North Padre Island The Day Before Ike

These pics were taken by my friend Guy LeRoux on North Padre Island the day before Hurricane Ike came ashore near Galveston.
The Corpus Christi area escaped serious damage but there are reports of at least one person being swept away by waves from the jetties along the Packery Channel.
These pictures illustrate how high tides inundated the beach and even swept debris up to the access roads.
In past hurricanes huge cuts were made through the barrier islands and saw water pour into the Laguna Madre, Corpus Christi Bay and other bays flooding low lying areas.
It should by now be clear that the extreme development of barrier islands is a bad idea. The barrier islands serve as the first line of defense for coastal cities. Increased development does damage to the beaches, sand dunes and wetland areas. That should be curtailed and a retreat from the beach movement should begin which, over time, would end beach development and restore barrier islands and wetlands to their natural states.
This would, in the long run, be a financial boon as well as increase protection from storms.
It is very likely that tourists would flock to such a large, natural coastal area. That could offer a desirable alternative as an eco-tourism destination rather than the emulation of the over choked development of a South Padre Island or Miami Beach.