Engineering challenge of rebuilding a safer New Orleans

- toledoblade.com - :

"Experts in coastal geology, storm surge behavior, levee engineering, and other disciplines who focus on the unique coastal region of Louisiana point to the critical work that mud, sand, and river sediment must play in creating a city that would be able to withstand another devastating natural disaster."

For a small city paper in a part of the country not much menaced by hurricanes, this is a remarkably good article about the need to restore barrier islands and wetlands to blunt future storm surges.

Of particular interest is this advice from Joseph Suhayda, emeritus professor of engineering at LSU:

“Let’s build a category 5 levee, but let’s assume it will fail,” said Mr. Suhayda. “We have to have back-up plans B and C.”

Plan B, in Mr. Suhayda’s view, would prevent the near total inundation of the city by a single levee breach, as happened in Katrina.

“We have to compartmentalize the city like waterproof chambers in an ocean liner,’’ he said.

“A majority of the levees performed exactly as they should,’’ he said, but that didn’t save the city. Compartmentalizing would allow the good levees to do their protective job.

In plan C, the most critical buildings — like hospitals or places where people might evacuate to — would have another layer of levee protection.

“I would flood-proof the critical things,’’ he said. “Hospitals never intended to evacuate.’’ But they were not prepared for what hit them.

“Their emergency power was in the basement.’’ Under his proposal, “no more. They elevate the power equipment.’’

Prof. Suhayda also discusses filling in low spots of the city to raise them above sea level, an idea I mentioned last week.