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Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management

Crisis and Emergency Management

March 2008 Volume 14 - Number 2

Disaster Update...

Status of New Orleans Levees

By Richard Oestreich

After the Hurricane Katrina disaster the New Orleans levees became a very popular target for reform. In the past two years a number of important events have occurred:

June 2006 – The Army Corps of Engineers declares that with a few exceptions the flood and storm protection of New Orleans has been returned to pre-Katrina levels. This was on time according to the agreed upon requirements after the disaster. However many observers claim that the New Orleans is still not protected. During a recent inspection, engineering Professor Bob Bea of the University of California, Berkeley found many areas where rainstorms have already eroded the newly rebuilt levees.

June 2006 A 6000 page report, critical of their planning for New Orleans, is released by the Corps of Engineers. Bringing together 150 experts to research what went wrong; the resulting study showed that the Corps had flaws in the levee design allowed breaches in the city’s drainage canals. In addition it found that floodwalls failed, even thought he storm waters never rose above levels they were designed to hold.

February 2007 - A special legislative session reformed the existing New Orleans Levee boards. Rather than maintain separate levee boards for seven parishes that make up the city, portions of each parish were consolidated under two levee boards representing the east and west banks.

June 2007 – An 84-page report entitled, “The New Orleans Hurricane Protection System: What Went Wrong and Why,” is released. This compares the relative risk of the levees with other similar projects, such as the various dams located in the United States. It highlights a number of improvements that need to be undertaken to reduce the current risk and avoid another disaster like Katrina that resulted in over 1,000 deaths.

November 2007 – Eighteen months after investigators found that the fundamental flaw in New Orleans hurricane protection plan was the lack of lining, the floodwalls and levees are still unprotected. In January of 2007 the Army Corps of Engineers requested $600 million to armor much of the 360 mile levee system, however at the request of the Bush administration the request was reduced to $170 million.

January 2008 – A federal judge ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers is immune from lawsuits stemming from the failure of canals during Hurricane Katrina. This court action shields the Corps. from a portion of almost 500,000 claims filed by residents and businesses of New Orleans. The judge, Stanwood Duval, ruled that the flood control act of 1928 provides immunity when building flood projects.

The future of the levees is currently far from sure. According to experts, a large majority of the rebuilt levees are unprotected and are currently in danger of failure if a storm were to come ashore. The one thing that everyone agrees on is that there is much more work to be done to avoid another Katrina.

References

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1163319378112270.xml&coll=1&thispage=1

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/01/judge_dismisses_lawsuits_again.html

http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/cepa/Corpsspoints/5-31-06.htm

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/05/070506-orleans-levees.html?fs=www3.nationalgeographic.com&fs=plasma.nationalgeographic.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/01/us/01cnd-Corpss.html

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070604155742.htm