Title: Hurricane Katrina: An Overview of Impacts to New Orleans and Preliminary Assessment of Response Effo
1Hurricane Katrina An Overview of Impacts to New
Orleans and Preliminary Assessment of Response
Efforts
- Laura J .Steinberg
- Associate ProfessorDepartment of Civil and
Environmental Engineering - Tulane University (I think)
- New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
- Hatice Sengul
- Graduate Student
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Tulane University (I think)
- New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
- Con appunti a margine di Scira
2Timeline
- Friday, Aug. 26 Katrina headed to New Orleans,
Category 4 will arrive Monday 1.3 million
people in metro area 500,000 in NO - Saturday morning voluntary evacuation
- Sunday mandatory evacuation, Katrina wobbles
- Monday morning Katrina hits some damage,
minor levee break, nightmare is averted - Tuesday morning 17th Street Canal levee breaks,
all heck breaks loose, water starts to fill city,
nightmare scenario comes true
3Spatial Dimension of the Disaster
- New Orleans metro area
- Gulf of Mexico coast Louisiana, Mississippi
(Biloxi), Alabama (Mobile) - North to Jackson, MS
- Spatial gradient of impacts (from coast to inland
area) - Gulf Coast storm surge, winds
- New Orleans levee breech and flooding
4(No Transcript)
5(No Transcript)
6The levee breach (on the 17th St.-300 to 500 ft
) was a turning point for Katrina-from better
than expected to worse
7(No Transcript)
8(No Transcript)
9Thursday, Sept. 1
- Thursday 80 of the city is flooded. Crews try
to fix levee breech, many stranded in homes,
supplies fail to reach Superdome and Convention
Center evacuees, hospitals in dire straits,
rescuers work around the clock, National Guard
and US Army, Navy arrive.
10Friday, Sept. 2 and after
- Friday and after main levee breech is fixed,
pumps come on-line, water pumped to Lake
Pontchartrain, evacuees bused to Houston,
hold-outs urged to evacuate, house to house
operation for rescue and/or body count. No power,
no water, no telephone, no cell phone. Dozens of
responder organizations lacking coordination.
Environmental and public health catastrophe
brewing.
11What we knew before this
- Flooding of New Orleans could not have been
foreseen. - Public and expert knowledge of problem for years
- 2002 T-P Pulitzer prize winning article,
- Recent National Geographic article
- Discussion on local news every hurricane season
- Scientific studies on-going, some funded by the
State of Louisiana, on what might happen - Corps of Engineers plan to upgrade to Cat. 5
protection - Possiamo aggiungere McPhee, Il controllo della
natura, Adelphi, 1994
12(No Transcript)
13Why did this happen?
- Flooding
- City below sea-level, insufficient deployment of
technology - Coastal wetlands disappearing at rate of 40 acres
per day first line of defense. Calls to restore
them have been met with indifference. - No planning for levee breech, insufficient
deployment of response teams to repair
14Why did this happen?
- Dismayingly poor rescue efforts
- Insufficient deployment of resources
- Lack of command coordination
- Lack of communication
- No planning for this eventuality
- Evacuees refused admittance to dry land
- Incompetent leadership
15Broader Scale Why did this happen?
- The thought of flooding an entire city is
unfathomable to Americans. - The cost to protect New Orleans was in the range
of 10s of billions of dollars even New
Orleanians believed it was a lost cause to ask
for that much. - Not a matter of individual owners doing
mitigation as in California must be a
government project. - Lots of emphasis on private vehicle evacuation
routes in response planning those without
vehicles left out of the planning ( use the
Superdome dealt with the wind issue but not the
flooding issue) - Vulnerable populations left to fend for
themselves.
16Environmental Effects and NatechsWetlands
- Coastline remaining Chandeleur chain of barrier
islands virtually wiped out. Wildlife habitats
destroyed. Dunes are gone. (positive feedback)
Louisiana's wetlands represent 30 percent of the
coastal wetlands in the lower 48, but 90 percent
of the coastal wetland loss. Loses 40 acres of
coastal wetlands per day. - "These wetlands are our first line of defense
from hurricanes -- for every 2.7 miles of
wetlands, storm surges are reduced by about one 1
foot. - Coast2050 is attempting to help build wetlands
back. Much more is needed.
