Preliminary Report on the Performance of the New Orleans Levee Systems in Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005
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Enhancing the Resilience to Flooding Induced by Levee Breaches In
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 59–72, 2020 https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-59-2020 © Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Enhancing the resilience to flooding induced by levee breaches in lowland areas: a methodology based on numerical modelling Alessia Ferrari, Susanna Dazzi, Renato Vacondio, and Paolo Mignosa Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 181/A, 43124 Parma, Italy Correspondence: Alessia Ferrari ([email protected]) Received: 18 April 2019 – Discussion started: 22 May 2019 Revised: 9 October 2019 – Accepted: 4 December 2019 – Published: 13 January 2020 Abstract. With the aim of improving resilience to flooding occurrence of extreme flood events (Alfieri et al., 2015) and and increasing preparedness to face levee-breach-induced in- the related damage (Dottori et al., 2018) in the future. undations, this paper presents a methodology for creating a Among the possible causes of flooding, levee breaching wide database of numerically simulated flooding scenarios deserves special attention. Due to the well-known “levee ef- due to embankment failures, applicable to any lowland area fect”, structural flood protection systems, such as levees, de- protected by river levees. The analysis of the detailed spa- termine an increase in flood exposure. In fact, the presence tial and temporal flood data obtained from these hypothetical of this hydraulic defence creates a feeling of safety among scenarios is expected to contribute both to the development people living in flood-prone areas, resulting in the growth of of civil protection planning and to immediate actions during settlements and in the reduction of preparedness and hence a possible future flood event (comparable to one of the avail- in the increase in vulnerability in those areas (Di Baldassarre able simulations in the database) for which real-time mod- et al., 2015). -
New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina. II: the Central Region and the Lower Ninth Ward
New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina. II: The Central Region and the Lower Ninth Ward R. B. Seed, M.ASCE;1; R. G. Bea, F.ASCE2; A. Athanasopoulos-Zekkos, S.M.ASCE3; G. P. Boutwell, F.ASCE4; J. D. Bray, F.ASCE5; C. Cheung, M.ASCE6; D. Cobos-Roa7; L. Ehrensing, M.ASCE8; L. F. Harder Jr., M.ASCE9; J. M. Pestana, M.ASCE10; M. F. Riemer, M.ASCE11; J. D. Rogers, M.ASCE12; R. Storesund, M.ASCE13; X. Vera-Grunauer, M.ASCE14; and J. Wartman, M.ASCE15 Abstract: The failure of the New Orleans regional flood protection systems, and the resultant catastrophic flooding of much of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, represents the most costly failure of an engineered system in U.S. history. This paper presents an overview of the principal events that unfolded in the central portion of the New Orleans metropolitan region during this hurricane, and addresses the levee failures and breaches that occurred along the east–west trending section of the shared Gulf Intracoastal Waterway/ Mississippi River Gulf Outlet channel, and along the Inner Harbor Navigation Channel, that affected the New Orleans East, the St. Bernard Parish, and the Lower Ninth Ward protected basins. The emphasis in this paper is on geotechnical lessons, and also broader lessons with regard to the design, implementation, operation, and maintenance of major flood protection systems. Significant lessons learned here in the central region include: ͑1͒ the need for regional-scale flood protection systems to perform as systems, with the various components meshing well together in a mutually complementary manner; ͑2͒ the importance of considering all potential failure modes in the engineering design and evaluation of these complex systems; and ͑3͒ the problems inherent in the construction of major regional systems over extended periods of multiple decades. -
A FAILURE of INITIATIVE Final Report of the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina
