Hurricane Katrina and the Vulnerability of New Orleans. (September 3, 2005)

    The news websites of both Nature and Science are reporting on the aftermath following Hurricane Katrina.

Science  has concentrated on the damage sustained by universities and research institutions in and around New Orleans. It reports, "The blow to New Orleans-based universities, including Tulane, the University of New Orleans, and Xavier, could be especially devastating."

Tulane University has set up an emergency website which continues to log President, Scott Cowan's observations. Below an except from about 8:00 AM Saturday September 3, Sydney Time.

 Since my relocation to Houston, I have had more access to information about the situation in New Orleans. I was hopeful that recovery would soon progress. However, given the ongoing situation in the city, I am forced to make an extremely difficult decision – Tulane University cannot hold a fall semester on its campus.

 

Nine of the leading higher education associations, which represent hundreds of colleges and universities around the country, have developed a plan to accept Tulane students, as well as those from other institutions adversely affected by the hurricane, for the fall semester only.

ScienceNow also reports that  "warnings that dead bodies, tainted floodwaters, and pathogens such as cholera and typhoid could spark widespread disease in post-hurricane Louisiana and Mississippi are overblown, infectious disease experts say. But concerns of diarrheal disease from common bugs among crowded refugees are real, and other disease risks could grow with time." In addition, "Mosquito-borne illnesses won't be a threat right away because the hurricane flushed their habitats away, says epidemiologist CJ Peters of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. But the risks could grow as they return, particularly the species that transmit St. Louis encephalitis and West Nile virus."

Nature has placed on line

Briefing: devastation in New Orleans

Experts say they saw the disaster coming, but what should we expect next?

by Michael Hopkin

Below a short excerpt and the headings of the key paragraphs;

Did experts know this might happen?
    Yes. New Orleans is protected by a series of flood walls called levees that help to hold back nearby Lake Pontchartrain, which in turn is connected to the Gulf of Mexico.
Parts of the city sit several metres below sea level. And the system's 565 kilometres of walls were built to withstand only category-3 hurricanes. So a direct strike from a severe storm has long been anticipated as one of the worst natural disasters that could befall the mainland United States (see 'Hurricane Ivan highlights future risk for New Orleans' ).

Could something have been done to prevent this?
    Yes. The levees could have been higher. The New York Times has reported that the estimated cost of protecting against a category-5 hurricane, the highest on the scale, is $2.5 billion.

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How exactly did the levees fail?

How long will it take to repair the damage?
How many people will be affected?
Is climate change to blame?

What can we expect from the rest of this hurricane season?

Can we expect more of the same next year?