Given its location on a Gulf Coast barrier island, Galveston, Texas, is particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels and the rising intensity of storms. But as the Washington Post reports in an in-depth look at the city's existential fight with nature, that isn't keeping new arrivals away. Consider two key stats: Since 2010, the ocean here has risen a "staggering" 8 inches, while the city's population of about 53,000 has increased 12% over the same span. The 30-mile-wide island city has a seawall, but it protects only about a third of Galveston. "Where it ends, two luxury condominium projects have been proposed along one of the fastest-eroding stretches of beach," write Chris Mooney, John Muyskens, and Brady Dennis. Such condos can go up easily enough, but the question is to what lengths the city (and its taxpayers) will have to go to protect them.
The story explores the history of Galveston, which suffered a devastating hurricane in 1900 that led to the creation of the seawall as well as a massive project to pump in sand and raise neighborhoods by several feet. Today, new remedies are being explored (including massive pump stations), and the city is wrestling with the costs and benefits, as well as potential limits on new development. The piece ends on a sobering note. "I don't think people really understand what's coming," says Randall Parkinson, a coastal geologist with Florida International University, referring to projected sea rise. "It's nothing anybody has ever experienced. It's taken a long time to get to where things are now, but now it is coming fast." (Read the full story.)
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