A FAILURE OF INITIATIVE Final Report of the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina U.S. House of Representatives 4 A FAILURE OF INITIATIVE A FAILURE OF INITIATIVE Final Report of the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina Union Calendar No. 00 109th Congress Report 2nd Session 000-000 A FAILURE OF INITIATIVE Final Report of the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina Report by the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoacess.gov/congress/index.html February 15, 2006. — Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed U. S. GOVERNMEN T PRINTING OFFICE Keeping America Informed I www.gpo.gov WASHINGTON 2 0 0 6 23950 PDF For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; DC area (202) 512-1800 Fax: (202) 512-2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-0001 COVER PHOTO: FEMA, BACKGROUND PHOTO: NASA SELECT BIPARTISAN COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE PREPARATION FOR AND RESPONSE TO HURRICANE KATRINA TOM DAVIS, (VA) Chairman HAROLD ROGERS (KY) CHRISTOPHER SHAYS (CT) HENRY BONILLA (TX) STEVE BUYER (IN) SUE MYRICK (NC) MAC THORNBERRY (TX) KAY GRANGER (TX) CHARLES W. “CHIP” PICKERING (MS) BILL SHUSTER (PA) JEFF MILLER (FL) Members who participated at the invitation of the Select Committee CHARLIE MELANCON (LA) GENE TAYLOR (MS) WILLIAM J. -
Permanent Protection System Opinion of Probable Cost Volume I Options 1, 2, and 2A Report
May 2010 Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Permanent Protection System Opinion of Probable Cost Volume I Options 1, 2, and 2a Report Prepared for Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans in partnership with the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority- East, Jefferson Parish Department of Public Works, and the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Photo courtesy of USACE Graphics Water Prepared for: Sewerage & Water Board Prepared by: of New Orleans AECOM New Orleans, LA New Orleans, Louisiana Color 60149879.0005 May 7, 2010 Permanent Protection System Opinion of Probable Cost Options 1, 2, and 2a AECOM Water i Contents Executive Summary ............................................................................................................. ES-1 1.0 Option 1 – Construction of New Permanent Gated Pump Stations at the Mouths of the 17th Street, Orleans Avenue, and London Avenue Canals ................................. 1-1 1.1 Option 1 - Basis of Opinion of Probable Cost ..................................................................... 1-3 1.2 Summary of Findings for 17th Street Canal – Option 1...................................................... 1-4 1.2.1 Mechanical and Electrical .....................................................................................1-6 1.2.2 Geotechnical ......................................................................................................... 1-9 1.2.3 Real Estate ..........................................................................................................1-10 -
Did Nepa Drown New Orleans? the Levees, the Blame Game, and the Hazards of Hindsight
05__KYSAR_MCGARITY FINAL.DOC 11/14/2006 8:38 AM CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Yale Law School Legal Scholarship Repository DID NEPA DROWN NEW ORLEANS? THE LEVEES, THE BLAME GAME, AND THE HAZARDS OF HINDSIGHT DOUGLAS A. KYSAR† THOMAS O. MCGARITY†† ABSTRACT This Article highlights the hazards of hindsight analysis of the causes of catastrophic events, focusing on theories of why the New Orleans levees failed during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and particularly on the theory that the levee failures were “caused” by a 1977 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) lawsuit that resulted in a temporary injunction against the Army Corps of Engineers’ hurricane protection project for New Orleans. The Article provides a detailed historical reconstruction of the decision process that eventuated in the New Orleans storm surge protection system, focusing both on the political and legal factors involved and on the “standard project hurricane” risk assessment model that lay at the heart of the Army Corps of Engineers’ decisionmaking process. The Article then offers a detailed analysis of how and why Hurricane Katrina overcame the New Orleans levee system. As this analysis demonstrates, the argument that the NEPA lawsuit played a meaningful causal role in the Katrina disaster is not persuasive. Parallel lessons are then drawn for forward-looking disaster policy. The same problems of uncertainty and complexity that confound the attempt through hindsight to attribute causal responsibility for a Copyright © 2006 by Douglas A. Kysar and Thomas O. McGarity. † Professor of Law, Cornell Law School. †† Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Chair in Administrative Law, University of Texas at Austin School of Law. -
