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Hurricane Katrina Case Study

Hurricane Katrina is tied with Hurricane Harvey (2017) as the costliest hurricane on record. Although not the strongest in recorded history, the hurricane caused an estimated $125 billion worth of damage. The category five hurricane is the joint eight strongest ever recorded, with sustained winds of 175 mph (280 km/h).

The hurricane began as a very low-pressure system over the Atlantic Ocean. The system strengthened, forming a hurricane that moved west, approaching the Florida coast on the evening of the 25th August 2005.

A satellite image of Hurricane Katrina.

Hurricane Katrina was an extremely destructive and deadly Category 5 hurricane. It made landfall on Florida and Louisiana, particularly the city of New Orleans and surrounding areas, in August 2005, causing catastrophic damage from central Florida to eastern Texas. Fatal flaws in flood engineering protection led to a significant loss of life in New Orleans. The levees, designed to cope with category three storm surges, failed to lead to catastrophic flooding and loss of life.

What were the impacts of Hurricane Katrina?

Hurricane Katrina was a category five tropical storm. The hurricane caused storm surges over six metres in height. The city of New Orleans was one of the worst affected areas. This is because it lies below sea level and is protected by levees. The levees protect the city from the Mississippi River and Lake Ponchartrain. However, these were unable to cope with the storm surge, and water flooded the city.

$105 billion was sought by The Bush Administration for repairs and reconstruction in the region. This funding did not include potential interruption of the oil supply, destruction of the Gulf Coast’s highway infrastructure, and exports of commodities such as grain.

Although the state made an evacuation order, many of the poorest people remained in New Orleans because they either wanted to protect their property or could not afford to leave.

The Superdome stadium was set up as a centre for people who could not escape the storm. There was a shortage of food, and the conditions were unhygienic.

Looting occurred throughout the city, and tensions were high as people felt unsafe. 1,200 people drowned in the floods, and 1 million people were made homeless. Oil facilities were damaged, and as a result, the price of petrol rose in the UK and USA.

80% of the city of New Orleans and large neighbouring parishes became flooded, and the floodwaters remained for weeks. Most of the transportation and communication networks servicing New Orleans were damaged or disabled by the flooding, and tens of thousands of people who had not evacuated the city before landfall became stranded with little access to food, shelter or basic necessities.

The storm surge caused substantial beach erosion , in some cases completely devastating coastal areas.

Katrina also produced massive tree loss along the Gulf Coast, particularly in Louisiana’s Pearl River Basin and among bottomland hardwood forests.

The storm caused oil spills from 44 facilities throughout southeastern Louisiana. This resulted in over 7 million US gallons (26,000 m 3 ) of oil being leaked. Some spills were only a few hundred gallons, and most were contained on-site, though some oil entered the ecosystem and residential areas.

Some New Orleans residents are no longer able to get home insurance to cover them from the impact of hurricanes.

What was the response to Hurricane Katrina?

The US Government was heavily criticised for its handling of the disaster. Despite many people being evacuated, it was a very slow process. The poorest and most vulnerable were left behind.

The government provided $50 billion in aid.

During the early stages of the recovery process, the UK government sent food aid.

The National Guard was mobilised to restore law and order in New Orleans.

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• Katrina Meteorology and Forecasting
• Katrina Impacts

Case Study – Hurricane Katrina

At least 1,500 people were killed and around $300 billion worth of damage was caused when Hurricane Katrina hit the south-eastern part of the USA. Arriving in late August 2005 with winds of up to 127 mph, the storm caused widespread flooding. 

Physical impacts of Hurricane Katrina

Flooding Hurricanes can cause the sea level around them to rise, this effect is called a storm surge. This is often the most dangerous characteristic of a hurricane, and causes the most hurricane-related deaths. It is especially dangerous in low-lying areas close to the coast.

There is more about hurricanes in the weather section of the Met Office website https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/weather/tropical-cyclones/facts

Hurricane Katrina tracked over the Gulf of Mexico and hit New Orleans, a coastal city with huge areas below sea-level which were protected by defence walls, called levees. The hurricane’s storm surge, combined with huge waves generated by the wind, pushed up water levels around the city.

The levees were overwhelmed by the extra water, with many collapsing completely. This allowed water to flood into New Orleans, and up to 80% of the city was flooded to depths of up to six metres.

Hurricane Katrina also produced a lot of rainfall, which also contributed to the flooding.

In pictures

Strong winds The strongest winds during 25-30 August were over the coastal areas of Louisiana and Florida. A map of the maximum wind speeds which were recorded during the Hurricane Katrina episode is shown. Although the winds did not directly kill many people, it did produce a storm surge over the ocean which led to flooding in coastal areas and was responsible for many deaths.

Satellite Image

Illustration

Tornadoes Hurricanes can create tornadoes. Thirty-three tornadoes were produced by Hurricane Katrina over a five-day period, although only one person died due to a tornado which affected Georgia.

Impact on humans

• 1,500 deaths in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida.
• Costs of about $300 billion.
• Thousands of homes and businesses destroyed.
• Criminal gangs roamed the streets, looting homes and businesses and committing other crimes.
• Thousands of jobs lost and millions of dollars in lost tax incomes.
• Agricultural production was damaged by tornadoes and flooding. Cotton and sugar-cane crops were flattened.
• Three million people were left without electricity for over a week.
• Tourism centres were badly affected.
• A significant part of the USA oil refining capacity was disrupted after the storm due to flooded refineries and broken pipelines, and several oil rigs in the Gulf were damaged.
• Major highways were disrupted and some major road bridges were destroyed.
• Many people have moved to live in other parts of the USA and many may never return to their original homes.

The broken levees were repaired by engineers and the flood water in the streets of New Orleans took several months to drain away. The broken levees and consequent flooding were largely responsible for most of the deaths in New Orleans. One of the first challenges in the aftermath of the flooding was to repair the broken levees. Vast quantities of materials, such as sandbags, were airlifted in by the army and air force and the levees were eventually repaired and strengthened.

Although the USA is one of the wealthiest developed countries in the world, it highlighted that when a disaster is large enough, even very developed countries struggle to cope.

