The surge, or push, is greater on the "dirty" side of the storm. The water will rise almost, if not the same, on the "clean" side, but without the same crushing force.
i know.. alot of that is becuase the winds push the water towards land on that side and off the land on the other but ...BUT you have Galveston bay on the other side of galveston...and a hit just east of galeveston you would have north winds pushing the water from the bay into the city from the north or backdoor..
the 1900 storm hit just west of the city pushing the surge in from the gulf
they built a sea wall but is the seawall only on the gulf side....