New Orleans finds itself in the path of Hurricane Ida 16 years to the day after floodwalls collapsed and levees were overtopped by a storm surge driven by Hurricane Katrina.
The Associated Press
“The post-Katrina system is so different than what was in place before," said U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesperson Matt Roe. “They’re designed to overtop in places” with protections against worse damage, including armoring, splash pads and pumps with backup generators, he said. Governments as of Friday were not ordering people protected by the levees to evacuate, showing their confidence in the system.
The city of New Orleans drainage system has 24 pumping stations with a combined capacity of over 50,000 cubic feet per second , which is nearly 400,000 gallons per second. That doesn't include pumps in neighboring suburbs. “Our mission is obviously to stay ahead of the storm, stay ahead of the rain and keep the city dry,” Korban told reporters Friday. “But at one point, once our system is overrun, our mission shifts from keeping the city dry to just pumping the city as fast as we can.”Experts note that the levee system was built to protect against a 100-year level of storm surge — a surge that has a 1% chance of happening any given year.