New Orleans still vulnerable to hurricane strike

28 August 2008 21:40  [Source: ICIS news]

WASHINGTON (ICIS news)--New Orleans is much better protected against storm surge flooding than it was when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Louisiana port city in 2005 but it is still vulnerable, federal officials said on Thursday.

Bill Irwin, a ranking official with the US Army Corps of Engineers, told a news conference that the storm reduction system around New Orleans that the corps has been improving since Katrina and Rita “is much better than what was there in 2005, but there is work still under way”.

He noted that some of the flood protection work yet to be done on levees and other bulwarks against hurricane storm surges in New Orleans are not scheduled for completion until 2011.

“Some of the areas of the inner harbour in New Orleans are still vulnerable,” Irwin said.  “We have crews in there now working on an 1,800-foot section to strengthen it in advance of Gustav.”

Tropical Storm Gustav was last reported east of Kingston, Jamaica, according to the US National Hurricane Center, and is forecast to regain hurricane status as it moves into open waters of the Gulf of Mexico on a course toward landfall on the Louisiana coast early Tuesday.

Asked if New Orleans could survive another Katrina-like hurricane strike, Irwin said: “New Orleans has the best flood protection now than it ever did in its history, but low-lying areas of the city are still vulnerable.”

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By: Joe Kamalick
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