NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans must increase the strength of new levees being built to protect against catastrophic hurricanes, elevate more houses and abandon neighborhoods that rest below sea level, an independent research panel said Friday.
Levees under construction by the Army Corps of Engineers aren’t being built to a high-enough flood protection standard, said the report by the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council.
The independent panel was asked by the federal government to review the corps’ investigation of levee failures during Hurricane Katrina and its work to avoid such a catastrophe again. The corps is spending about $14 billion to raise levees and build floodgates able to withstand a "100-year” storm, or a moderately dangerous hurricane with a 1-in-100 chance of hitting in any given year. The corps plans to finish by 2011.
"For heavily populated urban areas, where the failure of protective structures would be catastrophic — such as New Orleans — this standard is inadequate,” the panel said in the report.
Instead, New Orleans should be protected by a "500-year or maybe 1,000-year protection,” the type of engineering standards used in earthquake zones or along major rivers, said Richard Luettich Jr., the director of the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of North Carolina.
The corps is considering construction of a system that would offer protection against a 500-year storm, but its studies are still in early phases.
Friday’s report was the final review of work done by a team of engineers investigating levee failures.
by the associated press
Levees under construction by the Army Corps of Engineers aren’t being built to a high-enough flood protection standard, said the report by the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council.
The independent panel was asked by the federal government to review the corps’ investigation of levee failures during Hurricane Katrina and its work to avoid such a catastrophe again. The corps is spending about $14 billion to raise levees and build floodgates able to withstand a "100-year” storm, or a moderately dangerous hurricane with a 1-in-100 chance of hitting in any given year. The corps plans to finish by 2011.
"For heavily populated urban areas, where the failure of protective structures would be catastrophic — such as New Orleans — this standard is inadequate,” the panel said in the report.
Instead, New Orleans should be protected by a "500-year or maybe 1,000-year protection,” the type of engineering standards used in earthquake zones or along major rivers, said Richard Luettich Jr., the director of the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of North Carolina.
The corps is considering construction of a system that would offer protection against a 500-year storm, but its studies are still in early phases.
Friday’s report was the final review of work done by a team of engineers investigating levee failures.
by the associated press
