Home >> Science & Nature >> Nature

Long Term Effects of Hurricane Alicia on the Environment

Hurricane Alicia was a Category 3 storm that landed on the Texas coast near the city of Galveston in 1983. The storm was responsible for 21 deaths and millions of dollars in damage to homes and infrastructure, in addition to disturbances to sand bars, vegetation and beaches still visible several years later. Alicia and other hurricanes drastically alter coastal vegetation patterns and sand dunes, but the environmental disturbances caused by such large tropical storms are integral parts of a coastal ecosystem.

Alicia
- With winds reaching 127 miles (204 kilometers) per hour and a 12-foot storm surge that caused extensive flooding to cities on Galveston Bay, Hurricane Alicia destroyed the seaside homes of many Texans. In just a few days Alicia dropped 11 inches of rain and spawned more than a dozen tornadoes southeast of the storm's center. Strong winds combined with prolonged flooding also heavily impacted the region's beaches and shorelines.
Erosion
- Immediately after the hurricane, geologists estimated that coastlines suffered heavy erosion. Glaveston's West Beach, for example, lost 150 feet of sand. In 1984 researches from Texas A&M University asserted that Alicia's strong winds and currents had severely depleted underwater sand reservoirs vital to the regions beaches. A 1985 report from the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, however, states that seasonal tidal cycles returned most of the sand lost from the area's beaches within six months of Alicia.
Shoreline & Vegetation
- Shoreline vegetation, however, took much more damage than the sand bars of Galveston Bay. Alicia's winds blew down thousands of trees, and geologist William Dupre stated in 1985 that coastal vegetation still had not made a significant comeback. Dupre and Texas A&M researchers in the late 1980s comparing aerial photographs of the Galveston shoreline before and after Alicia declared it unlikely that vegetation would ever recover to its prehurricane state.
Hurricane Ecosystems
- While Alicia altered the Galveston shoreline in 1983 and left measurable traces of its environmental impact for several years, today Alicia's ecological footprint has all but disappeared from view. A 2007 report from the Galveston Bay Estuary Program states that it is impossible to identify any ecological effects of Hurricane Alicia on Galveston Island and the surrounding bay. Ecosystems like Galveston Bay have evolved with hurricanes as part of their natural ecology, and thus most effects from Alicia have faded with the tides, wind and seasons.

Nature