NAE/NRC Report Related to New Orleans and Hurricanes

(2008-03-10 12:28:00.0)

National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council. Fourth Report of the National Academy of Engineering/National Research Council Committee on New Orleans Regional Hurricane Protection Projects: Review of the IPET Volume VIII. Washington, DC: NAE/NRC, February 2008, 24 pages. At: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12167#toc target From the Introduction: This committee was appointed by the NAE and NRC in December, 2005 to provide advice to the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force, or IPET. The IPET was established by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in October, 2005 to evaluate the performance of the New Orleans hurricane protection system during Hurricane Katrina. The IPET is conducting its evaluations in five areas: 1. design and status of the hurricane protection system pre-Katina; 2. storm surges and waves generated by Hurricane Katrina; 3. performance of the hurricane protection system during and after the event; 4. societal-related consequences of Katrina-related damage; and 5. risks to New Orleans and the region posed by future tropical storms. As it has proceeded, the IPET has issued a series of draft reports. During 2006, the NAE/NRC committee issued three letter reports, each of which comments on an IPET draft report and provides recommendations for improvement. Following this fourth report, the NAE/NRC committee will complete its charge by issuing a fifth and final report that will summarize its views of the lessons learned during and after the Hurricane Katrina experience. This report is a review of a single volume within the IPET report (Volume VIII), which is entitled Engineering and Operational Risk and Reliability Analysis. Volume VIII is the final volume of the IPET report and it was presented a year after the rest of the report was issued (the report is available at the IPET website: https://ipet.wes.army.mil/.... It assesses risks to life and property posed by hurricanes in New Orleans for both pre-Katrina conditions and for a reconstructed hurricane protection system as of June 2006. Volume VIII has taken on a unique importance to the IPET effort because the information contained in it will be central to understanding the likelihood of future flooding and inundation in New Orleans and the resulting loss of life and fiscal assets in New Orleans. These issues are critical to the ability of residents and businesses to obtain financing and insurance for rebuilding in the area and for making decisions about the safety of living in New Orleans in the future. The following report discusses the contents and main sections of Volume VIII and presents its findings and its recommendations for improvements. [Note: The report can be read free of charge from the NAS website or downloaded free of charge by going through a minor sign-in procedure.]