Shardae Watson- Team 4

Annotated Bibliography

(2006, Sept.) Strategic Planning Needed to Guide Future Enhancements Beyond Interim Levels. Gao Report.This report states that in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Army Corps of Engineers restored the levees to pre-Katrina levels, but did so by cutting corners and making temporary patches. It also states that the corp plans to collaborate with other committees in making the levees even stronger.

Battjes, Jurjen A. & Zimmie, Thomas F. (2005, August). Preliminary Report on the Performance of the New Orleans Levee Systems in Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005. Retrieved October 10, 2006 from http://hsgac.senate.gov/_files/Katrina/Preliminary_Report.pdf. this extensive report includes information specifically how and why the levees collapsed in certain places. The reasons range from sand boils to shifting foundations to overtopping, and the report itself suggests that the levees were poorly made. Several maps and pictures that show the full extent of the damage are included

Bergeron, A. (2006, June) System Failure Gets Blame In New Orleans. ENR, 10. The Army Corps of Engineers admits that the levee failures may have been due to flaws in its construction. One of the major flaws in the levee’s construction is that several companies, including the corps, simply built on top of what another did.

Brain, M. What Is a Levee? Retrieved September 21, 2006, from http://science.howstuffworks.com/levee.htm. A simple explanation of the structure of a levee.

Bunch, W.(2005, Nov). Why the Levee Broke. Retrieved Sept. 21 from http://alternet.org/story/24871/ . This article includes reasons why the levees failed during Hurricane Katrina. Not only were the levees fundamentally flawed, but the Army Corps of Engineers (which was in charge of building the levees) didn’t even have enough money for the project.

Carns, A. (2005, Nov). Army Corps Faces Scrutiny on Levee Flaws. Wall Street Journal, B. 1. The Army corps of engineers, at this time, says that while the levees in New Orleans did indeed fail, it was not because of any mistakes they made in the levees’ design. The walls were built to withstand a Category 3 storm, they said, and were simply overtopped.

Carter, N.(2005, Sept.) New Orleans Levees and Floodwalls: Hurricane Damage Protection. Retrieved September 28, 2006 from http://www.epa.gov/oilspill/pdfs/RoperW_Katrina%20Water%20Quality%20May%202006.pdf#search=%22new%20orleans%20levees%20pump%20locations%22This report gives several reasons as to why the New Orleans levees collapsed. They include the fact that the levees themselves were built to withstand a Category 3 storm, and even then the specifications were checked with measurements from the 1960’s. The levees themselves were not built high enough, and the joints between various types of levees were unstable.

Dean, C. (2006, Sept). Time to Move the Mississippi, Experts Say. The New York Times. Some experts think that Louisiana’s extensive levee system must be undone in order for the Mississippi to flow freely and for the state’s wetlands to be restored. One way the river could be diverted, while still having New Orleans maintain its economic status, the article suggests, could be by building a slack water channel. This channel would allow ships, but not the river or sediment, to pass through.

Feldstein, D. (2006, July) when the storm hits, will our levees hold? The Houston Chronicle, 1. Galveston, Texas, is similar to New Orleans in many ways. The cities have similar levees that have the same design flaws. For example, Galveston may not be below sea level, but their levees use weaker clays than other levees. The army corps of engineers is willing to study those problems that they may not have understood before Hurricane Katrina.

Ficshetti, M. (2006, Feb.). Protecting New Orleans. Scientific American. Vol. 294, Issue 2. Fischetti writes of many aspects of the aftermath of both hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The Mississippi Delta sinks several inches year after year. In addition, wetlands are being lost, while the levees themselves have to be rebuilt. The United States has just begun to look at the blueprints of the levee systems of other nations in an effort to better protect the Gulf coast.

Hosenball, M. (2006, Sept). It's Cheaper to Go Dutch; The Netherlands is expert at keeping itself dry. So why aren't U.S. bureaucrats seeking more of its help rebuilding the levees? Newsweek, 148. The Netherlands has most of the same problems that New Orleans has; they are below sea level and are in constant danger of heavy floods and storms. Unlike new Orleans, however, they have not had a major flood since the 1950’s, when construction on the levees was just starting.

McQuaid, John & Schleifstein, Mark.(2002, June). Evolving danger. The Times-Picayune. J12. In assessing the risks of another Category 3 storm damaging New Orleans, experts say, the Army Corps of Engineers may have made some mistakes in their analysis. Most of their measurements were made in the 1960’s, using the tools available at the time. The measurements made in the 1960’s may not hold up as well today. In order to design a comprehensive flood protection system, scientists must look at hurricane records of the past. This is a challenge, however, since accurate hurricane records go back 100- 150 years.

Moore, M.(2005, Sept). Rethinking Defenses Against Sea’s Power. The Washington Post, A22.  Scientists say that floods and levees may be contributing to floods more than we think, and in this article the levees and dikes of the Netherlands are used as a prime example. These levees, which are built to withstand 10,000 year storms (meaning storms so severe they only come up every 10,000 years), may not be good enough in the face of global warming.

Roper, William E. & Wheeler, James F. (2006, May). Water Quality Assessment of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Retrieved October 10, 2006 from http://www.epa.gov/oilspill/pdfs/RoperW_Katrina%20Water%20Quality%20May%202006.pdf#search=%22new%20orleans%20levees%20pump%20locations%22. This is primarily a report of the quality of the water in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but it also includes several maps showing the sites of the levee breaches, and gives some details about why they collapsed.

Stromberg, M. (2006, Jan).Little Good News on Levees and Wetlands. Planning. Vol. 72, Iss. 1, 40. This article talks about several reasons why the levees failed during Hurricane Katrina. Official found that instead of a few major breaches where the levees were overtopped, there were several found throughout the levee. Many of them were found to have occurred where two different materials met, with the weaker material being more susceptible to damage.

Spotts, P. (2005, Nov.) Why The New Orleans Levees Failed. The Christian Science Monitor. This article includes a short list as to why the New Orleans levees failed. Some of these reasons are the fact that the levees were overtopped, and in cases where they weren’t overtopped, water seeped under the levees and broke through them. The junctions between different types of levees often failed, and levees were more likely to fail if they did not have marshlands directly in front of them.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. (n.d.). Who We Are. Retrieved September 21, 2006 from http://www.usace.army.mil/who/. This page includes a brief explanation of the role of the Army Corps of Engineers. Their work includes working on projects that guard against floods and other water damage, designing and maintaining facilities for the military, and working on those of other departments.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. (n.d) Levee Construction. Retrieved September 21, fromhttp://www.usace.army.mil/publications/eng-manuals/em1110-2-1913/c-7.pdf. This excerpt gives, in detail, how to go about constructing a levee, from the types of soils used, to the preparation of the foundations.

Vartabedian, R. (2006, June). Army Corps Admits Design Flaws in New Orleans Levees. Los Angeles Times, 1. The Army Corp of Engineers acknowledged the defects in their design of the levees caused most of the major flooding that took place in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. They released a 6,000 page report detailing the errors made in the levees construction. One important finding in the report states that I-levees (which sits on top of an earthen levee) were responsible for 65% of the flooding that took place.

Wold, A. (2006, May). Report Cites Many Causes of Levee Failure: Turf wars, cost cuts, human error paved a path for disaster. The Advocate, 1. Wold writes that the levees failed during Hurricane Katrina because of engineering mistakes made in their construction. Because of the type of materials used in their construction, they levees were much more prone to eroding. In addition, many of them were not built on a solid foundation. As a result, water pushed through the levees, not over them.