Case study for the MOOC at Leiden University Safety & Security challenges in a globalized world

1. Hurricane Katrina seen in a
multi level and multi actor
perspective
(Failures of foresight)
Rens van Mierlo

2. 2
Review of some facts
New Orleans is the biggest city and port in the state of Louisiana, USA. The French built
the city in the 17th century. As they recognized that the soil was in majority of soft sand,
silt and clay but above all spongy, decisions were made to protect the city by a system of
levees. Also for another reason, namely that most of the soil was below sea level. In
about 300 years since then some 350 miles of levees were constructed to protect the
city from the surrounding waters coming from lake Pontchartrain and the Gulf of
Mexico. This was initially started by the French and continued by the Americans. Around
1927 the US army corps of engineers built the levees higher with a concrete T-wall
construction as it was recognized that the surface of New Orleans was subsiding some
half an inch a year (4 feet in a century). When hurricane Betsy (cat 4) hit the city in 1965
conclusions were made that the system was inadequate for severe hurricanes with the
categories 4 and 5. Due to budget and costs limits – talking about $20billion plus extra –
and different authorizations constrains, the systems of levees and T-walls were created
to protect the city up to category 3.
In august 2005 tropical storm Katrina turned out to become a hurricane with a
calculated track straight over New Orleans. When she was about to hit the coastline of
Louisiana the hurricane was categorized by the National Hurricane Centre as a category
four with wind speeds up to 280 Km/h. As a matter of fact the eye of the hurricane
turned to the northeast and the city was ‘missed’ for the most strongest wind gusts.
However, the hurricane’s twist was counter clockwise and for that reason it created a 15
ft storm surge coming from Lake Pontchartrain and The Gulf of Mexico. Unfortunately
the systems of levees and concrete walls failed dramatically on a mass of scale as most of
these walls collapsed. It started in the surroundings of the 17th street canal and water
from Lake Pontchartrain cascaded into the city. Another canal wall collapsed near
London Avenue resulting in a dramatic situation of a city, which was for about 80%
drowned.
Not only the levees were an engineer’s failure. As the mayor of New Orleans ordered his
citizens to evacuate the city in time, still some 25.000 were not able to evacuate for any
kind of reason. For those who left behind, the Louisiana superdome was the safe area to
muster up as it was built in 1975 on higher grounds with the intent that it should be
‘hurricane proof’ when needed. Unfortunately, the rooftop was not able to resist the
strong winds as the roof ripped apart. As a result, lots of leakages occurred and power
supply was shut down. Meaning that the evacuees were keeping shelter in a very much
deteriorating situation. Another major problem was the connectivity to the city. The
twin span bridge connecting the city to the interstate 10 was collapsed. Food supplies
and medical aids could not be delivered for 100% to those who needed them. Also the
city’s electric pumps were shut down as the water raised the electricity compartments
of these machineries. In total: the city was out of power, water could not be pumped out,
logistics were cut off, the dome was not suitable anymore so as a result, robberies and
theft took place while the police was hardly to coop that situation. Within a few days
after the passage of Katrina, an army of scientists, technologists and engineers came to
New Orleans in order to investigate one important question: was it a strong hurricane or
a weak design?

3. 3
Multi level perspective
First of all the mayor of New Orleans and his city board can be seen as the local
government. He was responsible for the evacuees program, the direction and guidance
of police, fire department, aid workers and the communication towards the state
department and the federal government by asking funds and help to surmount that
disaster.
The Louisiana department of transports & development represented the state of
Louisiana. They were in charge of the reconstruction of the twin span bridge by
cannibalizing one of the bridges by rebuilding the other. For a certain period of time, one
bridge was fully operational with two-way conjunctions and resulting that the city was
connected at the interstate 10. The other inoperable bridge was temporarily constructed
with steel plates. The twin span bridge was reopened in January 2006. Future plans and
recommendations were made to build a brand new bridge, which is higher then the
current one. That level of governance can be seen as putting influence and holding
responsibility of the state (regional).
The third level of government came from the US President and the US congress
(Federal). The president – George W Bush – promised extra funds for the help New
Orleans needed and asked the US congress for approval for sending out tens of
thousands of US army corps of engineers to reconstruct the levees and T-walls. Also the
federal government accepted all kinds of international help.
Multi actor perspective
National and Louisiana Hurricane Centre who were held responsible in monitoring the
hurricane track and informing the state(s) as well as the city of New Orleans so the
state’s senator and/or mayor was able to make proper assessments in the execution of
all kinds of emergency plans in time.
The military for the evacuation and rescue program. Military helicopters, (rubber) boats
and soldiers were involved in the thousands of evacuees who left the city or were
transported towards the Louisiana superdome. They were also responsible by
safeguarding the city afterwards.
The facility maintenance for water pumps was held responsible for pumping the water
out of the city. They concluded that the old fashioned pumps were not suitable anymore
for reasons that the electricity compartments were not protected from water. They
ordered extra pumps and generators and were the point of contact of water levels.
Finally, they achieved their goal and all the water was pumped out of the city.
Scientists who investigated the weaknesses of the soil, levees, T-walls and subsequently
made up their conclusions. Especially the construction of the T-walls was a remarkable
outcome (strong construction on very weak and spongy soil doesn’t work out).
US army corps of engineers were involved in recreating T-walls with longer steel sheet
piles and some other constructions. That particular part of the US army was since 1927
responsible for building constructions to protect the city from surrounding waters.