Big news in Galveston County. The oysters are in danger. The story from K-H-O-U.

It doesn't really matter where the rain falls.

Once the skies have cleared, all of that water winds up here, flowing into Galveston Bay, then on to the Gulf. But that much water all at once can be fatal.

It's deadly to oysters. When you get that amount of fresh water, you know, they're resilient creatures, but there's only so much they can take.

Raz Halili is the vice president of prestige oysters. One of the largest oyster companies in the country,

which is based here in San Leon.

It's where they shucks sell and ship oysters to the rest of the U.S. by the truckloads.

Out in the water are their oyster reefs.

We had, you know, tremendous amounts of multi-generation of oysters here in Galveston Bay

and to go out there and see them all pretty much wiped out within a few weeks,

it's tough.

The problem is that oysters can only survive in

brackish water the delicate mix salt water in fresh that under normal conditions

Galveston Bay is able to provide but the persistent rainstorms and flood water is thrown off that perfect

balance to the point that the buy valves are dying and there's no way to help them.

You have $5 million worth of inventory that we lost here in Galveston Bay.

It's an expensive problem, which is why Galveston County Judge Mark Henry issued a disaster

declaration for the local oyster industry at the start of this month.

The county judge's office told us today

the declaration will hopefully bring federal funding to the industry that

suddenly found itself underwater.

Raz says Galveston Bay's oyster industry is often overlooked, but for this crisis the federal assistance is necessary.

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