NYT: New Orleans Still at Risk, Army Data Show

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/21/us/21orleans.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

New Orleans Still at Risk, Army Data Show

By JOHN SCHWARTZ
Published: June 21, 2007

After nearly two years of work, the Army Corps of Engineers revealed yesterday which New Orleans neighborhoods and blocks were the most vulnerable to flooding, and which were the best protected. The report shows that despite considerable improvement, large swaths of the city are still likely to be flooded in a major storm.

If a big hurricane were to hit today — producing flooding with a 1-in-100 chance of occurring in any year — parts of the Gentilly and Lakeview neighborhoods, in the northern half of the city, would probably still take on at least eight feet of water. Hundreds of flooded homes in those neighborhoods are being rebuilt by owners struggling to return.

But the report shows that the vulnerable areas within those neighborhoods are much smaller than they were before Hurricane Katrina — considered a 1-in-400 storm — thanks to the corps’ substantial improvements to the 350-mile levee system, the floodwalls, pumps and gates.

As part of the report, the corps established a Web site, nolarisk.usace.army.mil, that allows New Orleans residents to study the city on a block-by-block basis and learn what kind of damage they might expect with more than 150 kinds of storms. If it works as promised, the system will allow residents to determine the relative risk of living in the various neighborhoods of New Orleans — and whether nearly two years and $7 billion have made them safer.

The report clearly shows that some areas are less vulnerable than they were in 2005. But it could also potentially lead insurers and investors to think twice about supporting the rebuilding efforts in vulnerable areas or in the city as a whole.

more...