It was the whole town in 1901, which is about the eastern third of the island, but not the whole island. The seawall goes to about 7 Mile Rd; past that it's the

It was the whole town in 1901, which is about the eastern third of the island, but not the whole island. The seawall goes to about 7 Mile Rd; past that it's the natural height of the barrier island--which is not much. The end of this video has some photos of the process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beGT8OkWwBE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beGT8OkWwBE Since the wall was built, development has happened west to the unprotected parts, where structures are built elevated over the much lower grade. Mostly they survived Ike, though the beach receded significantly, leaving the closest houses to the beach on the beach. Over on Bolivar Peninsula, the 10' and 12' were mostly swept away. Only the highest (and luckiest) survived. Even 14' stilts weren't proof against the storm. The famous "last house standing" was 15' above grade on land 8-9' above sea level. See http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/09/18/ike.last.house.standing/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/09/18/ike.last.house.standing/ind... and http://www.chron.com/news/hurricanes/article/Owners-return-to-last-home-left-in-Bolivar-town-1763667.php http://www.chron.com/news/hurricanes/article/Owners-return-t... The new houses are being built higher, to 14'-22', with much larger pilings, based on the example of the few structures that did survive.