Houston Could Face More Severe Storms. Is the City Prepared?

Hurricane Beryl, which hit Houston last week, could be a “wake-up call” for more intense and unpredictable storm seasons, writes Dylan Baddour for Inside Climate News.

Beryl hit Houston with Category 1 strength, causing damage and power outages for millions of residents. “For Matt Lanza, meteorologist and editor of Space City Weather, the storm raised a sobering prospect: What if the mild hurricane that hit Texas had been stronger?” Lanza said, “This week’s experience suggests the city is ill-prepared to handle such a disaster.”

The region is taking steps to shore up its defenses against future storms. Offshore, federal officials are advancing plans to build a massive $57 billion system of barriers and gates that has been called the largest civil engineering project in U.S. history and is expected to take 20 years to complete. Meanwhile, the city of Houston is widening bayous and offering buyouts to homeowners in flood zones.

Making Houston less vulnerable is a massive undertaking, “one that in some ways reverses decades of booming development driven by energy-age hubris,” Baddour writes. “The transformation would involve making room for water, retreating from the bayou to create a giant network of wide greenways across the metro area.”