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LESSON 09 OUTLINE

• Introduction
• Lesson Objectives

Hurricane Katrina

• Social Justice Issues
• Geospatial Intelligence and Katrina
• Future Emergency Management GEOINT Applications
• Summary and Final Tasks

Lesson 09: Case Study: Hurricane Katrina

Background on Katrina and its Aftermath

Hurricane Katrina formed on 23 August 2005 and dissipated on 31 August 2005. In her nine day life Katrina would wreck devastation across several states and destroy the city of New Orleans. Overall Katrina would take at least 1836 lives and cause over $80 billion dollars in damage making it the most expensive disaster in US history. The after effects of Katrina continue to this day. The general perception is that the US disaster preparedness and response system including all levels of government and disaster non-governmental organizations failed in their initial response to Katrina. Thus governments and NGOs at all levels continue to study Katrina to prevent future debacles. The political fallout from Katrina also continues as New Orleans attempts to rebuild with a population that to this day is less than half of the pre-Katrina number.

Read the Wikipedia article on Hurricane Katrina for a basic understanding of the storm and its implications at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina

Frontline: "The Storm"

We begin our case study of Hurricane Katrina with a Frontline documentary available from the PBS website via streaming video. As an educator, I personally love Frontline as I believe it is fair, balanced, well researched, and hard hitting beyond anything on commercial television. I also love Frontline because they have over sixty of their best episodes available as streaming video for free. Here is a little background on Frontline from the PBS website.

When FRONTLINE was born, however, the prospects for television news documentaries looked grim. Pressure was on the network news departments to become profitable, and the spirit of outspoken journalistic inquiry established by programs like Edward R. Murrow's "See It Now" and "Harvest of Shame" had given way to entertainment values and feature-filled magazine shows. Therefore, it fell to public television to pick up the torch of public affairs and continue this well-established broadcast news tradition.

Since its inception, FRONTLINE has never shied away from tough, controversial issues or complex stories. In an age of anchor celebrities and snappy sound bites, FRONTLINE remains committed to providing a primetime venue for engaging documentaries that fully explore and illuminate the critical issues of our times. FRONTLINE remains the only regularly scheduled long-form public-affairs documentary series on American television, producing more hours of documentary programming than all the commercial networks combined.

"Television's last fully serious bastion of journalism." Newsday

From producer Ofra Bikel's extraordinary investigations of America's criminal justice system including, most recently, The OJ Verdict , to Martin Smith and Lowell Bergman's sweeping chronicle of America's drug wars ; from the 40+ reports to date produced by Smith, Michael Kirk, Greg Barker, Raney Aronson and others on Iraq and the war on terror to Helen Whitney's probing biography of Pope John Paul , FRONTLINE gives top-notch journalists the time needed to thoroughly research a story and the time on-air to tell their story in a compelling way.

Credible, thoughtful reporting combined with powerful narrative — a good story, well-told. That is the heart of FRONTLINE's commitment to its viewers.

Required Viewing

Access Frontline's "The Storm" at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/storm/ and watch the entire video. I also encourage you to review the website for this episode and examine the Interviews, Analysis, and Timeline sections for further information.

The Federal Response

President George Bush suffered severe criticism for the federal response to Hurricane Katrina. He charged his Assistant for Homeland Security and Counter-Terrorism to oversee a study that determined what went right and wrong, and what changes should be made to prepare for the next Katrina.

Read the Foreword , Chapter 5 , and Appendix A , and scan the rest of the material in "The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned" available at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/reports/katrina-lessons-learned/index.html

A Failure of Initiative

The United States Congress initiated a series of investigations to determine what went wrong with the federal response to Katrina. A number of reports about Katrina are available from the U.S. House of Representatives at http://katrina.house.gov/ .

Read the Executive Summary of "A Failure of Initiative" available at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/katrinareport/execsummary.pdf .

If you are interested, the full report is available at: http://katrina.house.gov/full_katrina_report.htm

NGO Responses to Katrina

Non-Governmental Organizations play a crucial role in disaster relief. Some NGOs spring up shortly after a major disaster as groups of concerned citizens who want to help their neighbors. Other NGOs are enduring charitable organizations such as the Salvation Army that bring resources to bear rapidly in an emergency. The premier NGO for disaster relief in the United States is the American Red Cross.

As you will learn in future lessons, the Red Cross Movement consists of the International Commission of the Red Cross/Red Crescent (ICRC), and The International Federation of the Red Cross/Red Crescent (IFRC). The ICRC based in Geneva, Switzerland is mandated by international treaty to support several functions during armed conflict including emergency humanitarian relief, protection of human rights, detainee visits, etc. The ICRC is funded by contributions by all the signatory governments to the Geneva Conventions and has a one billion Swiss Frank budget per year. The IFRC is the umbrella organization for the national Red Cross movements. Each national movement has its own charter and often has a relationship and charter from their national government to provide certain services and capabilities.

Mission Statement

The American Red Cross, a humanitarian organization led by volunteers and guided by its Congressional Charter and the Fundamental Principles of the International Red Cross Movement, will provide relief to victims of disaster and help people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies.

Fundamental Principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

• Humanity The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, born of a desire to bring assistance without discrimination to the wounded on the battlefield endeavours, in its international and national capacity, to prevent and alleviate human suffering wherever it may be found. Its purpose is to protect life and health and to ensure respect for the human being . It promotes mutual understanding, friendship, cooperation and lasting peace among all peoples.  
• Impartiality It makes no discrimination as to nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions . It endeavours to relieve the suffering of individuals, being guided solely by their needs, and to give priority to the most urgent cases of distress.  
• Neutrality In order to continue to enjoy the confidence of all, the Movement may not take sides in hostilities or engage at any time in controversie s of a political, racial, religious or ideological nature.  
• Independence The Movement is independent. The National Societies , while auxiliaries in the humanitarian services of their governments and subject to the laws of their respective countries, must always maintain their autonomy so that they may be able at all times to act in accordance with the principles of the Movement.  
• Voluntary Service It is a voluntary relief movement not prompted in any manner by desire for gain .  
• Unity There can be only one Red Cross or one Red Crescent Society in any one country . It must be open to all. It must carry on its humanitarian work throughout its territory.  
• Universality The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement , in which all Societies have equal status and share equal responsibilities and duties in helping each other, is worldwide .  

http://www.redcross.org/index.html

The American Red Cross plays a key role in American disaster preparedness and response. While ARC volunteers made significant contributions during Katrina, the organization acknowledged shortcomings within its operations. In an effort to improve and be prepared for future Katrinas, the ARC published "From Challenge to Action: American Red Cross Actions To Improve and Enhance Its Disaster Response and Related Capabilities For the 2006 Hurricane Season and Beyond" in June 2006.