Cost-Effective Levee Design for Cases Along the Meuse River Including Uncertain- Ties in Hydraulic Loads
Cost-effective levee design for cases along the Meuse river including uncertain- ties in hydraulic loads B. Broers Delft University of Technology . Cost-effective levee design for cases along the Meuse river including uncertainties in hydraulic loads by Ing. B. Broers in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Civil Engineering at the Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences to be defended publicly on January 15, 2015 Student number: 4184408 Supervisor: Prof. dr. ir. M. Kok, TU Delft - Hydraulic Engineering section Thesis committee: Dr. ir. T. Schweckendiek, TU Delft - Hydraulic Engineering section Ir. drs. J. G. Verlaan, TU Delft - Construction Management and Engineering section Ir. S.A. van Lammeren, Royal HaskoningDHV Ir. drs. E. R. Kuipers, Waterschap Peel en Maasvallei An electronic version of this thesis is available at http://repository.tudelft.nl/. Preface This MSc Thesis reflects the final part of the Master of Science degree in Hydraulic Engineering at the Civil Engineering and Geosciences Faculty of the Delft University of Technology. The research is per- formed under guidance of the Delft University of Technology in cooperation with Royal HaskoningDHV and Waterschap Peel & Maasvallei. I like to thank many people for their support and cooperation during my graduation thesis. In the first place I thank my direct supervisors: Timo Schweckendiek, Enno Kuipers and Bas van Lammeren for their helpful feedback, enthusiasm and guidance during the thesis. Many thanks to Prof. Matthijs Kok for his support and advice. My thanks to Jules Verlaan too, who helped me especially in the field of LCCA. -
The Work of Poverty
THE WORK OF POVERTY • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • The Work of Poverty SAMUEL BECKEtt’S VAGABONDS AND THE THEATER OF CRISIS Lance Duerfahrd THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS • COLUMBUS Copyright © 2013 by The Ohio State University. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Duerfahrd, Lance Alfred, 1967– The work of poverty : Samuel Beckett's vagabonds and the theater of crisis / Lance Duerfahrd. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-8142-1237-0 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8142-1237-9 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978-0-8142-9339-3 (cd-rom) ISBN-10: 0-8142-9339-5 (cd-rom) 1. Beckett, Samuel, 1906–1989. En attendant Godot. English—Criticism and interpreta- tion. 2. Beckett, Samuel, 1906–1989—Influence. I. Title. PQ2603.E378Z618 2013 842'.914—dc23 2013022653 Cover design by Jennifery Shoffey-Forsythe Text design by Juliet Williams Type set in Palatino Printed by Thomson-Shore, Inc. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. ANSI Z39.48–1992. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents • • • • • • • • • • • List of Illustrations vi Acknowledgments vii INTRODUCTION Begging Context 1 CHAPTER 1 Godot behind Bars 12 CHAPTER 2 Waiting for Godot in Sarajevo and New Orleans 63 CHAPTER 3 La Pensée Vagabonde: Vagabond Thought 112 CHAPTER 4 Textual Indigence: The Reader in an Aesthetics of Poverty 143 AFTERWORD Staging Godot in -
When the Levees Break: Relief Cuts and Flood Management in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
