Annotated Bibliography

Adams, M. H. (2000). Florida compromises on new building code. National Underwriter, 104(15), 4.

In Florida, the state legislation tried to enact a stricter code, much as is currently occurring in New Orleans. The insurance companies fought against these measures because it will cost them more money to build everything up to the new codes. In this article the two groups reach a compromise where buildings close to the coast have to be well protected, but buildings farther away do not have to meet the strictest portions of the codes.

Analysis: Louisiana and mississippi struggle to find compromise on hurricane evacuation plan.(2003). All Things Considered, , 1.

This is a transcript of a radio show in New Orleans. It was recorded in 2003 about the evacuation for Hurricane Lily, which fortunately did not cause any major damage to the city. However, the evacuation was a virtual failure because of the traffic on the interstate because Mississippi would not authorize one-way traffic. These issues were being sorted out at the time of publication.

Brady, M. (2005). Congress urged to boost building codes. National Underwriter.P & C, 109(43), 56.

Congress has recently been debating ideas of enacting a stricter building code in Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana. There was a concurrent resolution passed, but that does not carry the force of law. There are estimates available saying that billions of dollars in damage could have been prevented by enforcing stricter building codes in the areas hit by Katrina. If this is the case, many members of Congress feel that there should be something in place to protect these citizens.

Brodie, M., Weltzien, E., Altman, D., Blendon, R. J., & Benson, J. M. (2006). Experiences of hurricane katrina evacuees in houston shelters: Implications for future planning. American Journal of Public Health, 96(8), 1402.

A group of doctors traveled to Houston in September of 2005 to talk to refugees currently living there. They had residents fill out a survey gathering demographics about the people as well as other medical data. What they observed was that most of the people suffered either mentally or physically. There are many areas where the public health response could improve according to this study.

By EDGAR A. POEJACKSON,Miss. (1944, Dec 17). Giant test tube for ol' man river. New York Times (1857-Current File), pp. SM10.

This was an experiment performed to model the effects of various methods of controlling the Mississippi River on the possibility of massive flooding. Decades before Katrina, scientists all ready new the dangers of trying to control a force as great as the Mississippi River.

Campanella, T. J. (2006). Urban resilience and the recovery of new orleans. American Planning Association.Journal of the American Planning Association, 72(2), 141.

This article discussed the possibilities of rebuilding New Orleans after Katrina. Even if the city is completely rebuilt, if the people don’t come back, the city will not ever be the same. The author, however, expresses hope that New Orleans will rebound. He sites numerous examples of the indestructibility of most modern cities.

Carlin, R. O. M. A. N. O. (2005). New orleans and the probability blues. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 52(5), B.13.

This author argues the viewpoint that we would be better off ignoring the quantified probability of another major hurricane hitting New Orleans. Instead, we should place an emphasis on building for the worst case scenario. We can say that a major hurricane will probably not hit New Orleans, but there is always the possibility that this could happen. As the author says, things that have never happened before happen every day. We need to be prepared for something that may or may not happen.

City puts citizens first in 2006 hurricane plan.(2006). US Fed News Service, Including US State News, , n/a.

This was a news release from New Orleans about the discussion of evacuation plans by city officials. They were coming up with new ideas of how to spread the information to everybody. There are many new resources now available to help residents successfully evacuate in case of emergency. Some of these resources include websites and pamphlets and posters in public locations. The key focuses are getting everybody out and protecting their stuff from the sort of rampant pillaging seen after Katrina.

Cornejo, R. (2006). Building up to code. Best's Review, 107(4), 24.

When this article was written, there were the beginnings of plans for building codes all ready in place. However, these applied only to the coast and they were strictly optional. Many people favor stricter measures because they may cost more now, but in the future they will pay off. That has all ready been demonstrated by the success of other states like Florida.

Eosco, G. M., & Hooke, W. H. (2006). Coping with hurricanes. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 87(6), 751.

The most important step right now is not to be in a rush to rebuild New Orleans as it always has been. Also, people should not abandon the city completely. The author believes that now is the time to study the past and what went wrong. These mistakes need to be corrected, not repeated. The hurricane is tragic, but it can also be a learning experience. This sort of forward motion is best achieved through the balance of the public and private sector. They need to work together because they are interdependent.

Florida will model state regs on standard building code.(1998). ENR (Engineering News-Record), 241(16), 22.

This article talks about the switch that Florida made the late nineties from having different building codes throughout the state to adopting only one standard code for the entire state. This would make the standards uniform and more easily enforced. Officials instated this because of the damage done by hurricanes to Florida. This is an important example for New Orleans to follow.

Gillis, C., & Gatehouse, J. (2005). Why they'll be back. Maclean's, 118(38), 31.

The author believes that many of the people who left the city of New Orleans will soon come back. The gloomy predictions of some of the officials will prove to be resoundingly false. The history and importance of the city are too deeply embedded in residents that they will come back to the city. The author is very optimistic.

Gumbrecht, J. (2005). New orleans divided into hopeful, hopeless. Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, , 1.

This newspaper article reflects the opinions and beliefs of people from many different areas of New Orleans. The people from French Quarter and other less damaged areas are all fairly optimistic, at this point about a month after the storm. They only really need to clean up their homes and resume their normal life. Most of the neighborhoods are well rebuilt. In places like Lakeview and the Lower Ninth Ward, most people are moving out. There was one person the author talked to who was moving to the other side of Lake P., like in our plan. Most of these people are angry that the government is being so slow to respond to their needs. They cannot start to rebuild their homes until the government organizes zoning and rebuilding laws. There is a lot of frustration and hopelessness in these communities.

Hirsch, L. (2005). 'We had to evacuate soon'. Modern Healthcare, 35(37), 20.

