Levee Break during Hurricanes in New Orleans

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Recommended: Impacts of Katrina on New Orleans

Louisiana is known for being an area prone to hurricanes, and millions of dollars of damage have been caused in this state almost every year. A major concern for a way to prevent future and major damage then started in the early 2000’s. The levees were designed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and they had to decide how to build these levees to withstand hurricane forces. Although they were built for hurricane forces, it could not stand up to Katrina in 2005, when they broke and flooded the entire city. I am studying the levee break during Katrina because I want to find out why the engineers decided to design for smaller hurricane forces so my reader can better understand that the engineers may have underestimated the potential harm to public. The main decisions behind the levee design were the voices influencing the design, the reasons for delays, and the materials for the design. The first thing they had to worry about was the people who had an important comment for how to design them.

Congress and the public were the main voices behind the designs of the levees and the engineers wanted to make them happy while also making the levees safe and useful. The public just wanted something that would protect the city from major flooding, and as for minor flooding it would be tolerable as long as the houses or foundations were not damaged. Congress suggested something to withstand the stronger storms, but Congress thought “determining the level of protection needed versus what Congress and the public are willing to pay for isn't often easy” [1]. The engineers were leaning towards building the levees to be able to support the majority of hurricane forces which has been Category 3. They actually planned “that we had Category Three [hu...

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...o something that could be safe and withstand the wanted forces of future hurricanes. The delays also served as a problem in the decision because it added to the overall cost and set back the construction of the levees. I studied the levee break during Katrina because I wanted to find out why the engineers decided to design for smaller hurricane forces so that my reader can better understand that the engineers may have underestimated the potential harm to public. I believe that the decisions made about the levee design could have been different and that the changes in design could have possibly prevented some, or most of the damage caused by Katrina in 2005.

Works Cited

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshws.php

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/09/0902_050902_katrina_levees_2.html

http://science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/structural/levee1.htm

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