By T.J. Aulds
The Daily News
Published May 20, 2009
TEXAS CITY — Work is under way to fix about $2 million of damage Hurricane Ike caused to the Galveston Bay section of the Texas City-La Marque hurricane levee. While crews hired by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will replace the rock and earth washed away by the storm, some of the levee’s more attractive features must be removed.
About 100 trees that had lined the part of the levee that rings Texas City near the dike and Bay Street Park have to go, federal officials told the city.
Mayor Matt Doyle said the only way the Federal Emergency Management Agency would certify the levee system as a surge protector was to have the trees removed. “Anything with roots has to be pulled up and taken away,” Doyle said.
Engineers were concerned that, if high winds felled trees, the ground beneath them would pull away too, leaving the levee vulnerable to a breach, Galveston County Engineer Mike Fitzgerald said.
So, 64 eucalyptus and 41 palm trees are being removed this week. Doyle said the eucalyptus trees didn’t fare well in the storm and never recovered.
The palms survived the storm, but much of the erosion at the lower part of the levee, known as the toe, occurred near the trees.
In addition, 18 concrete utility poles installed on the levee near the flood gate for the Grand Cay subdivision also have to go. Fitzgerald said the hurricane leveled many of the poles and left gaping holes in the top of the levee.
“Had the water topped the levee and filled those holes, it could have led to a breach,” Fitzgerald said.
The power company will have to install underground utility lines for the waterfront neighborhood on Moses Lake, Doyle said.
Once the trees are removed, crews will install a new border of rock along the toe of the levee. Ike tossed much of the protective base away in a stretch of the levee from the entrance to the dike to the flood gate.
For now, access to the levee is open to the public, but Doyle said he expects the levee will be closed when heavy work begins.
Repair work on the levee is expected to be completed in late August, Fitzgerald said.
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