Study Recommends Houston Ship Channel Floodgate

A study on protecting Southeast Texas from disastrous storms like Hurricane Ike has recommended building a floodgate across the Houston Ship Channel.

Details were announced Monday by Rice University, which led a team of researchers focusing on better hurricane preparations following the costliest natural disaster in Texas history.

Authorities have said Ike, which slammed Galveston on Sept. 13, 2008, caused more than $29 billion in damage. More than three dozen people died.

The Houston Endowment funded the study, which also recommends more levees for Galveston and creating a 130-mile-long coastal recreation area for wetlands to act as natural flood barriers.