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Houston’s resilience must improve with stronger storms coming, flood experts say

July 22, 2019

Engineers and elected officials are using outdated tools to assess flood risks and make coastal areas more resilient to storms, which are becoming increasingly severe and frequent, a panel of experts testified Monday at a congressional committee hearing in Houston.

The panel, convened by U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher for a House Science subcommittee hearing, told Congress members that scientists have become better than ever at forecasting hurricanes and storm surges.


Yet Houston remains acutely vulnerable to major storms, they said, and the metro area's economy will face repeated threats from future hurricanes if refineries and chemical plants around the ship channel do not receive better protection.