This source is a first hand account of being in New Orleans through the hurricane. He was just starting his job as the CEO of a local hospital. He relates his experiences as the floods increase and patients have to be evacuated. It gives a unique perspective rarely thought of, namely, what do you do with people who physically can’t drive away from the city?

Khanduri, A. (2004). Hurricane charley validates new building code. National Underwriter.P & C, 108(34), 36.

This is yet another example of the effectiveness of the building codes put in place in Florida after hurricane Andrew. The author estimates that the building codes prevented a lot of potential damage to the towns affected by Charley. There is a convincing argument for New Orleans to follow the successful plans of Florida.

Klotzbach, P. (2006). Atlantic Basin Seasonal Hurricane Forecasts. 10/26/06. http://typhoon.atmos.colostate.edu/Includes/Documents/Presentations/klotzbachbermuda2006.ppt#471,1,Slide%201.

This site has some of the best statistics of predictions. Phil Klotzbach is a part of the team that makes predictions each year out of the University of Colorado. There are also many useful charts looking at the way that the error in forecasting has decreased over time. The slide show also looks at the trends of the past two decades. The data shows that overall the number of storms has increased in the past decade compared to the decade before (up to 250% in some cases).

Louisiana hones hurricane evacuation plans.(2006). All Things Considered, , 1.

This is a transcript of a news show in Louisiana. The host spent time talking to residents of New Orleans in one of the FEMA trailer parks. They talk about how they are now willing to evacuate should a storm be on its way towards the city. People do not want to go through another long ordeal waiting for rescuers. They talked about the evacuation plans and potential problems, like traffic.

Louisiana passes post-katrina building code.(2006). RSI, Roofing, Siding, Insulation, 83(2), 10.

Louisiana passed the International Building Code as the standard for all new buildings as well as some major repairs. This single code will be in effect throughout the state replace the random little town codes that were found before Katrina. Hopefully, this new standard will better protect the state from future hurricanes.

Materials shortages to continue into 2006.(2005). Northwest Construction, 11(11), 57.

Because of the massive scale of rebuilding and construction necessary in New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf Coast, there has been a shortage of materials like wood panels, lumber, and concrete. Prices have skyrocketed, which will make it even more difficult for people to afford to rebuild their house. This affects both the city buildings and private residences. The shortage on concrete makes things especially hard because you can’t build a house without first pouring the foundation.

Michael Valenti (1998, August). Preventing dam flooding. Mechanical Engineering, 120(8), 26-28. Retrieved October 6, 2006, from Research Library Core database. (Document ID: 32701420).

Engineers in France designed a novel new style of floodgate for dams, which is not manually opened and closed like now. In an effort to eliminate man-made errors, these new gates open and closed by the natural forces of the water. It is dependent only on the water level. These could have a useful application in opening or closing gates in the levees to control flooding in other areas.

Molodzwi Dam. (2002, February). Civil Engineering : Magazine of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering, 10(2), 11. Retrieved October 6, 2006, from Research Library Core database. (Document ID: 123460981).

This article was about the dangers of spillways. They can be a great tool, but they have to be built to handle a lot of extreme forces. The Molodzwi Dam’s spillway suffered a lot of damage from erosion, and the water flooded many of the surrounding areas. This could be a danger seen in trying to create any sort of artificial distributary.

Montgomery, J. (2005). Facing the crisis. Modern Healthcare, 35(37), 20.

Another CEO in a separate hospital deals with attempting to evacuate the patients from his hospital as the water floods the hospital shutting down the back up generators, critical to many patients. There is a very long wait for helicopters to evacuate the hospital, and other area hospitals are also vying for the few helicopters operating at this time.

Observations from the wobble that saved the city.(1998). New Orleans Magazine, 33(2), 11.

This is an article written back in 1998 after hurricane Georges just barely missed the city. Despite the hurricane not hitting the city, the government had evacuated the people. Throughout this evacuation, the people encountered major problems. The author warns that this was a lucky accident, and next time, the hurricane will actually hit the city. It provides a warning to the citizens of New Orleans to be prepared for the worst.

Robinson, L. (1999). Hurricane warning. U.S.News & World Report, 126(22), 26.

At this time, the government in Florida was fighting about whether or not to lighten up the building codes to lower the cost of housing. Residents were really unhappy because they felt that their safety was put at risk because the government wanted to appease the housing industry companies.

Ryland, H. (2005). Katrina makes the case for better building codes. National Underwriter.P & C, 109(46), 26.

Hurricane Katrina forced people to realize the risk that they were assuming by building weaker buildings not held to any specific standards. In New Orleans, there is a lot of debate on what building codes if any should be promoted. The major deterrent is the cost necessary to implement this course of action. It still seems necessary in the wake of the hurricane damage.

Sawyer, T., Korman, R., Post, N., Powers, M., Armistead, T., & Chastain,Debra Rubin and Bill. (2004). Deadly hurricane trio whips up new debate; ENR (Engineering News-Record), 253(12), 10.

Even back in 2004, officials realized that the world was entering a time of larger and more powerful storms. In Florida, the government was taking protective measures by discussing the possibility of strengthening the building codes. Florida sets an impressive precedent for other states to follow in protecting against hurricanes.

Unique flood control gates. (2002, June). Civil Engineering : Magazine of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering, 10(6), 15. Retrieved October 6, 2006, from Research Library Core database. (Document ID: 181079791).

There have been engineers designing flood gates in dams that run completely based off of the water level. They require no electrical components, so they will not fail if the area loses electricity. They are specialized, so the amount the gat opens is dependent on the amount of water behind it. Right now, they are used to maintain a constant water flow out of dams and a constant water level behind the dam, but it might be possible to modify it to be used in a river.

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