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Pilings and concrete pads show where homes once stood on the Bolivar Peninsula off the coast of Texas after Hurricane Ike. The extent of the destruction compares to damage documented by Western Carolina University researchers along the Mississippi shoreline after Katrina. (Photos by Ashley T. Evans)
Images of extensive damage to the Texas Gulf Coast by Hurricane Ike captured by Western Carolina University’s Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines are now available for online public viewing.
Andy Coburn, associate director of PSDS, conducted aerial reconnaissance of the Texas coast Sept. 18, six days after Hurricane Ike made landfall. Accompanied by photographer Ashley T. Evans, Coburn chartered a small plane out of Victoria, Texas, and flew from High Island to the southern tip of Galveston for a bird’s-eye view of the storm’s impact.
“Damage to the Bolivar Peninsula and other fragile barrier islands is extensive, and destruction is similar to what we saw along the Mississippi coast after Katrina,” Coburn said. “Galveston Island seems to have survived basically intact, except south of the seawall where a significant number of structures are now sitting in the surf zone.”
Beach erosion behind sand tubes on the Bolivar Peninsula, shown in the photo at right, indicates the tubes had no e
ffect on Hurricane Ike’s storm surge, Coburn said. Sand tubes are designed to stabilize shorelines and protect development.
Coburn has added the Hurricane Ike photographs to the PSDS digital image library, which can be seen at http://psds.shutterfly.com/. The library also includes images from Hurricane Katrina, several storms that hit the N.C. coast, and aerial photos of the North and South Carolina coasts.
The Hurricane Ike site has received more than 11,200 Web hits since the images were posted online Monday, Coburn said.
PSDS, which is housed administratively in the Division of Graduate School and Research, is known worldwide for its use of science to influence public policy affecting management of U.S. shorelines. For more information, call (828) 227-3822 or visit http://psds.wcu.edu/.
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Last modified Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008.