October 25, 2017

“The funding, and then building, of the coastal protection system – the so called Ike Dike – is critical,” Congressional candidate Sargent said.

“Typically we don’t know exactly where a hurricane will hit until about 36 hours before landfall.   And we’ve seen a tropical storm can turn into a category 4 hurricane in that short period of time.”

“How do you evacuate over a million people from the coast in 36 hours,” Sargent asked?  “It’s a virtually impossible task,” he contended!  “That’s one of the reasons why we need to get the Congress to act quickly on the coastal barrier system.”

Over three years ago Sargent wrote a newspaper column laying out a roadmap for getting the coastal barrier funded and built.  “However, getting it done so far seems to elude us,” Sargent said.

Recent estimates are if a Cat 4 hurricane were to hit the Houston Ship Channel it would take at least a year-and-a-half to recover and it could be twice that long.  It would impact the ability to produce military and commercial grade aviation gas.  It could potentially put many of the 27,000 refinery and petrochemical employees out of work.  “The national security and economic repercussions could be astronomical,” Sargent said. “If we wait to act until we are in a recovery mode it’s too late!” he contended.

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