drainage and flood mitigation and making recovery more expeditious and cost.
Texas is one of the most hurricane-prone states in the United States, which is why I have long been a proponent of a Coastal Barrier System and other coastal protection measures to mitigate storm surge. If a major hurricane struck between Galveston Island and Bolivar Peninsula, the resulting storm surge would be catastrophic not only for millions of homes, it would cause unimaginable damage to three of our nation’s vital shipping lanes: The Port of Houston, the Port of Texas City and the Port of Galveston. A pivotal recommendation in the report is the acceleration of the studies needed to advance the Texas Coastal Barrier System and Upper Texas Coastal Levee system, with funding for these projects prioritized by the U.S. government.
As we saw with Harvey, flooding can also result from significant rainfall, which can devastate or destroy a home. Of the homes that flooded in Texas, 83 percent were not insured under the National Flood Insurance Program. In Houston alone, more than 200,000 homes and apartments flooded, and more than half of the homes in Harris County that flooded were outside the 100-year flood plain.
At a local level, Houston has been a leader in improving building standards to improve flood resistance. While 6 percent of all homes in Harris County sustained flood damage during Hurricane Harvey, Harris County engineers reported that only 2 percent of the homes built since 2000 flooded, while less than 1 percent of the homes flooded were built since 2009. Before both 2000 and 2009, the slab elevation standards were raised and then rigorously enforced. After Hurricane Harvey, the Harris County flood control district voted to increase the elevation once again to 2 feet above base flood elevation. Several months later the City Council of Houston took similar action. While these are significant improvements, Texas should establish by state statute a Regional Building Code District with standard-setting authority in the high-risk hurricane region of Texas. The commission would have oversight over building codes in the coastal region historically most at risk of hurricane flooding and wind damage.
These recommendations are not simply to benefit the residents of the Texas coast, but all American taxpayers. I encourage those who desire a fiscally conservative approach to disaster recovery to read “Hurricane Harvey: Texas At Risk” and express your support to your state and federal leaders, who can make these recommendations become reality. You can review
the report
on the Texas General Land Office website.
