Tim Ruppert from Tim’s Nameless Blog provided some deeper insight to the Army Corps’ plans for 2011 100-year flood protection during his presentation of “In Levees We Trust,” a great title. As much as we decry the state of the levees, we really do depend on them to keep us dry. I don’t have a lot respect or the concrete I-beams placed along the canals but I always seem to find myself gazing at the large, St. Aug-covered earthens that surround the lake and river.
One of the main points Tim drove home during the presentation was how far advanced other countries’ flood control systems were in respect to ours. He made reference to Britain’s amazing Thames Barrier and Deltawerken in the Netherlands. Other “mega engineering” projects that involve either land reclamation or flood control include Venice’s Mose Project, China’s Three Gorge’s Dam and Dubai’s garish Palm Islands.
Interestingly, as New Orleans and South Louisiana fight for 1-in-100 year flood protection, the Netherlands enjoys 1 in 10,000 year protection.
Also spoke of was just how dangerous 1-in100 year protection is by stating that if someone lives in a polder with that protection they stand roughly a 1-in-4 chance of flooding during the span of their 30-year mortgage. Not good odds.
He then mentioned something very important about the difference between the Dutch flood control protection and ours (other than the quality of course). In the Netherlands, the Delta Works protect 60 percent of their country. So, flood control is a national priority there. This speaks to how important it is that South Louisianans yell as loud as they can about decent flood protection down here. I thought maybe dead bodies floating in the streets would be enough but I guess the bodies were the wrong color. Oh my god! Did I just say that!?
The presentation showed that arguments that New Orleans can’t be saved are garbage. It’s just a matter of if it will be saved.
The question of the importance of coastal restoration came up and Tim stated that the effect of marshlands on storm surge was usually overstated. I spoke with him briefly about this between presentations but wasn’t able to discuss it further. What I did gather from our short conversation was that elevation was more important in slowing the tide in a hurricane than the marshes, given that a marsh will only rise a foot or so over sea level and a typical storm surge is well over a dozen or so feet. He did clearly state that coastal restoration was important for many environmental and ecological reasons but seemed to downplay how much it will slow a storm surge. I’d love to hear more from him on this interesting subject. There are some people who swear by the marshlands.
You know what we need around here? A meteorologist blogger!
Great presentation by Tim and I feel lucky to have been privy to it.
Great Blog Entry. Please keep blogging on coastal wetland and New Orleans issues.
I have an entry on hurricane storm surge in my blog at http://www.louisianacoastalwetlands.com. According to a Corps of Engineers report in 1961 (admittedly not recent data, but in this case that was my point), the relationship between storm surge and the distance inland is 1.0 foot reduction in storm surge for every 2.75 miles inland regardless of the topography of the land or the size and shape of the hurricane. The land could be marsh like that once found south of New Orleans or chenieres found in west Louisiana and the relationship is the same according to the Corps in 1961.
We many need something between a meteorologist and climatologist.
As far as I can tell, a meteorologist and a climatologist is the difference between days and decades or even longer.