17Environmental Effects and NatechsWater
- Oil has oozed from cars, trucks and boats caught
in the flood. Up to 20,000 leaking underground
storage tanks. - DEQ chief "Everywhere we look there's a spill.
It all adds up. There's almost a solid sheen over
the area right now." - Household hazardous chemicals insecticides,
paint-thinner, cleaning supplies. Also,
pharmaceuticals. - Approximately 170 sources of leaking hydrocarbons
and natural gas identified by Wednesday, Sept. 7. - Dissolved oxygen nearly zero. Bacteria is
consuming organics in the water - dead animals,
leaves, sewage, and debris. - Leaks from hurricane damage or operational
problems from industrial facilities.
18Environmental Effects and NatechsWater
- 85,000 gallon tank of crude oil at refinery
outside of New Orleans leaking. Containment dike
is damaged and response is hampered by flood
waters. - 68,000 barrels leaked from a storage tank on the
Gulf
19Environmental Effects and NatechsWater
- Lake Pontchartrain heavily polluted waters
being pumped into Lake Pontchartrain will
eventually go out to the Gulf of Mexico. - Potential to stir up polluted sediments
throughout the region. - Effects on ecosystems and fishing industry are
still unknown.
20Environmental Effects and NatechsFires and Air
Pollution
- Several fires reported burning no water
pressure and firefighters employed in search and
rescue, not property loss. - Fire reported at at least one oil refinery.
21Environmental Effects and NatechsSolid Waste
- 60 million to 90 million tons of solid waste -
wrecked homes, cars, junk, metals and other
materials. Some of it with toxic materials such
as asbestos. - Wood waste may spread Formosan termites.
22Public health challenges
- West nile virus
- Pathogens, toxics in water
- Possibility of explosions from natural gas lines
- Hazardous sludges on drained land
- No power for cooling, refrigeration
- Lack of food
- Broken sewer and water lines
- More than 500 Louisiana sewage plants damaged or
destroyed, including 25 major ones. - Will have to clean, disinfect, and test 450
community water systems which are presently
inoperable.
23Conclusions
- Katrina and its aftermath offers many examples of
the interconnectedness of systems and the
necessity to plan and respond in a holistic
manner. The need to consider cascading and
escalating failures is illustrated in the
continually unfolding stories emanating from this
tragedy. - Katrina was a man-made disaster in the sense that
the city is built in a vulnerable location,
global warming likely contributed to the strength
of the hurricane, planning was negligent in
considering vulnerable populations, technology
and personnel were insufficiently deployed to
mitigate and respond to the disaster, and
warnings of the potential for catastrophic
flooding were systematically ignored.
24Conclusions
- Katrina and its aftermath created a multitude of
environmental problems which are still being
assessed. Known problems include - water polluted from leaking oil storage tanks,
sewer system contents, hazmat releases from
industrial facilities, and household and street
debris. - Air pollution from fires and hazmat releases.
- Tons of solid waste, some of it hazardous.
- Decimated wetlands and biological habitat.
- Environmental problems which will morph into
public health problems including difficulty in
supplying clean water, resurgence of west nile
virus, contaminated land surfaces, and lack of
heating and cooling.
25Concetti che vedremo nel corso
- Hazard caratteristiche evento (uragano,
riscaldamento terrestre) - Vulnerabilità fisica NO sotto il livello del
mare, posizione rispetto a hazard - Vulnerbilità sistemica dovuta allinterdipendenza
tra sistemi urbani e territoriali
26Concetti che vedremo nel corso
- Vulnerabilità organizzativa carenze del sistema
di protezione civile - Danni fisici allagamenti, beni distrutti
- Danni fisici indotti inquinamenti di vario tipo,
incendi, etc (i cosiddetti na-tech) - Danni indiretti????