[American Quilter]

Not to spoil the fun, the Galveston Seawall IS a magnificent achievement, but it’s done its job maybe too well. It’s hoarding sand on the beach side. Built to be 17 feet above sea level, a guy on another site tells me parts of it are now only waist high above the sand during his daily beach runs. Time to dredge the beach?

That's really interesting. Do I understand correctly that this phenomenon has occured over years, and is not a result of the hurricane? If so, I guess that falls into the "unintended consequences" category. I wonder how that affected the seawall's performance during the hurricane.

[jeffers]

The sand piled along the seawall makes a ramp to assist damaging waves and surge over the seawall, and it also defeats the curvature of the lower wall. The curve converts lateral velocity to upward velocity and prolongs the wall’s structural integrity under storm stresses, except now the waves hit the wall at 90 degrees head on where the sand has piled up.