Chapter Chapter 4
Section New Orleans
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New Orleans
New Orleans sustained extensive damage as Hurricane Katrina passed to its east on the morning of August 29. Many high-rise buildings suffered blown out windows, while roof sections of the Louisiana Superdome—where over ten thousand people were sheltered—were stripped away. Mayor Ray Nagin later reported that in New Orleans, “primary and secondary power sources, sewerage and draining systems and communication and power lines were incapacitated.32
The storm surge, extreme amounts of rain, and high winds stressed the city’s complex 350 mile levee system to its breaking point.33 Several of the levees and floodwalls were overtopped, and some were breached throughout the day of landfall. It was these overtoppings and breaches of the levee system that led to the catastrophic flooding of New Orleans. In addition to the levee and floodwall breaches, many of the pumping stations—which would have otherwise removed water from the city and prevented some of the flooding—stopped working due to power outages and flooded pumping equipment.
On the day of landfall, authoritative reporting from the field was extremely difficult to obtain because of the widespread destruction of communications infrastructure, the incapacitation of many State and local responders, and the lack of Federal representatives in the city. As a result, local, State, and Federal officials were forced to depend on a variety of conflicting reports from a combination of media, government and private sources, many of which continued to provide inaccurate or incomplete information throughout the day, further clouding the understanding of what was occurring in New Orleans. In fact, some uncertainty about the specific causes and times of the breaches and overtoppings persists to this day.
The New Orleans Flood and Hurricane Protection System
Much of New Orleans is located below sea level; with the Mississippi River to the south, Lake Pontchartrain to the north, and Lake Borgne to the east, the area is prone to flooding from the river, the lakes, and the Gulf of Mexico. Development of a system to protect the city from flooding began when the city was founded in the early 1700s and has grown with the increase in population and expanded into additional flood prone areas. The New Orleans Flood and Hurricane Protection System is complex and massive, consisting of 350 miles of levees, which are embankments, usually earthen, that serve as flood barriers. The System also includes floodwalls, hundreds of bridges, closable gates, culverts and canals that facilitate transportation in and out of the system. It is comprised of a series of four main compartmented basins designed to limit the flooding impacts on the entire system resulting from individual failures of levees and floodwalls. In addition, large pump stations are used to pump out and redirect water from the city. These pumps are designed to mitigate flooding that results from significant rainfall and can, over time, remove water from moderate overtoppings.
Currently, the levees offer protection ranging from eleven up to approximately seventeen and a half feet above sea level. The current system was designed to withstand a Mississippi River flood the size of the Flood of 1927 and a hurricane with wind conditions similar to a very strong Category 2 hurricane.
Breaching and Overtopping
Overtopping is a term used to describe the situation where the water level rises above the height of the levee or floodwall and consequently overtops, or flows over the structure. A breach is a break in the levee or floodwall. A prolonged overtopping can actually cause a levee or floodwall breach. In general, a breach can lead to more significant flooding than an overtopping since breaches take time to repair and until repaired continue to allow water to flow until the water level has receded below the height of the breach. Overtopping, on the other hand, will stop as soon as the water level recedes below the top of the levee or floodwall. Although the consequences are significantly different, from outward appearances, it is often difficult to differentiate a breach from an overtopping.
In addition to the dearth of reliable reporting regarding the situation in New Orleans, there was widespread confusion and misuse of the terms ‘breach’ and ‘overtopping’ by observers and reporters who did not fully understand the distinction between the two terms, or whose observations were not sufficient to enable differentiation of one from the other. Some overtopping of the levees was expected due to the intensity of the storm, which would result in localized flooding.34 However, such overtopping would not have led to the catastrophic effects that occurred due to the levee and floodwall breaches. Further, the New Orleans Flood and Hurricane Protection System is designed so that individual breaches will not lead to catastrophic flooding. The compartmented design, with four main basins, is intended to minimize the threat of flood to the entire system.35 Thus, had only one basin experienced serious overtopping or a breach, it would have been possible to avoid the catastrophic flooding New Orleans experienced.
