New Orleans is facing the 2013 hurricane season behind a $14 billion system designed to protect the region from a 100-year storm.
That’s generally considered to have a one percent chance of occurring in a year.
The US Army Corps of Engineers has, since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, designed and built a series of projects to protect the metro region.
The new commander of the New Orleans District office is Colonel Richard Hansen, who took over in May from Colonel Ed Fleming. Hansen says the new system provides the greatest risk reduction the greater New Orleans area has “ever had in its history.”
Hansen comes to the post after serving around the world, including two tours of duty in Iraq. He also spent two years in the Corps of Engineers as a deputy at the Galveston district in charge of the Texas coast.
He refers to the system designed to protect New Orleans as “risk reduction” not “flood protection” because he says nothing can fully protect against Mother Nature.
Hansen says his greatest concern is that people are prepared for the worst.
And if they’re told to evacuate — they will comply.
This news content made possible with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
