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From page 1... ... assist in the application of that knowledge to the reconstitution of a more resilient and capable hurricane protection system.1 Meeting these objectives requires an ambitious, "big picture" study of systems-level features of the New Orleans regional hurricane protection system, and the IPET and its studies will be highly visible and central to planning decisions for New Orleans and southeastern Louisiana for years to come. The IPET study is focusing its efforts to gather, analyze, and evaluate data on five study objectives: 1. Read the entire page →
From page 2... ... in terms of the five IPET study objectives. Specifically, the second report lacks a systemwide assessment of preKatrina design criteria and status, description of impacts on the system during and after the storm, societal consequences of Katrina-related damage, post-Katrina levels of vulnerability, and future levels of risk to the New Orleans region. Read the entire page →
From page 3... ... Analyses of storm surge associated with Hurricane Katrina, which represent a useful effort toward quantifying hurricane hazards, and an update of progress by Task Force Guardian in repairing damaged sites throughout the hurricane protection system, were also explained. In its post-Katrina recovery and construction program, Task Force Guardian has understandably focused on repairing the most severe levee breaches and damaged parts of the hurricane protection system. Read the entire page →
From page 4... ... Examples of regional maps that could be usefully displayed in a GIS format include soils, levees, authorized and existing levels of protection, and surge and wave conditions. Hurricane Storm Surge The IPET has made excellent progress in modeling the large-scale hydrodynamics of Hurricane Katrina. Read the entire page →
From page 5... ... Conceptual Issues Associated with Hurricane Protection System Assessment The concepts of "authorized level of protection" and "standard project hurricane" (SPH) are important to understanding the design and heights of levees in the New Orleans hurricane protection system as they existed before Katrina and as they performed during the storm. Read the entire page →
From page 6... ... If the system is to be strengthened to protect against future hurricanes, structures that may have been weakened -- but that may not appear to be damaged by visual inspection -- must be identified and upgraded to at least withstand the forces they were designed to protect against. To date, the IPET analysis has focused on specific areas of failure, such as the 17th Street Canal breach. Read the entire page →
From page 7... ... The following bulleted items summarize the preceding section's main points: � To promote systemwide evaluation and communication, the IPET should explore ways to apply GIS more prominently as a unifying framework for its study. The IPET should also explore prospects of establishing a public website at which local and regional maps of soils, levees, and other relevant data can be accessed. Read the entire page →
From page 8... ... � The report attempts to rationalize the timing of the breach with the measured storm surge records in the vicinity of the 17th Street Canal (this process is confused by the inconsistent use of NAVD88 and NGVD datums) , but there remains a discrepancy between the observed and predicted surge heights at failure. Read the entire page →
From page 9... ... The following bulleted items summarize the preceding section's key points: � The explanation of the failure mechanism for the 17th Street Canal breach, while plausible, is not fully convincing, and alternative failure mechanisms should 6Ladd, C.C., and R Foott. Read the entire page →
From page 10... ... and field-vane-shear (FVS) tests should be performed at the 17th Street Canal breach site as soon as practicable. Read the entire page →
From page 11... ... As part of assigning probabilities associated with future hurricanes, the IPET should review historical storms in the Gulf of Mexico region and place these storms, and the standard project hurricane, in the context of the IPET probabilistic analysis. A description of the history of hurricanes in the Gulf Coast region would also be valuable in helping analysts, decision makers, and the public better understand the nature of hurricane strengths, variations, storm tracks, probabilities, and recurrence intervals. Read the entire page →
From page 12... ... The IPET should also consider conducting a simpler, deterministic assessment of storm surge potential based on a smaller set of storms selected to establish a realistic baseline for inundation potential over a range of critical storm parameters, such as storm intensity, storm size, approach speed and direction, and the intersection of the track line with the coast. By varying these storm parameters it should be possible to identify potential surge and wave conditions applicable to the various parts of the hurricane Read the entire page →
From page 13... ... Although the extension of the deadline for the IPET final report will allow additional time for these analyses, the IPET risk and reliability effort should be considered only as the first step in a long-term effort to develop and apply an accepted method for hurricane risk assessment. CLOSING COMMENTS The IPET studies of the New Orleans regional hurricane protection system are unique not only for their ambitious scope but also for the level of scrutiny and political pressure under which the IPET is operating. Read the entire page →
From page 14... ... The following list summarizes this report's primary findings and recommendations: � The IPET second report contains shortcomings that will need to be addressed if the IPET final report is to provide credible science- and engineeringbased findings that can serve as a basis for improving hurricane preparedness for the New Orleans region. The decision to issue the June 1, 2006, IPET report as a "draft final" provides additional time to produce a more comprehensive and credible set of studies. Read the entire page →
From page 15... ... tests should be performed at the 17th Street Canal breach site as soon as practicable. Results from these tests should be integrated with previously acquired strength data. Read the entire page →

From page 1...

... assist in the application of that knowledge to the reconstitution of a more resilient and capable hurricane protection system.1 Meeting these objectives requires an ambitious, "big picture" study of systems-level features of the New Orleans regional hurricane protection system, and the IPET and its studies will be highly visible and central to planning decisions for New Orleans and southeastern Louisiana for years to come. The IPET study is focusing its efforts to gather, analyze, and evaluate data on five study objectives: 1.

Report Pages 1-15

Report
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