Texas City Dike

The Texas City Dike was a manmade protective barrier, comparable to a levee or seawall projecting nearly 5 miles [http://wikimapia.org/22364/ Wikimapia] , aerial photo] to the southeast into the mouth of Galveston Bay, and flanked by the eastern tip of Galveston Island and Port Bolivar, Texas. The dike, one of the area's most beloved and enduring landmarks, was originally designed to reduce the impact of sediment accumulation along the lower Bay. [http://www.houstonfreeways.com/modern/2006-11-24_texas_city_dike.aspx houstonfreeways.com] , "Texas City Dike ", last updated 2008-06-15. Retrieved on 2008-09-14. Site contains numerous photographs.] The Bay itself connects the Houston Ship Channel, one of the nation's most important commercial waterways, and the Port of Houston with the Gulf of Mexico some 75 nautical miles distant. However, as Texas City expanded from its industrial roots to become a thriving residential community, the dike's purpose changed, and it became the city's best hope against a catastrophic incursion of water surging westward into the low-lying community from a hurricane landfall in the Bay. It was hoped that the dike, Texas City's primary defense against potential encroachment of water from Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, would lessen or even entirely deflect substantial damage to the city from such a potentially cataclysmic event.

The dike, whose construction was authorized by the Texas State Legislature in 1935, was constructed of tumbled granite blocks, ranging in size from that of a small suitcase to roughly that of a subcompact car, with a wide paved road extending its entire length. Boasting numerous fishing piers, bait and tackle shops, and restaurants awash in local color, the dike was often referred to by locals as "the world's longest man-made fishing pier." Along its length, it offered magnificent views of the lower Bay, the constant stream of commercial shipping and private pleasure craft that ply its waves, and nearby coastlines and islands including the Bolivar Peninsula, Virginia Point, Pelican Island, and the East End of Galveston. It was also famous for the many brown pelicans that called it home year-round.

The dike was overtopped (and structures destroyed) by what was measured as an 11-foot storm surge driven into the Bay by Hurricane Ike. Significant waves were witnessed to batter the dike as early as the afternoon of Friday, September 12, 2008, fully twelve hours ahead of the tropical cyclone's arrival on nearby Galveston Island's East End. It is not known whether the destruction of the dike's structures occurred before, or following Ike's entrance into Galveston Bay proper at approximately 3:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time on Saturday, September 13, 2008. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn9CZFnMvc4 USA Today Video] ]

A song, Texas City Dyke, by Gene Kelton is a play on words.

References