“They also ignored some of their own geotechnical sciences during the design of the dikes,” he continued. “Some were built in sand with very shallow soles, so the water just went underneath and blew the dike. Some were built on lots of earth, once again with very shallow soles, and they just fell. The 17th street channel, the whole structure of the dike actually slipped 200 feet.”
There had also been significant changes to the local landscape from Hurricane Betsy. In the past, wetlands, especially cypress swamps, have provided a certain protection against storm waves. In 1992, for example, the hurricane in category 5 Andrew hit the earth on the Atchafalaya delta, where healthy wetlands reduced its energy by 50% between the coast and the city of Morgan, according to Van Heerden. But other wetlands in the region have radically changed with the dredging of a channel called the Mississippi Gulf Outlet, ranging from red stick to the Gulf of Mexico.
“It was an open duct for overvoltage to enter New Orleans,” said Van Heerden. “Salt water has entered the wetlands and destroyed it, in particular the cypresses. This channel had opened, in certain places, at five times its width, allowing the waves to be built on the surface. The ground lifting were not armored in any way, so they collapsed. They blown. That is why certain parts of St. Bernard have seen a wave of ten feet.”
I’m just trying to survive
New Orleans blocked residents gather in a refuge during Hurricane Katrina.
KTVT TV
New Orleans blocked residents gather in a refuge during Hurricane Katrina.
KTVT TV
Military staff take care of a person injured on a bed bed in the Superdome.
Ed Bush
Military staff take care of a person injured on a bed bed in the Superdome.
Ed Bush
The National Guard distributes water to residents of New Orleans.
Cnn
The National Guard distributes water to residents of New Orleans.
Cnn
Military staff take care of a person injured on a bed bed in the Superdome.
Ed Bush
The National Guard distributes water to residents of New Orleans.
Cnn
Kevin Goodman, a New Orleans resident, holds his two baby nieces while seeking help with journalists in the face of disastrous conditions at the Center Convention.
ABC News
Lieutenant-general Russell honors outside the crowded congress center.
Cnn
New Orleans stranded residents come together under the highway.
KTVT TV
The residents of New Orleans went down the highway by trying to find refuge.
Global ImageWorks, LLC
Add drastic cuts to FEMA under the president of the time, George W. Bush, who inherited “a very functional and very well -organized version of the department of his predecessor, Bill Clinton, by Van Heerden – and the scene was fixed for such a catastrophe like the painful consequences of Katrina. This did not help that the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, Compulsory evacuation order up to approximately 24 hours before the storm, which makes much more difficult for residents to follow these orders in a timely manner.
