About the Bayous in the Houston Area and the Houston Ship Channel

The Port of Houston Turning Basin near the 610 Loop Bridge that crosses the Channel. Beyond the basin, the ship channel becomes more of its original self–Buffalo Bayou with downtown Houston in the background.

About Bayous in Southeast Texas and Houston Area

During Hurricane Ike, local officials and residents were worried about the surge from the storm pushing water up into the area bayous and flooding low-lying parts of the city. (For people out of the area, Houstonians call the area’s streams that flow into Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico “bayous”.) The primary bayou, which also flows through a large part of the city and finally down through downtown Houston, is Buffalo Bayou.

In the early days of the city, Buffalo Bayou once was the site of a port in what is now downtown Houston. Later, there was a major dredging of Buffalo Bayou from Galveston Bay, and this is what is now known as the Houston Ship Channel and is the site of the current Port of Houston. However, the Houston Ship Channel ends at the Turning Basin, which is in a part of Houston known as Harrisburg (which, in the early days of Texas, was a separate settlement), several miles down Buffalo Bayou from that old Houston port. Very close to the Houston Ship Channel are some of the primary refineries and chemical plants of the entire Gulf Coast area.

Bayous are a bit different than regular rivers or streams because the water can flow in both directions, moving backwards, or upstream, when the tide is high.

The old port of Houston on Buffalo Bayou that was used from the early days of the city until 1914, when what is now the Port of Houston was started about six miles further downstream.

Hurricane Ike–Check Out the Expected Wind Speed For Your Houston Zip Code

The expected wind speeds for the various zip codes throughout the metropolitan Houston area were shown on an interactive site pre-Ike; that page is no longer in service. However, Hurricane Ike wind speeds and other specific data such as rainfall amounts for locations along the entire track of the storm are given in the Tropical Cyclone Report, which the National Hurricane Center has recently (January 23, 2009, and updated February 4, 2009) come out with about the storm which hit the Texas coast.  It is an extensive report; look for Houston and other Texas locations on page 28. You will also need the Meteorological Converter to change kt’s into MPH.

In addition, NASA has an excellent, in-depth report on Hurricane Ike, which you can see here.

After Hurricane Ike–Dealing with the Effects; Information Links for Residents of Harris, Galveston, and Neighboring Counties

Updated at 9:00 PM CDT, Friday, September 19th–Hurricane Ike passed through the area last Saturday AM.

The following links connect to Harris and surrounding county offices.  Each gives specific information relating to dealing with the after-effects of Hurricane Ike in that particular county.

• Brazoria County
• Chambers County
• Galveston County
• Jackson County
• Jefferson County
• Matagorda County
• Orange County
• Harris County

NASA has an excellent in-depth page on Hurricane Ike here.