Read the Executive Summary and scan the rest of "From Challenge to Action" for a sense of the challenges Katrina posed for a major American NGO and the ARC's plans for change.

The Worst is yet to Come

Katrina was a disaster but some would say the catastrophe was our response to the storm. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and Katrina caused serious consideration of the American ability to deal with the consequences of a serious natural or technological disaster. Political leaders, scholars, and citizens ask the legitimate question of what will America do as a nation to be prepared for the next Katrina, nuclear accident, or major terrorist attack?

Read the following research paper from Donald F. Kettl of the Fels Institute of Government of the University of Pennsylvania entitled "The Worst is yet to Come: Lessons from September 11 and Hurricane Katrina."

Adding to the destruction following Hurricane Katrina, fires burn in parts of New Orleans in an apocalyptic scene from early on September 3, 2005. The storm struck the Gulf Coast with devastating force at daybreak on Aug. 29, 2005, pummeling a region that included New Orleans and neighboring Mississippi.

• ENVIRONMENT

Hurricane Katrina, explained

Hurricane Katrina was the costliest storm in U.S. history, and its effects are still felt today in New Orleans and coastal Louisiana.

Hurricane Katrina made landfall off the coast of Louisiana on August 29, 2005. It hit land as a Category 3 storm with winds reaching speeds as high as 120 miles per hour . Because of the ensuing destruction and loss of life, the storm is often considered one of the worst in U.S. history. An estimated 1,200 people died as a direct result of the storm, which also cost an estimated $108 billion in property damage , making it the costliest storm on record.

The devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina exposed a series of deep-rooted problems, including controversies over the federal government's response , difficulties in search-and-rescue efforts, and lack of preparedness for the storm, particularly with regard to the city's aging series of levees—50 of which failed during the storm, significantly flooding the low-lying city and causing much of the damage. Katrina's victims tended to be low income and African American in disproportionate numbers , and many of those who lost their homes faced years of hardship.

Ten years after the disaster, then-President Barack Obama said of Katrina , "What started out as a natural disaster became a man-made disaster—a failure of government to look out for its own citizens."

( What are hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons ?)

The city of New Orleans and other coastal communities in Katrina's path remain significantly altered more than a decade after the storm, both physically and culturally. The damage was so extensive that some pundits had argued, controversially, that New Orleans should be permanently abandoned , even as the city vowed to rebuild.

The population of New Orleans fell by more than half in the year after Katrina, according to Data Center Research . As of this writing, the population had grown back to nearly 80 percent of where it was before the hurricane.

Timeline of a Storm

Katrina first formed as a tropical depression in Caribbean waters near the Bahamas on August 23, 2005. It officially reached hurricane status two days later, when it passed over southeastern Miami as a Category 1 storm. The tempest blew through Miami at 80 miles per hour, where it uprooted trees and killed two people. Katrina then weakened to a tropical storm, since hurricanes require warm ocean water to sustain speed and strength and begin to weaken over land. However, the storm then crossed back into the Gulf of Mexico, where it quickly regained strength and hurricane status. ( Read a detailed timeline of how the storm developed .)

On August 27, the storm grew to a Category 3 hurricane. At its largest, Katrina was so wide its diameter stretched across the Gulf of Mexico.

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Before the storm hit land, a mandatory evacuation was issued for the city of New Orleans, which had a population of more than 480,000 at the time. Tens of thousands of residents fled. But many stayed, particularly among the city's poorest residents and those who were elderly or lacked access to transportation. Many sheltered in their homes or made their way to the Superdome, the city's large sports arena, where conditions would soon deteriorate into hardship and chaos .

Katrina passed over the Gulf Coast early on the morning of August 29. Officials initially believed New Orleans was spared as most of the storm's worst initial impacts battered the coast toward the east, near Biloxi, Mississippi, where winds were the strongest and damage was extensive. But later that morning, a levee broke in New Orleans, and a surge of floodwater began pouring into the low-lying city. The waters would soon overwhelm additional levees.

The following day, Katrina weakened to a tropical storm, but severe flooding inhibited relief efforts in much of New Orleans. An estimated 80 percent of the city was soon underwater. By September 2, four days later, the city and surrounding areas were in full-on crisis mode, with many people and companion animals still stranded, and infrastructure and services collapsing. Congress issued $10 billion for disaster relief aid while much of the world began criticizing the U.S. government's response .

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Geography of new orleans.

The city of New Orleans was at a disadvantage even before Hurricane Katrina hit, something experts had warned about for years , but it had limited success in changing policy. The region sits in a natural basin, and some of the city is below sea level so is particularly prone to flooding. Low-income communities tend to be in the lowest-lying areas.

Just south of the city, the powerful Mississippi River flows into the Gulf of Mexico. During intense hurricanes, oncoming storms can push seawater onto land, creating what is known as a storm surge . Those forces typically cause the most hurricane-related fatalities. As Hurricane Katrina hit, New Orleans and surrounding parishes saw record storm surges as high as 19 feet.

Katrina, Then and Now

Levees can be natural or manufactured. They are essentially walls that prevent waterways from overflowing and flooding nearby areas. New Orleans has been protected by levees since the French began inhabiting the region in the 17th century, but modern levees were authorized for construction in 1965 after Hurricane Betsy flooded much of the city . The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers then built a complex system of 350 miles of levees. Yet a report by the

Corps released in 2006 concluded that insufficient funding, information, and poor construction had left the flood system vulnerable to failure.

Even before Katrina made landfall off the Gulf, the incoming storm surge had started to overwhelm the levees, spilling into residential areas. More than 50 levees would eventually fail before the storm subsided. While the winds of the storm itself caused major damage in the city of New Orleans, such as downed trees and buildings, studies conducted in the years since concluded that failed levees accounted for the worst impacts and most deaths.

