In repairing and rebuilding levees and floodwalls, the Corps incorporated lessons learned and recommendations from international experts, scientific organizations, government agencies and the private sector who studied causes of system failure during Katrina.”ĭircke says the effects of Hurricanes Katrina, Harvey and Sandy on Louisiana, Texas, New York and New Jersey “have focused attention on why we need more storm and sea level defense investments in the United States.”ĭircke said that he and University of Amsterdam earth scientist, Jeroen Aerts “have been active since 2008 arguing for more sea level protection” in the United States: “We predicted the type of storm surge impact that Hurricane Sandy demonstrated in 2012 but people didn’t believe us until they saw how the hurricane caused flooding in the New York subways, shutdowns of power to hospitals, transportation and utilities causing $71 billion in damage.”ĭircke says there is now recognition of the urgency for a storm surge defense investment to protect the region: “Under the leadership of New York Mayor De Blasio there is recognition for the need to build a storm surge barrier at the Verrazano Narrows. Army Corps of Engineers summarizes the work it has done protecting New Orleans: “The greater New Orleans system of hurricane and storm damage risk reduction is stronger and better than it has ever been. Piet Dircke, water management consultant for Arcadis The Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System (HSDRRS) for southeast Louisiana cost $14.45 billion and includes five parishes and consists of 350 miles of levees and floodwalls. “ĭircke noted, “This is still a largely untold story about how the federal government and the USACE saved New Orleans when some people wanted to abandon it.”

Dircke related, “The structures that were built may have been oversized and ungainly looking but they saved New Orleans from destruction in 2012 and so you can say the investment was paid off within one year at a 100% rate.” One key to the project’s success was “The Army Corps speeded up approvals and testing to build a new system of pump stations and three large barriers that had been completed by 2011.”Īrcadis was a consultant to USACE and “we had someone in New Orleans for four years. As a result, when Hurricane Isaac struck New Orleans in 2012, the upgrades prevented a repeat of the deaths and damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which cost $161 billion. In an interview at his office in Rotterdam, Dircke told AJOT, “The Corps performed magnificently” in fast-tracking $14.5 billion in upgrades completed in 2011. In July, the storm surge defenses kept New Orleans safe when Hurricane Barry drenched New Orleans and Louisiana with heavy rains and high winds.

Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) have made New Orleans more resilient to storms and hurricanes, according to Piet Dircke, a water management consultant for the Dutch firm Arcadis.Īrcadis was a consultant to the Corps in Louisiana and also advises officials in Texas, New York and New Jersey. Upgrades to storm surge barriers and pumps completed in 2011 by the U.S. The $165 million Seabrook Floodgate Complex, completed in 2012, protects New Orleans by reducing storm surge entering from Lake Pontchartrain.

New orleans flood barrier