TEXAS CITY — Texas City Mayor Matt Doyle said Saturday the Texas City Dike is closed indefinitely.
The dike sustained extensive damage during Hurricane Ike on Sept. 13. Doyle said he cannot even give a timeframe for when the dike will reopen.
He said it is not driveable and not even safe to walk on it.
“It will not be open for a long, long time,” Doyle said. “We’re trying to encourage people to stay away. There is so much debris that it is too dangerous for people to travel.”
Residents have flocked to the dike this week to observe the damage from afar. There is a barricade blocking them from getting close to the damage.
“It’s OK to look, but we might have to start enforcing people staying off,” Doyle said. “It’s not somewhere people should be.”
Recreation is the dike’s secondary purpose. If there is any good news to come from the dike situation it’s that it served its main purpose, which is to keep the ship channel clear of debris.
Doyle said he expects the first ship to come through today.
Doyle also said the clearing the debris from the rest of the city is a bigger priority than returning the dike to its recreational form.
He said many trucks will come to Texas City on Monday to begin clearing debris from neighborhoods.
