Video Source: ENR.com.
Geologic Hazards
Corps Delivers 100-year Protection Plan for New Orleans
The US Army Corps has issued conceptual plans with elevations for proposed improvements to New Orleans flod protection system. Levees, floodwalls and closure structures will be designed for a 100-year storm surge. Achieving the conceptual […]
Press Releases
USACE Blasts Time Magazine Article
USACE responds to TIME magazine’s August 13, 2007, cover story, "The Threatening Storm"
WASHINGTON (August 13, 2007) – TIME magazine’s August 13, 2007, cover story, "The Threatening Storm," contains many errors and misrepresentations of facts with respect to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Hurricane Katrina, and ongoing efforts to improve hurricane and storm damage reduction for southeast Louisiana.
Geologic Hazards
New Orleans Repeats Deadly Levee Blunders
That is the title of a Seattle Post-Intelligencer article on post-Katrina levee issues in New Orleans (by way of ASCE Smart Brief). I think the article is somewhat sensationalized, but they do cite some interesting parallels between the levee reconstruction efforts made after Katrina and the levee construction/reconstruction that occurred after Hurricane Betsy in 1965.
The article also discusses a recent US Army audit with some disturbing although not unexpected findings:
An initial September 2010 target to complete the $14.8 billion in post-Katrina work has slipped to mid-2011. Then last September, an Army audit found 84 percent of work behind schedule because of engineering complexities, environmental provisos and real estate transactions. The report added that costs would likely soar.
A more recent analysis shows the start of 84 of 156 projects was delayed – 15 of them by six months or more. Meanwhile, a critical analysis of what it would take to build even stronger protection – 500-year-type levees – was supposed to be done last December but remains unfinished.