HOUSTON (AP) — State and federal officials on Friday recommended a plan to protect the Texas coast from hurricanes — particularly the Houston area — with a barrier system made up of floodwalls, floodgates and seawall improvements that could cost up to $31 billion and offer storm surge protection for the largest petrochemical complex in the country.

The plan, part of a draft report put together by the Texas General Land Office and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, incorporates some ideas from proposals that were previously developed in the wake of 2008's Hurricane Ike, which made landfall in Ga...