Levee Protection
Posted at 8:26 am on Friday, May 1, 2009, in Uncategorized, and tagged new orleans.
Me, not drunk, a month after returning from my trip to New Orleans which included a study and tour of the Katrina levees (emphasis added)…
Brad Pitt is an idiot. [...] I just don’t think he realizes what it is he is exactly doing. (Pitt is re-building homes in the Lower Ninth Ward, directly beneath a re-built flood wall that is still not constructed to the height necessary to fully protect the homes, and in an area that will never be able to be fully-protected, even to 100-year flood levels.)
A much more authoritative voice this past week (emphasis mine)…
Levees and floodwalls surrounding New Orleans — no matter how large or sturdy — cannot provide absolute protection against overtopping or failure in extreme events, says a new report by the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council.
You see, I’m not stupid; I’m simply positioning myself to be misunderestimated.
No related posts.
May 1st, 2009 at 8:27 pm
I think you misunderstand the report. You say the city can never be protected even to 1% chance per year storm surge. The National Academies concludes that the city can never be 100% protected. They go on to say that the 1% chance per year standard is inadequate.
There’s a huge difference in these two statements. The fact is, no one is ever 100% protected from anything. Even common flu shots have the odd bad side effect. The key is to reduce the odds of something bad happening to an acceptable level.
In New Orleans, our problem is twofold: we need to improve the perimeter protection because 1% chance per year is way too dangerous, and second, we need to get homeowners to elevate and rebuild smarter than before.
It CAN be done; it MUST be done.
Thanks for blogging about New Orleans, and peace,
Tim
May 2nd, 2009 at 5:44 pm
@Tim – The low parts of New Orleans should be restored as floodplain, in order to provide buffer to the naturally higher elevated parts of the City.