ORANGE, Texas — As hurricane season looms over Southeast Texas, all eyes are now anxiously fixed on the Gulf of Mexico, waiting for the first signs of a brewing storm.
"It's not if another hurricane occurs, it's simply a matter of when we get another hurricane," said Congressman Randy Weber.
According to many officials this hurricane season is an especially active one and Southeast Texas leaders are doing everything they can to mitigate the potential damage.
"So the Galveston district has two coastal storm risk management projects that we're currently working on the Texas coast. The first one we've been active in for several years, and that's called the Sabine Pass to Galveston Bay project. That project has three separable elements. One is in Port Arthur, one is in Orange, and one is in Freeport, Texas," said Rhett Blackmon, District Commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Orange County currently has $2.39 billion allocated towards it's part of the project.
Over the past 20 years the Gulf Coast has been slammed by hurricanes, so Congressman Randy Weber helped for a separate project to protect the coast.
"This actually is the first federal dollars being allocated to the 'Ike dike' or coastal barrier protection, meaning that they can get started," said Weber
The Coastal Project, informally known as the "Ike Dike," is set to protect hundreds of miles of the Texas Gulf Coast.
However, the project coming to Orange and Jefferson County, officially known as the "Sabine Pass to Galveston Bay Project," is just as important.
"The Orange project is going to include some flood walls, it'll include some levees, both of those are intended to prevent the coastal storm surge from inundating inland areas," Blackmon said.
Both projects will inevitably strengthen Texas infrastructure.
"There's a lot going on. And what we're really doing is setting the conditions to make sure that we're building the right project," Blackmon said.
With the extensive nature of these projects, the state is looking to get a handle on these destructive storms and make hurricane season as safe as possible.
GET NEWS & WEATHER ALERTS | Download the 12News App to your mobile device