Just got back from Bolivar. My parents and I went from Beaumont to just past Rollover Pass.
It is a scene of almost total devastation. The first sign of Ike was when we turned off I-10 to go through Winnie. Some of the businesses lost wall coverings. Many were closed. As we proceeded down the road, debris could be seen piled up on the side of the road. The closer we got to the coast, more and more signs of damage could be seen. Because that area is all marsh, there isn't much in the way of structures, but the high lines carrying power to High Island were knocked down on the right side of the road. They had run new poles and lines on the left. On the right, it progressed from just the lines down to the poles being skewed to them being totally snapped off. High Island itself looked ok. Some roof damage and that is about it. High Island gets its name because it is a salt dome that stands 20 something feet above the surround, very flat terrain. It is just a couple of miles from the beach so is the final roadmark before you get there. Obviously, when you get to the edge of High Island, you can see the water, the beach and the turnoff to Hwy 87. There are no structures between High Island and the water. Not that there ever was much, but...
Turning off onto Hwy 87 and there is nothing. The fishing piers are gone. The beach goes up to the road and there is sand on bay side. As you continue along Hwy 87, you start to see stumps of the piers for houses on surfside. And stumps for the fishing piers. After a while, you start to see cars and trucks, mainly on bay side. They are pretty banged up. Windows broken. Dented. Missing body parts. Finally, you start to see a few houses somewhat intact. Most are on surf side, maybe 20-30 yards from the road. On surf side, the road has started to curve away from the coast and this is where the concentration of houses is starting to get heavier. Well, used to at least. Still mainly stumps though. As we get closer to Rollover Pass, more or less intact houses start to show up on surf side. Mainly it is post-Katrina/Rita houses built higher and with reinforced concrete piers. Entire communities are gone though. Just swept off the face of the earth. Not totally, though. There are more vehicles, some embedded in the sand, others in holes. All damaged. By the time we get to Rollover, It is like some post-apocalyptic scene in a movie. Kept expecting Mad Max to show up. Debris, vehicles, some apparently intact buildings. Most have visible damage. When they are recognizable as a building, that is. The devastation is just unimaginable. At Rollover Pass, the parking lots never were much. Just sand and shell. But now there are dips and mounds, pools of water. And the road surface from one of the lanes of the bridge on bay side. Virtually impassible without 4 wheel drive.
So I am guessing that Ike will do what Carla did. Development on the beaches will come to a screeching halt for a couple of decades. The insurance companies are trying to get out of paying for storm surge damage, they will only cover what can be proven to be wind. In practice it means they will cover the roof. Hwy 87 will have to be moved again. That will be the third time in my lifetime.
Why do people build on the coast? Or, more accurately, why does anyone build an expensive building on the coast? Until the mid-1980s, a beach house was usually a box on stilts. No insulation. Maybe no power. They were cheap to build and, if they got blown away, easy to replace. I suspect that will be the future for a while here. |