The aftermath

An assessment from the state of Louisiana confirmed that just under half of the 1,200 deaths resulted from chronic disease exacerbated by the storm, and a third of the deaths were from drowning. Hurricane death tolls are debated, and for Katrina, counts can vary by as much as 600. Collected bodies must be examined for cause of death, and some argue that indirect hurricane deaths, like being unable to access medical care, should be counted in official numbers.

Hurricane Katrina was the costliest in U.S. history and left widespread economic impacts. Oil and gas industry operations were crippled after the storm and coastal communities that rely on tourism suffered from both loss of infrastructure and business and coastal erosion.

An estimated 400,000 people were permanently displaced by the storm. Demographic shifts followed in the wake of the hurricane. The lowest-income residents often found it more difficult to return. Some neighborhoods now have fewer residents under 18 as some families chose to permanently resettle in cities like Houston, Dallas, and Atlanta. The city is also now more racially diverse, with higher numbers of Latino and Asian residents, while a disproportionate number of African-Americans found it too difficult to return.

Rebuilding part of New Orleans's hurricane defenses cost $14.6 billion and was completed in 2018. More flood systems are pending construction, meaning the city is still at risk from another large storm. A series of flood walls, levees, and flood gates buttress the coast and banks of the Mississippi River.

Simulations modeled in the years after Katrina suggest that the storm may have been made worse by rising sea levels and warming temperatures . Scientists are concerned that hurricanes the size of Katrina will become more likely as the climate warms. Studies are increasingly showing that climate change makes hurricanes capable of carrying more moisture . At the same time, hurricanes are moving more slowly, spending more time deluging areas unprepared for major flooding.

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Hurricane Katrina

By: History.com Editors

Updated: August 28, 2023 | Original: November 9, 2009

Early in the morning on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States. When the storm made landfall, it had a Category 3 rating on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale–it brought sustained winds of 100–140 miles per hour–and stretched some 400 miles across. 

While the storm itself did a great deal of damage, its aftermath was catastrophic. Levee breaches led to massive flooding, and many people charged that the federal government was slow to meet the needs of the people affected by the storm. Hundreds of thousands of people in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were displaced from their homes, and experts estimate that Katrina caused more than $100 billion in damage.

Hurricane Katrina: Before the Storm

The tropical depression that became Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005, and meteorologists were soon able to warn people in the Gulf Coast states that a major storm was on its way. By August 28, evacuations were underway across the region. That day, the National Weather Service predicted that after the storm hit, “most of the [Gulf Coast] area will be uninhabitable for weeks…perhaps longer.”

Did you know? During the past century, hurricanes have flooded New Orleans six times: in 1915, 1940, 1947, 1965, 1969 and 2005.

New Orleans was at particular risk. Though about half the city actually lies above sea level, its average elevation is about six feet below sea level–and it is completely surrounded by water. Over the course of the 20th century, the Army Corps of Engineers had built a system of levees and seawalls to keep the city from flooding. The levees along the Mississippi River were strong and sturdy, but the ones built to hold back Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Borgne and the waterlogged swamps and marshes to the city’s east and west were much less reliable. 

Levee Failures

Before the storm, officials worried that surge could overtop some levees and cause short-term flooding, but no one predicted levees might collapse below their designed height. Neighborhoods that sat below sea level, many of which housed the city’s poorest and most vulnerable people, were at great risk of flooding.

The day before Katrina hit, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin issued the city’s first-ever mandatory evacuation order. He also declared that the Superdome, a stadium located on relatively high ground near downtown, would serve as a “shelter of last resort” for people who could not leave the city. (For example, some 112,000 of New Orleans’ nearly 500,000 people did not have access to a car.) By nightfall, almost 80 percent of the city’s population had evacuated. Some 10,000 had sought shelter in the Superdome, while tens of thousands of others chose to wait out the storm at home.

By the time Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans early in the morning on Monday, August 29, it had already been raining heavily for hours. When the storm surge (as high as 9 meters in some places) arrived, it overwhelmed many of the city’s unstable levees and drainage canals. Water seeped through the soil underneath some levees and swept others away altogether. 

By 9 a.m., low-lying places like St. Bernard Parish and the Ninth Ward were under so much water that people had to scramble to attics and rooftops for safety. Eventually, nearly 80 percent of the city was under some quantity of water.

Hurricane Katrina: The Aftermath

Many people acted heroically in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The Coast Guard rescued some 34,000 people in New Orleans alone, and many ordinary citizens commandeered boats, offered food and shelter, and did whatever else they could to help their neighbors. Yet the government–particularly the federal government–seemed unprepared for the disaster. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) took days to establish operations in New Orleans, and even then did not seem to have a sound plan of action.

Officials, even including President George W. Bush , seemed unaware of just how bad things were in New Orleans and elsewhere: how many people were stranded or missing; how many homes and businesses had been damaged; how much food, water and aid was needed. Katrina had left in her wake what one reporter called a “total disaster zone” where people were “getting absolutely desperate.”

Failures in Government Response

For one thing, many had nowhere to go. At the Superdome in New Orleans, where supplies had been limited to begin with, officials accepted 15,000 more refugees from the storm on Monday before locking the doors. City leaders had no real plan for anyone else. Tens of thousands of people desperate for food, water and shelter broke into the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center complex, but they found nothing there but chaos. 

Meanwhile, it was nearly impossible to leave New Orleans: Poor people especially, without cars or anyplace else to go, were stuck. For instance, some people tried to walk over the Crescent City Connection bridge to the nearby suburb of Gretna, but police officers with shotguns forced them to turn back.

Katrina pummeled huge parts of Louisiana , Mississippi and Alabama , but the desperation was most concentrated in New Orleans. Before the storm, the city’s population was mostly black (about 67 percent); moreover, nearly 30 percent of its people lived in poverty. Katrina exacerbated these conditions and left many of New Orleans’s poorest citizens even more vulnerable than they had been before the storm.

In all, Hurricane Katrina killed nearly 2,000 people and affected some 90,000 square miles of the United States. Hundreds of thousands of evacuees scattered far and wide. According to The Data Center , an independent research organization in New Orleans, the storm ultimately displaced more than 1 million people in the Gulf Coast region. 

