A National Research Council (NRC) review of the Army Corps of Engineers’ Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Technical Report — released in March 2008 — identified a number of “key weaknesses” in the study, according to the review summary.
Assumptions about landscape and coastal conditions, resident compliance with voluntary nonstructural programs, and lack of consideration for structural failure of levees and floodwalls are among the report problems cited by the NRC.
The NRC review, which outlines committee findings and recommendations for improvement, commended the Corps for recognizing the need for new ways to reduce risk in Coastal Louisiana and for its three-pronged approach — restoration, structural, and nonstructural — to reducing storm surge risk. The review is available online at the National Academies Press.
Jolie Breeden is the lead editor and science communicator for Natural Hazards Center publications. She writes and edits for Research Counts; the Quick Response, Mitigation Matters, Public Health, and Weather Ready Research Award report series; as well as for special projects and publications. Breeden graduated summa cum laude from the University of Colorado Boulder with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.