Hurricane Ike Impact on High Island, Texas

East of Galveston, Texas, a thin barrier beach—Bolivar Peninsula—stretches along the coastline. On the far eastern end of Bolivar Peninsula is High Island, so named for the salt dome that boosts the area some 11.6 meters (38 feet) above the rest of the Gulf Coast. After Hurricane Ike passed, rescuers combed through the destroyed communities along Bolivar Peninsula. Thanks to its elevation, High Island fared better than other parts of the Peninsula.

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Aerial photograph courtesy NOAA. NASA Landsat 7 image by Robert Simmon, based on data from the UMD Global Land Cover Facility. Caption by Michon Scott.

Published September 20, 2008
Data acquired September 16, 2008