Civil Engineering And Infrastructure Repair In New Orleans After Hurricane Katrina
Though Hurricane Katrina did not deal the city of New Orleans a direct hit on August 29, 2005, her storm surge precipitated catastrophic failures of the levees and flood walls. The Mississippi River Gulf Outlet ("MR-GO") breached its levees in approximately 20 places. The major levee breaches in the city include the 17th Street Canal levee, the London Avenue Canal, and the wide, navigable Industrial Canal, which left approximately 80% of the city flooded.
While ownership, definition of requirements, operation and maintenance of the system belonged to the Orleans Levee Board, federal responsibility for New Orleans' flood protection design and construction belongs by federal mandate to the US Army Corps of Engineers.
Flooding from the breaches put the majority of the city under water for days, in many places for weeks. The Corps made emergency repairs to breaches and pumps worked at draining the city. Hurricane Rita brushed the city nearly a month later, causing reflooding of some areas, most significantly from water flowing through incompletely repaired levee breaches.
Read more about Civil Engineering And Infrastructure Repair In New Orleans After Hurricane Katrina: Background, Bridges, Roadways, and Railways, Other Infrastructure Repair
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