UC Berkeley Hydrology Title When the levees break: Relief cuts and flood management in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4qt8v88d Authors Fransen, Lindsey Ludy, Jessica Matella, Mary Publication Date 2008-05-16 eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California When the levees break: Relief cuts and flood management in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Hydrology for Planners LA 222 Lindsey Fransen, Jessica Ludy, and Mary Matella FINAL DRAFT May 16, 2008 Abstract The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is one of California’s most important geographic regions. It supports significant agricultural, urban, and ecological systems and delivers water to two-thirds of the state’s population, but faces extremely high risks of disaster. Largely below sea level and supported by 1,100 miles of aging dikes and levees, the Delta system is subject to frequent flooding. Jurisdictional and financial disincentives to better flood planning prevent coordination that might otherwise reduce both costs and damages. This study highlights one possible flood mitigation technique called a relief cut, which is an intentional break in a downslope levee to allow water that has overtopped or breached an upslope levee to drain back into the river. This flood management technique is “smart” when located in appropriate areas so that floodwaters can be managed most efficiently and safely after a levee break. We identify four key constraints and make four recommendations for flood management planning. The -
The Hurricane Katrina Levee Breach Litigation: Getting the First Geoengineering Liability Case Right
Richards Final.docx (DO NOT DELETE) 2/10/2012 9:50 AM ESSAY THE HURRICANE KATRINA LEVEE BREACH LITIGATION: GETTING THE FIRST GEOENGINEERING LIABILITY CASE RIGHT † EDWARD P. RICHARDS INTRODUCTION In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina flattened the Gulf Coast from the Alabama border to 100 miles west of New Orleans. The New Or- leans levees failed, and much of the city was flooded. More than 1800 people died,1 and property damage is estimated at $108 billion.2 While Katrina was not the most deadly or expensive hurricane in U.S. history, it was the worst storm in more than eighty years and destroyed public complacency about the government’s ability to respond to disasters. The conventional story of the destruction of New Orleans is that the levees broke because the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) did not design and build them correctly. The district court’s holding in In re Katrina Canal Breaches Consolidated Litigation (Robinson),3 dis- † Clarence W. Edwards Professor of Law and Director, Program in Law, Science, and Public Health at the Louisiana State University Law Center. Email: rich- [email protected]. For more information, see http://biotech.law.lsu.edu. Thanks to Kathy Haggar and Kelly Haggar of Riparian, Inc., a wetland consulting firm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for research assistance in geology and coastal geomorphology. 1 RICHARD D. KNABB ET AL., NAT’L HURRICANE CTR., TROPICAL CYCLONE RE- PORT: HURRICANE KATRINA 11 (2005), available at http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/ katrina/govdocs/TCR-AL122005_Katrina.pdf. 2 Id. at 13. 3 647 F. Supp. -
Terraillof Water
ilrthe ( terraillof water Edited by ANtlttAl)HA ltATllt,lt I l)ll.lP t)A 0UNllA with REBEKAH MEEKS MATTHEWWIENER pl F-E-[ffe\fi$ F-Tft{ (}ffi S(} tre MISSISSI PPI DELTA PROJECT lssurs oF wATER AND RtvERS AND DELTAS EptroMlzE THE DISJUNCTURE BETWEEN NATURAL SYSTEN/S AND THE HUN/AN SYSTEMS OF ADN/rNrsrRATroN, pRopERTy, AND polrrcAl sTRUCTURES. wtrr rrs cENERALLy STRoNG DISTASTE FoR PLANNING, THE US Hns BEEN SLoW BoTH To ALIGN PLANNING OR ADMINISTRATIVE BOUNDARIES WITH THE NATURAL BOUNDARJES OF WATERSHEDS, AND TO CREATE MULTIFUNCTIONAL MANAGEMENT AGENCIES (wrrH sovr NoTABLE HrsroRrcAL ANoN/ALIES sucH AS rrr TeNrurssrr VRrlEy AurHonrrv). Qursrrons oF FLooDrNG, LAND Loss, AND sroRM pRorECTroN rN THE Mtsstsstppt Drlrn ARE pLAGUED By AN rNABILrry ro EVEN coNCEpruALrzETHE rssuEs rN A syNTHETrc wAy. THE vosr DrFFrcuLT TASK sEEMS To BE How ro BRING TOGETHER A DISCUSSION OF THE FORMS AND PROCESSES OF HU[/AN INHABITATION AND ACTIVITY, AND THE BROADER QUESTIONS OF ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY, WITH THE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING OF RIVER MANAGEN/ENT AND COASTAL PROTECTION. lN ruts coNTEXT, THE ACADEMy cAN pLAy AN tN/poRTANT RoLE tN TRyING To CONTRIBUTE TO PUBLIC DISCOURSE BY DEVELOPING INFORN4ED SPECULATION THAT IS GROUNDED IN BOTH ACCURATE DATA AND A REAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE LOCAL POLITICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXT. }.: -. = ': ='=r ,t-l'r:. - DISAPPEARTNG DELIA: The Mississippi Delta is a landscape shaped by the underlying conditions of the river system and Lhe imposiLion of Ihe engineering control system. The dominance of the latter has resulted in a rapid rate of land subsidence throughout the delta r egron. Louisiana State University's Coastal Sustainability 5tu- constructed at strategic locations along the gulf, at the dio (CSS) brings together scientists, designers, and en- endpoints of the five historic basins of the delta. -