Political Fallout From Hurricane Katrina

In the wake of the storm's devastating effects, local, state and federal governments were criticized for their slow, inadequate response, as well as for the levee failures around New Orleans. And officials from different branches of government were quick to direct the blame at each other.

"We wanted soldiers, helicopters, food and water," Denise Bottcher, press secretary for then-Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Louisiana told the New York Times . "They wanted to negotiate an organizational chart."

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin argued that there was no clear designation of who was in charge, telling reporters, “The state and federal government are doing a two-step dance."

President George W. Bush had originally praised his director of FEMA, Michael D. Brown, but as criticism mounted, Brown was forced to resign, as was the New Orleans Police Department Superintendent. Louisiana Governor Blanco declined to seek re-election in 2007 and Mayor Nagin left office in 2010. In 2014 Nagin was convicted of bribery, fraud and money laundering while in office.

The U.S. Congress launched an investigation into government response to the storm and issued a highly critical report in February 2006 entitled, " A Failure of Initiative ."

Changes Since Katrina

The failures in response during Katrina spurred a series of reforms initiated by Congress. Chief among them was a requirement that all levels of government train to execute coordinated plans of disaster response. In the decade following Katrina, FEMA paid out billions in grants to ensure better preparedness.

Meanwhile, the Army Corps of Engineers built a $14 billion network of levees and floodwalls around New Orleans. The agency said the work ensured the city's safety from flooding for the time. But an April 2019 report from the Army Corps stated that, in the face of rising sea levels and the loss of protective barrier islands, the system will need updating and improvements by as early as 2023. 

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The Health Effects of Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricanes are natural disasters that have unfortunately been on the rise as the years have gone on. With any natural disaster, comes concerns for human health. Hurricane Katrina brought with it flood waters, the loss of power, little livable space left, and a breeding ground for mosquitoes. This in turn caused molds to grow, endotoxin levels to rise, little clean drinking water, spoiled food, West Nile virus concerns, and many other causes for a person to be sick. New Orleans, Louisiana was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Close to 90 percent of the city was flooded, some parts of the city under 20 feet of water. Many structures were completely destroyed and those that weren't destroyed by the hurricane, most likely had to be destroyed because of how long the flood waters were there. The pumps used to rid the city of the water, were not working and because they couldn't be replaced, had to be repaired. This led to the integrity of the buildings to be compromised, leaving people homeless and worries to arise about the places refugees were going to stay when the water was all pumped out of the city.

Katrina's Path

Katrina began about 200 miles southeast of Nassau in the Bahamas. It then moved northwest, becoming Tropical Storm Katrina. It continued through the northwestern Bahamas (August 24-25) and then went westward towards southern Florida. Tropical Storm Katrina became Hurricane Katrina just before it made landfall near the Miami-Dade/Broward county line (August 25). It then moved southwest across southern Florida and into the eastern Gulf of Mexico (August 26). The center made landfall near Buras, Louisiana (August 29) and continued north. It was still a hurricane near Laurel, Mississippi, but became a tropical depression over the Tennessee Valley (August 30). It continued up to the Great Lakes, weakening until it became a frontal zone (August 31).

Health Effects of Hurricane Katrina

The main health effects of Hurricane Katrina had to deal with the amount of water left behind in New Orleans. Outbreaks of West Nile, mold, and endotoxin levels rising were the biggest concerns. With the flooding came all new types of bacteria from the open water, leaving New Orleans with little to defend itself. The medical centers were either destroyed or in utter disarray and power was lost for quite awhile. The concern that people were going to get sick because of contaminated food or water also weighed heavily on people's minds. All of the health concerns for New Orleans came from the amount of flood water because there was so much of it, that it was an optimal breeding ground for mosquitoes and the water covered everything making nothing truly safe.

Here is a link to the NOAA (National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration) site on Hurricane Katrina and a few impacts Katrina had in the south United States. Hurricane Katrina .

The clean up for Hurricane Katrina is still on going. A lot of water flooded the city and some areas that were flooded near New Orleans are still under water. Those areas may just become lakes because the water may never drain out. New Orleans had to fix their water pumps in order to drain their city. This took a few days because they couldn't replace them since the pumps they did have, weren't manufactured anymore. The extra time it took to repair the pumps meant that the city stayed in the dirty water that much longer. This meant that most homes that were flooded had to be completely destroyed. The foundations were weakened and more and more mold was growing. The city was going to be uninhabitatable longer and longer. The levees also had to be repaired to keep the water out of the city. When the water was finally pumped out, the homes had to be taken care of. The people of the city were put in temporary trailers while their homes were destroyed and then reconstructed. Every home that was flooded, had to be destroyed because it sat too long, too much mold and putrid water sat within them. Once the homes were cleared and power was restored, the concerns for human health went down considerably. Clean water and food were brought in while the plants that filtered the water were being repaired and power was restored.

Effects Hurricane Katrina Had on the Rest of the U.S.

Katrina hit New Orleans the hardest, mainly because it is below sea level and easily flooded, but it also did damage in other states. It caused flooding in Southern Florida and damage and extensive power outages in Miami. From the Gulf coast to the Ohio Valley, flood watches and warnings were issued. Parts of Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi were under water. Some rain bands from Katrina also produced tornadoes creating more damage. Some areas effected by the tornadoes were in Georgia. Most of the death toll though, was in Mississippi and Louisiana, but a few deaths were also reported in Florida. The entire U.S. was also affected when the oil rigs in the Gulf were found to have suffered major damages, making gas prices go up.

In order to prevent more disasterous floods in New Orleans, better levees have been built and a better disaster plan has been made. Unfortunately, because New Orleans is below sea level completely preventing a disaster like this is not possible. New Orleans will continue to sink and flooding will always be a problem. Better, faster clean up is the only way that the city can prevent a disaster as great as Hurricane Katrina. Routine maintenance of the pumps and levees can help keep the water at bay, but one day it will return. Fast action, awareness, and knowledge of a disaster plan are the only things that people can do to protect themselves. Those and flood insurance, will help to make sure people stay safe. Also, when a city is evacuated for a hurricane make sure to secure your home and then evacuate yourself.

