Post-Katrina Upgrades Protecting New Orleans From Isaac

Hurricane Isaac continues its northwesterly crawl across Louisiana, leaving considerable damage and not a little heartbreak in its wake, particularly in the parishes south of New Orleans.

But it?s no Katrina, and not simply because it?s a less severe storm than its storied predecessor (Isaac is moving through as a Category 1, while Katrina was a Category 3 at landfall). Casualties and property damage have been significantly reduced in the Pelican State in part because Louisiana is better prepared for a hurricane than it was when Katrina made landfall seven years ago.

Some of the most dramatic improvements have been to anti-hurricane infrastructure?new structures in place have thus far stopped Isaac from becoming a repeat scenario. "Prior to Katrina, we had a system in name only. Now we have a true storm damage risk-reduction system," says Rene Poche of the Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District. "Back then, a storm used to come to the city in that it was able to flow into these various canals and the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway. What this system has done is taken the fight to the storm. We?ve moved it away from the interior of the city."

The primary infrastructure projects have been the Lake Borgne Surge Barrier, completed last summer, and the Seabrook Floodgate, which was up and running this month.

The Lake Borgne Surge Barrier is a 2-mile wall east of New Orleans stretching from the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway to the Mississippi River?Gulf Outlet Canal, also known as "Mr. Go." Both of those waterways acted as conduits for storm surge during Katrina, allowing water to rush into the city. Constructed with more than 1000 concrete piles driven 100 feet into the earth and reinforced with angled piles driven 200 feet deep, the barrier is designed to prevent storm surge from Lake Borgne and the Gulf of Mexico from flooding New Orleans.

Lake Borgne from above. Credit: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

The Seabrook Floodgate keeps the waters of Lake Pontchartrain (to the north of New Orleans) in Lake Pontchartrain during a storm. When Katrina struck, waters from the lake flooded into the Industrial Canal, which flows through the eastern portion of the city as well as by the western edge of the Katrina-devastated Lower Ninth Ward, on its way to the Mississippi River. The collapse of the Industrial Canal?s floodwalls during Katrina caused the catastrophic flooding to the area.

Secondary improvements by the Corps include enhanced pumping stations as well as repaired and reinforced floodwalls throughout the city. As of Wednesday, the system has worked as planned. Some of the temporary drainage pumps at the 17th Street Canal went on the fritz Wednesday morning, but they were quickly repaired.

The storm hasn?t finished with the Big Easy, but the worst appears to be over. So far, the waters have been held back.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/infrastructure/post-katrina-upgrades-protecting-new-orleans-from-isaac-12185798?src=rss

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