How Nonprofits and Residents Within the Lower Ninth Ward View Environmental Justice Issues After Hurricane Katrina Nia N
Union College Union | Digital Works Honors Theses Student Work 6-2017 Where is the Environmental Justice in the Lower Ninth? How Nonprofits and Residents within the Lower Ninth Ward View Environmental Justice Issues after Hurricane Katrina Nia N. Francis Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses Part of the Anthropology Commons, and the Emergency and Disaster Management Commons Recommended Citation Francis, Nia N., "Where is the Environmental Justice in the Lower Ninth? How Nonprofits nda Residents within the Lower Ninth Ward View Environmental Justice Issues after Hurricane Katrina" (2017). Honors Theses. 245. https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses/245 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Work at Union | Digital Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Union | Digital Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Where is the Environmental Justice in the Lower Ninth? How Nonprofits and Residents within the Lower Ninth Ward View Environmental Justice Issues after Hurricane Katrina. By Nia Francis * * * * * * * * * Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Honors in the Department of Anthropology and Environmental Policy. UNION COLLEGE June, 2017 i Table of Content Abstract 3 Chapter 1: Introduction with an Overview of Methodology 4-12 Chapter 2: Environmental Justice (Literature Review) 13-22 The Concept and Its History The Lower Ninth Ward Chapter 3: Where to Point the Finger? Hurricane Katrina, the Levees, the Wetlands, or the Lower Ninth Ward? 23-29 Chapter 4: Free Aid? The Organizations Helping the Lower Ninth Ward 30-38 Make It Right Foundation Common Ground Relief Habitat for Humanity St. -
Did Nepa Drown New Orleans? the Levees, the Blame Game, and the Hazards of Hindsight
05__KYSAR_MCGARITY FINAL.DOC 11/14/2006 8:38 AM DID NEPA DROWN NEW ORLEANS? THE LEVEES, THE BLAME GAME, AND THE HAZARDS OF HINDSIGHT DOUGLAS A. KYSAR† THOMAS O. MCGARITY†† ABSTRACT This Article highlights the hazards of hindsight analysis of the causes of catastrophic events, focusing on theories of why the New Orleans levees failed during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and particularly on the theory that the levee failures were “caused” by a 1977 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) lawsuit that resulted in a temporary injunction against the Army Corps of Engineers’ hurricane protection project for New Orleans. The Article provides a detailed historical reconstruction of the decision process that eventuated in the New Orleans storm surge protection system, focusing both on the political and legal factors involved and on the “standard project hurricane” risk assessment model that lay at the heart of the Army Corps of Engineers’ decisionmaking process. The Article then offers a detailed analysis of how and why Hurricane Katrina overcame the New Orleans levee system. As this analysis demonstrates, the argument that the NEPA lawsuit played a meaningful causal role in the Katrina disaster is not persuasive. Parallel lessons are then drawn for forward-looking disaster policy. The same problems of uncertainty and complexity that confound the attempt through hindsight to attribute causal responsibility for a Copyright © 2006 by Douglas A. Kysar and Thomas O. McGarity. † Professor of Law, Cornell Law School. †† Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Chair in Administrative Law, University of Texas at Austin School of Law. This Article has its origins in a report that the authors prepared in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as member scholars of the Center for Progressive Reform.