NEW ORLEANS, June 21 The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has released data showing how much flooding, damage and death can be expected in coastal Louisiana in future hurricanes.
The analysis provides the risk of flooding from a hurricane that has a 1-in-100 chance of hitting the area each year, although the corps said Hurricane Katrina, which struck Aug. 29, 2005, was a once-in-400-year storm, the New Orleans Times Picayune reported.
The study, which took two years to compile using supercomputers to analyze data, shows the vulnerable areas within New Orleans neighborhoods are much smaller than they were before Hurricane Katrina because of improvements to the 350-mile levee system, the floodwalls, pumps and gates, a New York Times correspondent reported.
The corps also announced a Web site where residents can enter their address and see the damage potential assessment in more than 150 types of future storms. The site is nolarisk.usace.army.mil.
More than $7 billion has been spent on repairs and upgrades to levees and storm protection facilities in southern Louisiana since Katrina struck, followed a month later by Hurricane Rita.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
