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Blast from the past (2016): Hell and High Water
This is a lengthy article.
Hell and High Water (Full Text)
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the country. It’s home to the nation’s largest refining and petrochemical complex, where billions of gallons of oil and dangerous chemicals are stored. And it’s a sitting duck for the next big hurricane. Why isn’t Texas ready?
by Neena Satija and Kiah Collier for The Texas Tribune, and Al Shaw and Jeff Larson for ProPublica, March 3, 2016, 8:59 a.m.
This story was co-published with the Texas Tribune.
See the interactive version.
It is not if, but when Houston’s perfect storm will hit. .... Still, scientists say, Houston’s perfect storm is coming — and it’s not a matter of if but when. The city has dodged it for decades, but the likelihood it will happen in any given year is nothing to scoff at; it’s much higher than your chance of dying in a car crash or in a firearm assault, and 2,400 times as high as your chance of being struck by lightning.
If a storm hits the region in the right spot, “it’s going to kill America’s economy,” said Pete Olson, a Republican congressman from Sugar Land, a Houston suburb.
Such a storm would devastate the Houston Ship Channel, shuttering one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. Flanked by 10 major refineries — including the nation’s largest — and dozens of chemical manufacturing plants, the Ship Channel is a crucial transportation route for crude oil and other key products, such as plastics and pesticides. A shutdown could lead to a spike in gasoline prices and many consumer goods — everything from car tires to cell phone parts to prescription pills.
“It would affect supply chains across the U.S., it would probably affect factories and plants in every major metropolitan area in the U.S.,” said Patrick Jankowski, vice president for research at the Greater Houston Partnership, Houston’s chamber of commerce.
....
This story was written by Kiah Collier and Neena Satija of The Texas Tribune. Data reporting, maps and design by Al Shaw and Jeff Larson of ProPublica. Photography by Edmund D. Fountain for ProPublica and The Texas Tribune.
Additional design and software development by Ryan Murphy of the Texas Tribune and Sisi Wei of ProPublica. Additional GIS work by Jeremy W. Goldsmith.
Icons from the Noun Project: Hurricane by Noah Mormino, arrow by Max Miner, play by Björn Andersson, search map by Oliviu Stoian, umbrella by Gregor Črešnar.
Like this story? Sign up for our daily newsletter to get more of our best work.
Al Shaw is a news applications developer at ProPublica.
https://twitter.com/A_L
Jeff Larson is a reporter at ProPublica.
https://twitter.com/thejefflarson
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the country. It’s home to the nation’s largest refining and petrochemical complex, where billions of gallons of oil and dangerous chemicals are stored. And it’s a sitting duck for the next big hurricane. Why isn’t Texas ready?
by Neena Satija and Kiah Collier for The Texas Tribune, and Al Shaw and Jeff Larson for ProPublica, March 3, 2016, 8:59 a.m.
This story was co-published with the Texas Tribune.
See the interactive version.
It is not if, but when Houston’s perfect storm will hit. .... Still, scientists say, Houston’s perfect storm is coming — and it’s not a matter of if but when. The city has dodged it for decades, but the likelihood it will happen in any given year is nothing to scoff at; it’s much higher than your chance of dying in a car crash or in a firearm assault, and 2,400 times as high as your chance of being struck by lightning.
If a storm hits the region in the right spot, “it’s going to kill America’s economy,” said Pete Olson, a Republican congressman from Sugar Land, a Houston suburb.
Such a storm would devastate the Houston Ship Channel, shuttering one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. Flanked by 10 major refineries — including the nation’s largest — and dozens of chemical manufacturing plants, the Ship Channel is a crucial transportation route for crude oil and other key products, such as plastics and pesticides. A shutdown could lead to a spike in gasoline prices and many consumer goods — everything from car tires to cell phone parts to prescription pills.
“It would affect supply chains across the U.S., it would probably affect factories and plants in every major metropolitan area in the U.S.,” said Patrick Jankowski, vice president for research at the Greater Houston Partnership, Houston’s chamber of commerce.
....
This story was written by Kiah Collier and Neena Satija of The Texas Tribune. Data reporting, maps and design by Al Shaw and Jeff Larson of ProPublica. Photography by Edmund D. Fountain for ProPublica and The Texas Tribune.
Additional design and software development by Ryan Murphy of the Texas Tribune and Sisi Wei of ProPublica. Additional GIS work by Jeremy W. Goldsmith.
Icons from the Noun Project: Hurricane by Noah Mormino, arrow by Max Miner, play by Björn Andersson, search map by Oliviu Stoian, umbrella by Gregor Črešnar.
Like this story? Sign up for our daily newsletter to get more of our best work.
Al Shaw is a news applications developer at ProPublica.
https://twitter.com/A_L
Jeff Larson is a reporter at ProPublica.
https://twitter.com/thejefflarson
