Texas City Dike

The above picture is taken right at the start of Dike Road--which is just past the Seawall or leavee. Notice the little palm trees. This is facing toward Texas City, not toward the bay--for those that that means anything for. :-)

Curl's was a bit farther down the dike. If you're standing on the levee, it was on the left hand side with the other business--bait shops and such. On the right hand side was where dozens of shrimp boats would dock. At the very end of the dike was a big boat launch place.

The dike today. You can't get past the levee onto Dike Road. Well, you could probably walk out there, but the road itself is blocked and closed to cars.

Looking over this way is where the fishing and shrimp boats would normally be docked. There was also a gazebo and other pretty things this direction.

These pylons are all that is left of any of the businesses that were out here. My dad explained it best. When you look at the devastation on the bay side of the seawall and then look at the lack of devastation in town--the seawall did it's job and saved Texas City. There's literally nothing left of the dike. The waters even tore up the blacktop on the road in many places. But Texas City was relatively spared. There were a lot of downed fences and power was out for a while, but overall...it could've looked like the above pictures.

For those of us who grew up in Texas City, this is really sad. I remember going to the beach on the dike. My parents used to buy shrimp straight off the boats and bring them home to head them and then freeze them. The powers that be aren't sure when or if they'll be able to rebuild. Interestingly, people are still out there. They can't go on the dike itself, but they're fishing off the levee now. Can't use their boats or anything like that, but they're finding ways to use what they have. It's a pretty awesome, meaning "full of awe" not "wow," display of the power of nature. We think we know so much. We think we are in control. Nope. Not always. We still have a lot to learn.