Article content material

HOUSTON (AP) — A go to to Houston on Friday by the Dutch queen highlighted a protracted friendship between Texas and the Netherlands that grew from their combat towards a mutual enemy: flooding.

Whereas assembly with Houston’s mayor, Queen Maxima discovered how the Netherlands has labored with native officers on efforts to mitigate the impression of flooding following the lethal destruction that Hurricane Harvey wreaked on the town in 2017. Harvey dumped greater than 50 inches (127 centimeters) of rain on elements of the Houston space. The storm induced $125 billion in harm in Texas.

Article content material

Article content material

The queen additionally met with state and federal officers and heard about how Dutch engineers and teachers have been serving to Texas within the growth of what could possibly be the most important storm surge barrier on this planet. The coastal barrier system in close by Galveston, which has been in dialogue since Hurricane Ike in 2008 battered the Texas Gulf Coast, was impressed by constructions within the Netherlands.

Queen Maxima, who additionally visited the San Francisco Bay Space and Austin, Texas, this week, mentioned she was impressed that the 2 international locations’ methods for flood mitigation may protect the financial system and the surroundings, “but additionally (produce) information to really assist the remainder of the world.”

“We want you, so thanks very a lot and I hope you proceed this implausible cooperation,” she mentioned.

Article content material

Texas and the Netherlands are pure companions within the combat towards flooding.

Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest metropolis, floods incessantly as a result of it doesn’t have ample infrastructure to deal with heavy rain. Growth of the world has sharply decreased the pure wetlands that beforehand soaked up storm water runoff. Each hurricane season, the Texas Gulf Coast faces probably devastating storms. Hurricane-fueled storm surges can pose a flooding hazard to the Houston Ship Channel, which is residence to 40% of the nation’s petrochemical trade.

The Netherlands is a world chief in flood-management design and initiatives. About 26% of its 17 million folks dwell under sea degree and the nation has spent billions of {dollars} to construct a system of dams, levees and storm surge obstacles.

Article content material

Michael Braden, chief of the mega-project division with the U.S. Military Corps of Engineers Galveston District, mentioned his company’s efforts to construct the barrier system alongside the Texas Gulf Coast wouldn’t be the place they’re right now with out assist from the Dutch.

The barrier system, which borrows from the same mission nicknamed the “Ike Dike” and was first proposed by a Galveston professor, is predicted to quickly get ultimate approval by Congress earlier than being forwarded to President Joe Biden for his signature. Funding for the almost $31 billion mission, which may take as much as 20 years to construct, must be accredited individually.

“We’re addressing a regional challenge right here with the coastal mission, however the issues we be taught within the design and the development will ultimately be wanted by coastal communities all around the globe,” Braden mentioned.

Article content material

Dutch and U.S. officers mentioned Friday that their efforts to sort out flooding have grow to be extra vital as a result of world warming has made torrential rainfall and stronger hurricanes extra frequent.

A United Nations report launched in March warned that states alongside the Gulf of Mexico, together with Texas, are beneath critical menace from rising seas, collapsing fisheries and poisonous tides as a result of local weather change.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner mentioned most of the flood mitigation methods which were developed with the assistance of the town’s Dutch companions, together with prairie conservation efforts that can assist cut back water runoff and neighborhood resilience plans, will quickly be applied.

“However we wish our neighborhood not solely to reply and to recuperate however to develop and to thrive, to construct ahead from restoration. We don’t need to construct again. Constructing again is constructing for failure. We need to construct ahead,” Turner mentioned.

——

Observe Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70