September 3rd, 2008 12:16am PST
Gustav a Reminder of What’s Left To Do
Posted By Janice Kaspersen
You were probably watching closely, as we were, over the
Labor Day weekend to see what Hurricane Gustav had in store for the Gulf Coast.
Coming eerily close to the three-year anniversary of Katrina, the storm was a
reminder of the goals set for New Orleans’ levees and the progress that’s been
made, physically and logistically, in preparing for future storms.
Surrounding
parishes in Louisiana such as Terrebonne, Lafourche, and St. Mary were hit much
harder by Gustav. Yet New Orleans continues to be the place we watch and use to
gauge progress. Three years ago, an iconic American city became the symbol of
all that could go wrong and all that needs to be fixed. Despite power outages
and damage to the sewer system this time around, the levees, with small
exceptions, did well through this storm and the pumps kept working. And even if
things had been much worse, the evacuation plan and the cooperation of the
people who followed it would have meant less loss of life than three years ago.
This
seems like a good time to revisit that earlier storm. Two articles in
Stormwater, both by David Richardson, give an in-depth look at what
workers were dealing with both during Hurricane Katrina and long afterward.
“Trial by Hurricane” from the March/April 2006 issue describes, among other things, the situation
inside one of the pumping stations as Katrina flooded New Orleans. “Shifting
Currents” http://www.stormh2o.com/may-2007/shifting-currents-flood.aspx
from the May 2007 issue looks at how New Orleans and Biloxi, Mississippi,
rebuilt and recouped in the months following Katrina.
September 3rd, 2008 12:16am PST
Gustav a Reminder of What’s Left To Do
Posted By Janice Kaspersen
You were probably watching closely, as we were, over the
Labor Day weekend to see what Hurricane Gustav had in store for the Gulf Coast.
Coming eerily close to the three-year anniversary of Katrina, the storm was a
reminder of the goals set for New Orleans’ levees and the progress that’s been
made, physically and logistically, in preparing for future storms.
Surrounding
parishes in Louisiana such as Terrebonne, Lafourche, and St. Mary were hit much
harder by Gustav. Yet New Orleans continues to be the place we watch and use to
gauge progress. Three years ago, an iconic American city became the symbol of
all that could go wrong and all that needs to be fixed. Despite power outages
and damage to the sewer system this time around, the levees, with small
exceptions, did well through this storm and the pumps kept working. And even if
things had been much worse, the evacuation plan and the cooperation of the
people who followed it would have meant less loss of life than three years ago.
This
seems like a good time to revisit that earlier storm. Two articles in
Stormwater, both by David Richardson, give an in-depth look at what
workers were dealing with both during Hurricane Katrina and long afterward.
“Trial by Hurricane” from the March/April 2006 issue describes, among other things, the situation
inside one of the pumping stations as Katrina flooded New Orleans. “Shifting
Currents” http://www.stormh2o.com/may-2007/shifting-currents-flood.aspx
from the May 2007 issue looks at how New Orleans and Biloxi, Mississippi,
rebuilt and recouped in the months following Katrina.