Editor’s note: This is part of Drifting Toward Disaster, a Texas Observer series about life-changing challenges facing Texans and their rivers.
The Texas coast regularly experiences major storms and flood events with devastating consequences to those of us who live and work in their paths. As each storm passed in recent decades—Allison, Rita, Ike, Harvey, and more—hard lessons were learned and improvements initiated. Future storms are inevitable. With appropriate planning, we can minimize future flooding impacts while still improving our overall economy and quality of life.
Unfortunately, some Texans instead continue to ignore foreseeable flood impacts and create avoidable future destruction.