Recommended Readings

"Effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans." Angelfire . N.p., 2005. Web. Sept. 2012. https://www.angelfire.com/la3/judyb/katrina.html

This website covers what was done in New Orleans before and after Hurricane Katrina. It also talks about the different problems that arose and how they were taken care of. This is a reliable, objective source that discusses the events of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. It was very useful in discussing the specific effects Hurricane Katrina had on New Orleans and how the hurricane was handled there.

Used sites:

National oceanic and atmospheric administration (last accessed 12/10/12):.

This website gives an account of what happen before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina.

• http://www.vos.noaa.gov/MWL/apr_06/katrina.shtml

This website tells of the path Hurricane Katrina took and the effects Katrina had on certain areas.

• http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/outreach/history/#katrina

This website is an overview of the weather side of Hurricane Katrina and how that effected the areas Katrina passed over.

• http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/special-reports/katrina.html

National Center of Biotechnology Information (last accessed 12/10/12):

This website about the procedure people took to check their homes for mold and check the endotoxin levels to make sure they're home was safe.

• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17185280

Environmental Protection Agency (last accessed 12/10/12):

The website tells about the health problems facing New Orleans and how to deal with them.

• http://www.epa.gov/katrina/healthissues.html#d

Effects of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans (last accessed 12/10/12):

This website tells about the predictions given for Katrina and then what actually happened and how everything was taken care of.

• https://www.angelfire.com/la3/judyb/katrina.html

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (last accessed 12/10/12):

This website gives an overview of what happened and what was done to deal with the effects.

• http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/archives/2005/h2005_katrina.html

See more Health Case Studies »

Tropical Storms Case Study: Katrina

The effects of hurricane katrina.

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the US states of Mississippi and Louisiana. It was the 3rd deadliest hurricane in American history. New Orleans' flood defenses (levees) broke because they were badly designed, flooding the city.

Primary effects

• 1,836 people are thought to have died.
• 154,522 houses were destroyed between 2005 and 2006.
• The electricity supplies for over 3 million people were cut off. Many people sheltered at the Superdome stadium in New Orleans.
• 80% of New Orleans was flooded with some parts 4.5 metres underwater.
• Coastal habitats were damaged and bridges & infrastructure collapsed.

Secondary effects

• The population of New Orleans fell from 1.386 million to 1.04 million between 2005 and 2006. In 2014, the population was 1.25 million.
• 2,400 businesses in New Orleans closed down or went bankrupt between 2005 and 2006.
• Hundreds of thousands became homeless and sewers overflowed and entered water supplies.
• The estimated total amount of damage was around $125 billion.

The Responses to Hurricane Katrina

The severe effects of Hurricane Katrina were met with both immediate and long-term responses.

Immediate responses

• 1.7 million people were evacuated from the states of Mississippi and Louisiana before the storm struck.
• 20-30% of inhabitants were forced to stay in New Orleans and most of these people were the poorest who could not afford to evacuate.
• Louisiana's National Guard asked for more than 700 buses to evacuate people, however, only 100 buses were sent. States of emergency were declared in Mississippi and Louisiana.
• More than 35,000 people were rescued by the coastguard in New Orleans.
• Charities provided food, water, and aid to those affected.

Long-term responses

• The waters that flooded New Orleans were pumped into Lake Pontchartrain. This took over a month.
• The US Congress (government) allocated $62bn to be spent in aid helping feed and re-house the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
• The US federal and state governments have spent $20 billion rebuilding New Orleans' flood defence systems, with levees, gates, pumps and floodwalls.

