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New Orleans Finally Gets a Hurricane Protection Plan

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


Hurricane Katrina battered New Orleans in 2005 and little has been done since then to improve long-term storm protection for the city and surrounding delta. The wait may finally be over. After years of fighting over competing plans between state and federal agencies, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, cities and parishes (counties), a grand plan has emerged, championed by a state agency whose leaders had been screaming into deaf ears about the need for better safeguards long before Katrina struck.

The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority revealed the master plan yesterday. The plan would require $50 billion over 50 years to rebuild vast marshes and barrier islands all along the delta coast, creating natural buffers against storm surges and waves. More levees, floodwalls and gates to protect New Orleans and other towns would also be erected. Several main parts of the plan echo recommendations experts made in a 2006 Scientific American article that weighed the potential options.


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New Orleans’s primary local news organization, the Times-Picayune, has posted a clear, interesting article that explains the plan’s steps and considers the likelihood that they will gain the necessary public and political support. The site includes a map that shows where the primary projects would take place, as well as a map outlining the addition 1,756 square miles of wetlands that would be lost to the sea if the plan is not implemented.

The restoration authority will take public comments on the plan through February 25, and will hold three open meetings in and around New Orleans on January 23 to 25.

Image: Courtesy of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority

Mark Fischetti has been a senior editor at Scientific American for 17 years and has covered sustainability issues, including climate, weather, environment, energy, food, water, biodiversity, population, and more. He assigns and edits feature articles, commentaries and news by journalists and scientists and also writes in those formats. He edits History, the magazine's department looking at science advances throughout time. He was founding managing editor of two spinoff magazines: Scientific American Mind and Scientific American Earth 3.0. His 2001 freelance article for the magazine, "Drowning New Orleans," predicted the widespread disaster that a storm like Hurricane Katrina would impose on the city. His video What Happens to Your Body after You Die?, has more than 12 million views on YouTube. Fischetti has written freelance articles for the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Smithsonian, Technology Review, Fast Company, and many others. He co-authored the book Weaving the Web with Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, which tells the real story of how the Web was created. He also co-authored The New Killer Diseases with microbiologist Elinor Levy. Fischetti is a former managing editor of IEEE Spectrum Magazine and of Family Business Magazine. He has a physics degree and has twice served as the Attaway Fellow in Civic Culture at Centenary College of Louisiana, which awarded him an honorary doctorate. In 2021 he received the American Geophysical Union's Robert C. Cowen Award for Sustained Achievement in Science Journalism, which celebrates a career of outstanding reporting on the Earth and space sciences. He has appeared on NBC's Meet the Press, CNN, the History Channel, NPR News and many news radio stations. Follow Fischetti on X (formerly Twitter) @markfischetti

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