GIS Works to Avoid Another Katrina

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers uses Bentley Systems ProjectWise to evaluate hurricane protection and flood damage reduction systems

One year ago today, Hurricane Katrina struck the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Destruction continued long after the hurricane passed, as breaches in the floodwalls and levees of New Orleans flooded the city, leaving behind the area's greatest loss of life and property damage in recorded history. The failure of the city's flood-protection system left serious questions about why it failed and how to protect New Orleans and other cities in the future.

Answering those questions falls to the USACE (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers), which launched the IPET (Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force) in October 2005. This team of engineers and scientists includes representatives from federal, state and local agencies as well as academia and private industry. The huge task of finding answers begins with IPET's Data Collection and Management team, which is charged with collecting information about the conditions before and after Hurricane Katrina, including construction and maintenance of the flood-protection system. This information serves as the key resource for evaluating the current system and determining the necessary changes for improvement.  Read more >>

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