April 14, 2010

The New Orleans Hurricane Protection System

The American Society of Civil Engineers is the leading professional association for Civil Engineering in the United States. In the society's code of ethics is the statement that "Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public..." In this context, then, it examines what went wrong with the built structures that protected the city of New Orleans from the Mississippi River and teh Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Katrina was one of the strongest storms on record to hit the coast of the United states. However, the failure of the hurricane protection system that had comforted the city brought about some of the most costly destruction that our country has ever seen. This brief book outlines the causes of that disaster and the decisions that contributed to it.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

The New Orleans Hurricane Protection System: What Went Wrong and Why
American Society of Civil Engineers, Hurricane Katrina External Review Panel
TH 1096 .N49 2007