Posts Tagged ‘diversion’
Levees by themselves cannot save New Orleans
Building bigger, stronger levees in New Orleans will not be enough to save the US city from another Hurricane Katrina, a report has said…
The report said the authorities should consider raising the level of buildings and even abandoning flood-prone areas…
New Orleans has about 563 km (350 miles) of barriers, levees and other structures intended to protect the city. But in August 2005, large sections of this system failed and much of the city was inundated by the storm surges brought by Katrina.
The report, from the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the National Research Council (NRC), said the disaster had exposed the “many weaknesses in the hurricane protection and preparedness systems” for New Orleans and surrounding areas. It said there had been “undue optimism” about the ability of the protection systems to withstand the impact of a storm on the scale of Katrina.
The report said improvements made to the flood protection system since Katrina had “reduced some vulnerabilities”. But, it said that “the risks of inundation and flooding never can be fully eliminated by protective structures, no matter how large or sturdy those structures may be”.
The authors advised that as there can be no absolute protection against storm surges and flooding, the authorities should consider encouraging people to move away from areas at risk. Where this is not possible, “significant improvements in flood-proofing measures will be essential”.
This would include raising the standard height for ground floors of properties, strengthening critical infrastructure such as power and telecommunications and improving evacuation plans.
Seems pretty reasonable to me. Not that my opinion is worth a whole hill of beans. I haven’t lived there in decades and folks whose roots are deep and timed into the city ain’t ever paying much attention to outsiders.