1 The Challenge of Natural Hazards

1.1 Natural Hazards

1.1.1 Types of Natural Hazards

1.1.2 Hazard Risk

1.1.3 Consequences of Natural Hazards

1.1.4 End of Topic Test - Natural Hazards

1.1.5 Exam-Style Questions - Natural Hazards

1.2 Tectonic Hazards

1.2.1 Tectonic Plates

1.2.2 Tectonic Plates & Convection Currents

1.2.3 Plate Margins

1.2.4 Volcanoes

1.2.5 Effects of Volcanoes

1.2.6 Responses to Volcanic Eruptions

1.2.7 Earthquakes

1.2.8 Earthquakes 2

1.2.9 Responses to Earthquakes

1.2.10 Case Studies: The L'Aquila & Kashmir Earthquakes

1.2.11 Earthquake Case Study: Chile 2010

1.2.12 Earthquake Case Study: Nepal 2015

1.2.13 Living with Tectonic Hazards 1

1.2.14 Living with Tectonic Hazards 2

1.2.15 End of Topic Test - Tectonic Hazards

1.2.16 Exam-Style Questions - Tectonic Hazards

1.2.17 Tectonic Hazards - Statistical Skills

1.3 Weather Hazards

1.3.1 Global Atmospheric Circulation

1.3.2 Surface Winds

1.3.3 UK Weather Hazards

1.3.4 Tropical Storms

1.3.5 Features of Tropical Storms

1.3.6 Impact of Tropical Storms 1

1.3.7 Impact of Tropical Storms 2

1.3.8 Tropical Storms Case Study: Katrina

1.3.9 Tropical Storms Case Study: Haiyan

1.3.10 UK Weather Hazards Case Study: Somerset 2014

1.3.11 End of Topic Test - Weather Hazards

1.3.12 Exam-Style Questions - Weather Hazards

1.3.13 Weather Hazards - Statistical Skills

1.4 Climate Change

1.4.1 Evidence for Climate Change

1.4.2 Causes of Climate Change

1.4.3 Effects of Climate Change

1.4.4 Managing Climate Change

1.4.5 End of Topic Test - Climate Change

1.4.6 Exam-Style Questions - Climate Change

1.4.7 Climate Change - Statistical Skills

2 The Living World

2.1 Ecosystems

2.1.1 Ecosystems

2.1.2 Ecosystem Cascades & Global Ecosystems

2.1.3 Ecosystem Case Study: Freshwater Ponds

2.2 Tropical Rainforests

2.2.1 Tropical Rainforests - Intro & Interdependence

2.2.2 Adaptations

2.2.3 Biodiversity of Tropical Rainforests

2.2.4 Deforestation

2.2.5 Case Study: Deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest

2.2.6 Sustainable Management of Rainforests

2.2.7 Case Study: Malaysian Rainforest

2.2.8 End of Topic Test - Tropical Rainforests

2.2.9 Exam-Style Questions - Tropical Rainforests

2.2.10 Deforestation - Statistical Skills

2.3 Hot Deserts

2.3.1 Overview of Hot Deserts

2.3.2 Biodiversity & Adaptation to Hot Deserts

2.3.3 Case Study: Sahara Desert

2.3.4 Desertification

2.3.5 Case Study: Thar Desert

2.3.6 End of Topic Test - Hot Deserts

2.3.7 Exam-Style Questions - Hot Deserts

2.4 Tundra & Polar Environments

2.4.1 Overview of Cold Environments

2.4.2 Adaptations in Cold Environments

2.4.3 Biodiversity in Cold Environments

2.4.4 Case Study: Alaska

2.4.5 Sustainable Management

2.4.6 Case Study: Svalbard

2.4.7 End of Topic Test - Tundra & Polar Environments

2.4.8 Exam-Style Questions - Cold Environments

3 Physical Landscapes in the UK

3.1 The UK Physical Landscape

3.1.1 The UK Physical Landscape

3.2 Coastal Landscapes in the UK

3.2.1 Types of Wave

3.2.2 Weathering & Mass Movement

3.2.3 Processes of Erosion & Wave-Cut Platforms

3.2.4 Headlands, Bays, Caves, Arches & Stacks

3.2.5 Transportation

3.2.6 Deposition

3.2.7 Spits, Bars & Sand Dunes

3.2.8 Case Study: Landforms on the Dorset Coast

3.2.9 Types of Coastal Management 1

3.2.10 Types of Coastal Management 2

3.2.11 Coastal Management Case Study - Holderness

3.2.12 Coastal Management Case Study: Swanage

3.2.13 Coastal Management Case Study - Lyme Regis

3.2.14 End of Topic Test - Coastal Landscapes in the UK

3.2.15 Exam-Style Questions - Coasts

3.3 River Landscapes in the UK

3.3.1 The River Valley

3.3.2 River Valley Case Study - River Tees

3.3.3 Erosion

3.3.4 Transportation & Deposition

3.3.5 Waterfalls, Gorges & Interlocking Spurs

3.3.6 Meanders & Oxbow Lakes

3.3.7 Floodplains & Levees

3.3.8 Estuaries

3.3.9 Case Study: The River Clyde

3.3.10 River Management

3.3.11 Hard & Soft Flood Defences

3.3.12 River Management Case Study - Boscastle

3.3.13 River Management Case Study - Banbury

3.3.14 End of Topic Test - River Landscapes in the UK

3.3.15 Exam-Style Questions - Rivers

3.4 Glacial Landscapes in the UK

3.4.1 Erosion

3.4.2 Landforms Caused by Erosion

3.4.3 Landforms Caused by Transportation & Deposition

3.4.4 Snowdonia

3.4.5 Land Use in Glaciated Areas

3.4.6 Tourism in Glacial Landscapes

3.4.7 Case Study - Lake District

3.4.8 End of Topic Test - Glacial Landscapes in the UK

3.4.9 Exam-Style Questions - Glacial Landscapes

4 Urban Issues & Challenges

4.1 Urban Issues & Challenges

4.1.1 Urbanisation

4.1.2 Urbanisation Case Study: Lagos

4.1.3 Urbanisation Case Study: Rio de Janeiro

4.1.4 UK Cities

4.1.5 Case Study: Urban Regen Projects - Manchester

4.1.6 Case Study: Urban Change in Liverpool

4.1.7 Case Study: Urban Change in Bristol

4.1.8 Sustainable Urban Life

4.1.9 End of Topic Test - Urban Issues & Challenges

4.1.10 Exam-Style Questions - Urban Issues & Challenges

4.1.11 Urban Issues -Statistical Skills

5 The Changing Economic World

5.1 The Changing Economic World

5.1.1 Measuring Development

5.1.2 Classifying Countries Based on Wealth

5.1.3 The Demographic Transition Model

5.1.4 Physical & Historical Causes of Uneven Development

5.1.5 Economic Causes of Uneven Development

5.1.6 How Can We Reduce the Global Development Gap?

5.1.7 Case Study: Tourism in Kenya

5.1.8 Case Study: Tourism in Jamaica

5.1.9 Case Study: Economic Development in India

5.1.10 Case Study: Aid & Development in India

5.1.11 Case Study: Economic Development in Nigeria

5.1.12 Case Study: Aid & Development in Nigeria

5.1.13 Economic Development in the UK

5.1.14 Economic Development UK: Industry & Rural

5.1.15 Economic Development UK: Transport & North-South

5.1.16 Economic Development UK: Regional & Global

5.1.17 End of Topic Test - The Changing Economic World

5.1.18 Exam-Style Questions - The Changing Economic World

5.1.19 Changing Economic World - Statistical Skills

6 The Challenge of Resource Management

6.1 Resource Management

6.1.1 Global Distribution of Resources

6.1.2 Food in the UK

6.1.3 Water in the UK 1

6.1.4 Water in the UK 2

6.1.5 Energy in the UK

6.1.6 Resource Management - Statistical Skills

6.2.1 Areas of Food Surplus & Food Deficit

6.2.2 Food Supply & Food Insecurity

6.2.3 Increasing Food Supply

6.2.4 Case Study: Thanet Earth

6.2.5 Creating a Sustainable Food Supply

6.2.6 Case Study: Agroforestry in Mali

6.2.7 End of Topic Test - Food

6.2.8 Exam-Style Questions - Food

6.2.9 Food - Statistical Skills

6.3.1 The Global Demand for Water

6.3.2 What Affects the Availability of Water?

6.3.3 Increasing Water Supplies

6.3.4 Case Study: Water Transfer in China

6.3.5 Sustainable Water Supply

6.3.6 Case Study: Kenya's Sand Dams

6.3.7 Case Study: Lesotho Highland Water Project

6.3.8 Case Study: Wakel River Basin Project

6.3.9 Exam-Style Questions - Water

6.3.10 Water - Statistical Skills

6.4.1 Global Demand for Energy

6.4.2 Factors Affecting Energy Supply

6.4.3 Increasing Energy Supply: Renewables

6.4.4 Increasing Energy Supply: Non-Renewables

6.4.5 Carbon Footprints & Energy Conservation

6.4.6 Case Study: Rice Husks in Bihar

6.4.7 Exam-Style Questions - Energy

6.4.8 Energy - Statistical Skills

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Impact of Tropical Storms 2

Tropical Storms Case Study: Haiyan

• Information for Faculty
• Bridge Failure Cases
• Dam Failure Cases
• Building Failure Cases
• Other Failure Cases

