New Orleans Hurricane Impact Study - Interesting Images of The New Orleans "Bowl"

LSU ^ | 9-14-04 | LSU

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New Orleans Hurricane Impact Study Area

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View the entire New Orleans Hurricane Impact Study Area with detailed road map overlay

The New Orleans Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in its entirey is a densely-populated area comprised of eight parishes with over 1.3 million residents (US Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 2000).

As a consequence of Hurricane Betsy in 1965 (the last major hurricane to strike close to New Orleans) and subsequent flooding in later years, the levees encircling the city and other parish areas have been raised to heights ranging between 14 to 23 feet.  While the drainage and pumping systems within New Orleans are being continuously improved, flooding can still cause major problems within the city and outlying areas.

 

Although occuring almost a decade ago, the 1995 floods in New Orleans still rank as the second largest FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) payout in history at $600 million, second only to Tropical Storm Allison in Houston, 2001 (at $1.1 billion) (FEMA WaterMark 2004, Number 1 - NFIP).  

The New Orleans Hurricane Impact Study Area is outlined in pink in the figure above.

The CSPHIH is focusing research on greater New Orleans and outlying suburbs, an area of approximately 1.1 million residents.  Upwards of ten percent of these residents, or 110,000 are estimated to have 'special needs.'  These may include the elderly, those with physical or mental disabilities, or persons dependant on technolgical intervention or specialized medical care to sustain life.

Areas of the City Below Sea Level

Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans/US Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District

Study Area

Many New Orleans residents are surprised at just how much of the city is at or below sea level.  Some of the lowest areas of the city include areas both east and west of the Industrial Canal, and the Central Business District.

New Orleans Flood Risk

SLOSH and experimental ADCIRC model runs (see Experimental Storm Surge Models ) show that a slow-moving Category 3 hurricane or stronger could flood the bowl of New Orleans north of the Mississippi River, locally known as the East Bank.  Experimental ADCIRC model runs generated during Tropical Storm Isidore (New Orleans, September 2002) have also revealed that the West Bank (south of the Mississippi River) could flood under conditions caused by a slow moving Category 2 storm.   

Learn more: Would New Orleans really flood in a major hurricane? How is that possible?

The city of New Orleans, which is at or below sea-level in many areas, is sandwiched between levees from Lake Pontchartrain to the north and the Mississippi River to its south creating the “bowl” effect so often described.

Learn more about the levee systems of New Orleans

Read "A Hurricane Night," by Ivor van Heerden, Ph.D., a possible New Orleans flooding scenario

Read "Coastal Land Loss: Hurricanes and New Orleans," by Ivor van Heerden, Ph.D., a paper outlining the effects of land loss in terms of the increased vulnerability of New Orleans to hurricanes

 

 

[Former Military Chick]

PING

This is interesting and it was posted last year.

[No Longer Free State]

Ancient history ping.....

[No Longer Free State]

The more I look at the hydrography of the city, the more I'm convinced that if the River-side levee ever blows, we'll end up having a new channel to the sea. Right through the French Quarter and lake Ponchartrain.

[Milligan]

How far is the Convention Center from the Superdome?? People were leaving the Superdome and looting the city. How did people know the Convention Center didn't have any supplies?