Since some flooding was expected and severe flooding feared, the most important priority of local, State, and Federal officials was search and rescue. In anticipation of the storm on Sunday night and Monday morning, emergency responders were standing by to begin search and rescue as soon as it was safe to proceed.36 This emphasis on search and rescue continued throughout Monday evening, with officials encouraging those who had evacuated prior to landfall to stay away so they did not impede emergency responders’ fforts.37 By Tuesday morning when the breaches of the levees had been confirmed, Federal, State, and local officials were already fully engaged in search and rescue efforts.38 Regardless of the cause of the flooding, search and rescue had been and continued to be the first response priority.
As early as 9:12 am edt on August 29, the National Weather Service (NWS) received a report of a levee breach and shortly thereafter issued a flash flood warning, stating, “A levee breech sic occurred along the Industrial Canal at Tennessee Street. Three to eight feet of water is expected due to the breach.39 However, as late as 6:00 pm edt that day, the DHS Homeland Security Operations Center (HSOC) reported to senior DHS and White House officials that, “Preliminary reports indicate the levees in New Orleans have not been breached, however an assessment is still pending.”40
A sampling of additional reporting follows.
The first DHS HSOC report that referenced potential levee issues was distributed at 10:50 am edt on August 29, and stated, “Some levees in the greater New Orleans area could be overtopped.41 At 11:32 am edt, a DHS HSOC report stated that, after a call with State and Parish officials, “Major General Landreneau Adjutant General for Louisiana said that emergency personnel stationed at Jackson Barracks have confirmed that the waters are rising, although he could not say whether the cause was a levee breach or overtopping.42 At a Noon FEMA teleconference, local officials gave spotty reporting to participating State and Federal officials. As DHS summarized the reports, “Some of the LA Parishes have 8 to 10 feet of water. . . . Some levee leakage, but no reported failures to date . . . levee in New Orleans is overflowing.43
Mid-afternoon on August 29, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) notified DHS of a reported levee overtopping in St. Bernard’s Parish, a reported levee breach in the West Bank, and a small breach in Orleans Parish reported by local firefighters.44
At 6 pm edt aboard a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter, Marty Bahamonde, a FEMA Public Affairs Official, observed the extent of the flooding and was “struck by how accurate” the earlier local reporting was of the levee breaches.45 He then called FEMA Director Michael Brown and other FEMA officials with his eyewitness account at approximately 8 pm edt that day.46 Director Brown has testified that he subsequently called the White House to report the flooding information he received from Bahamonde.47 Following the calls, Mr. Bahamonde arranged a conference call with State, regional, and FEMA officials to recount what he had seen.48 An HSOC report marked 10:30 pm edt, but not received at the White House until 12:02 am edt the next day, summarized the conference call and reported Mr. Bahamonde’s observations on the extent of flooding throughout New Orleans.49
By morning light and with the passage of the storm, the extent of the flooding was apparent. At 6 am edt on August 30, the HSOC issued a report describing levee breaches at the Industrial Canal, 17th Street, and at Lake Ponchatrain.50
Throughout the morning and early afternoon on August 30, the USACE continued to determine the extent of the damage and assess whether the levees could be repaired.51 At Governor Blanco’s 3 pm edt press conference on August 30, FEMA Director Michael Brown stated that no resources in fixing the levees would be spared, and that the USACE was diligently working on a repair plan.52 The USACE worked throughout the remainder of Tuesday but despite best efforts, by Wednesday morning, it was becoming clear that the repairs could take weeks or months.
LESSON LEARNED RECOMMENDATION
Establish a National Operations Center to coordinate the National response and provide situational awareness and a common operating picture for the entire Federal government.
New Orleans flooded as the levees and floodwalls gave way and the pumping stations stopped operating; at its height, approximately 80 percent of New Orleans was filled with water up to twenty feet deep.53 This unprecedented flooding transformed Hurricane Katrina into a “catastrophe within a catastrophe54 as the storm shattered the lives of countless residents and presented State and local officials with challenges far exceeding their capabilities.
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