New Orleans Hurricane Katrina Levee Failures

The failure of the levees and the flooding of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005, represent the first time in history that an engineering failure has brought about the destruction or near-destruction of a major U.S. city. The ASCE Hurricane Katrina External Review Panel stated that

“The catastrophic failure of New Orleans’s hurricane protection system represents one of the nation’s worst disasters ever.A storm of Hurricane Katrina’s strength and intensity is expected to cause major flooding and damage. A large proportion of the destruction from Hurricane Katrina was caused not only by the storm itself, however, but also by the storm’s exposure to engineering and engineering-related policy failures” (ASCE Review Panel 2007, p. v).

Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the early morning of August 29, 2005, in southeast Louisiana to the east of New Orleans. Throughout the area, levees and flood walls failed or were breached in more than 50 locations. Eighty percent of the city of New Orleans was flooded, to a depth of more than 3 m (10 ft) in some neighborhoods. The extent of the destruction made it difficult to account for the victims, but the toll a year later was listed as 1,118 dead people and 135 missing and presumed dead. More than 400,000 citizens fled the city, many never to return. Property damage reached tens of billions of dollars (ASCE Review Panel 2007, p. 1).

Wind and storm surge are the damaging agents of a hurricane, storm surge at the coast and the wind away from the coast. Storm surge is a combination of wind-induced water motion, the reduced atmospheric pressure in the storm, and possibly high tide. Hurricane Katrina, unfortunately, came ashore at high tide, and the storm surge in Plaquemines Parish reached as much as 6.1 m (20 ft) above sea level. In Lake Pontchartrain, directly to the north of New Orleans, wind from the north piled water up as high as 3.7 m (12 ft) above sea level. The hurricane also brought heavy rainfall, increasing the probability of flooding (ASCE Review Panel 2007, pp. 13-16).

“The Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Protection Project system experienced the worst damage during and after Hurricane Katrina and resulted in the most serious consequences to the city and people of New Orleans. The massive, destructive flooding of New Orleans was caused by ruptured at approximately 50 locations in the city’s hurricane protection system. Of the [457 km] 284 miles of federal levees and floodwalls-there are approximately [563 km] 350 miles in total-[272 km] 169 miles were damaged” (ASCE Review Panel 2007, p. 25).

Failures of the system began even before Hurricane Katrina made landfall, with overtopping of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet levees and flooding of parts of St. Bernard Parish. Shortly after landfall, at 6:30 a.m., levees on the south side of the New Orleans East neighborhood were also overtopped and breached. Shortly thereafter, waves reached 1.2 m (4 ft) in the Industrial Canal, causing more overtopping and flooding. Four I-walls also breached, between about 5:00 and 8:00 a.m., even before the water rose high enough to overtop them (ASCE Review Panel 2007, pp. 25-27).

With all of the breaches, some neighborhoods flooded to the rooftops in minutes. Even where the flooding was slower, further from the sites of the breaches, the water rose approximately 0.3 m (1 ft) every 10 min. The deadliest breaches were in the Industrial Canal and the London Avenue Canal. These canals extended south from Lake Pontchartrain into the heart of the city, adding to the rapidity of the flooding (ASCE Review Panel 2007, pp. 28-31). As the hurricane moved north that morning, the storm surge receded, but the damage had been done. Once the I-walls failed, the city continued to flood until the water level was equal to that of Lake Pontchartrain. By September 1, more than 80% of the city was flooded, much of it 2-3 m (6-10 ft) deep. The pump stations were no longer working, and in any case, the water couldn’t be pumped out until the levee breaches were repaired (ASCE Review Panel 2007, pp. 31-32).

The consequences of the failure are discussed in detail by the ASCE Review Panel (2007, pp. 33-46). In essence, the city and its economy were destroyed, and much of the population moved away permanently. A year and a half later, much of the city remained almost uninhabited and uninhabitable. The failures also, understandably, shook the public’s faith in the civil engineering profession.

The hurricane protection system for New Orleans was and remains badly flawed. Moreover, loss of public confidence in the system has seriously hampered the reconstruction of the city. People remain reluctant to move back and invest. According to the ASCE Review Panel, “we must place the protection of public safety, health, and welfare at the forefront of our nation’s priorities” (ASCE Review Panel 2007, p. 73). The specific recommendations made by the panel, with 10 specific calls to action classified under four recommended changes in thought and approach, were the following:

” Understand risk and embrace safety o Keep safety at the forefront of public priorities o Quantify the risks o Communicate the risks to the public and decide how much risk is acceptable

” Re-evaluate and fix the hurricane protection system o Rethink the whole system, including land use in New Orleans o Correct the deficiencies

” Revamp the management of the hurricane protection system o Put someone in charge o Improve inter-agency coordination

” Demand engineering quality o Upgrade engineering design procedures o Bring in independent experts o Place safety first (ASCE Review Panel 2007, pp. 73-82).

Some specific deficiencies that need to be corrected, listed under call to action 5, “correct the deficiencies,” were to establish mechanisms to incorporate changing information, to make the levees functional even if overtopped, to strengthen or upgrade the flood walls and levees, and to upgrade the pumping stations (ASCE Review Panel 2007, p. 78).

An important report was published by the American Society of Civil Engineers Hurricane Katrina External Review Panel, entitled The New Orleans Hurricane Protection System: What Went Wrong and Why (ASCE Review Panel 2007). The various reports prepared by the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force (IPET), entitled Performance Evaluation of the New Orleans and Southeast Louisiana Hurricane Protection System , are being published on the IPET website as they are released and revised, https://ipet.wes.army.mil/ . There is a total of eight volumes. The Interim Final Volume I-Executive Summary and Overview (IPET 2007) is 147 pages long.

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