A city in ruins

A storm surge of up to 30 feet (nine meters), fierce winds clocking in at 127 miles per hour (204 kilometers per hour) and plummeting barometric pressure served notice of the storm's deadly intent. After touching down in Buras, Katrina headed northward toward New Orleans, Louisiana, some 60 miles (97 kilometers) away. But just as it reached the city's edge, the hurricane veered east, sparing the storied city a direct hit. It seemed as though New Orleans had dodged a bullet—until the waters of the Mississippi River began to rise, crushing the city's levees and floodwalls. In the end, 80 percent of New Orleans was submerged.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Mother Nature delivered a one-two punch. Less than a month later, Hurricane Rita, the third-largest storm in U.S. history, made landfall on the border between the neighboring U.S. states of Louisiana and Texas.

Already stretched thin, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi Valley Division had another crisis on its hands.

“The circumstances were extraordinary,” says Michael Park, deputy director, Task Force Hope, the program charged with restoring New Orleans. “The time constraint to execute what needed to be done was a huge departure from what is common in public works projects. No agency could have been prepared for the destruction caused by those hurricanes.”

CALL TO ACTION

The corps set to work, launching Task Force Hope within four days after Katrina. The federal plan divided recovery operations into three programs based on geographical and functional considerations: the Louisiana Recovery Field Office, Task Force Unwatering and Task Force Guardian.

The project task list included:

• Pumping or draining 250 billion gallons (946 billion liters) of water—a process known as unwatering—from New Orleans
• Removing about 28 million cubic yards (21.4 million cubic meters) of debris from the city and along the Gulf Coast
• Repairing and restoring 220 miles (354 kilometers) of levees and flood-walls to at least pre-Katrina levels

The team was also charged with rebuilding floodgates, upgrading the hurricane-protection system in the greater New Orleans area, restoring navigation along the Mississippi River and supporting the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

“The challenge to tackle all that was nothing short of phenomenal,” says Mr. Park.

Throughout the recovery, the corps also had to make sure the public and the media—which were scrutinizing every move—were kept abreast of the rebuilding effort's progress.

“We were committed to being transparent, and it was the right thing to do,” says Walter Baumy, chief of engineering for the New Orleans district and senior civilian at Task Force Guardian. “But it was intensive in terms of eating up resources and time. We were already working unbelievably long hours.”

The team was also racking up quite a bill—US$3.7 billion in Louisiana alone, including US$2.6 billion for debris removal, repairs, temporary replacement of public structures and installation of temporary roofing; US$84 million for unwatering; and US$1 billion to repair the levees.

The first order of business had to be the closure of more than 50 breaches in the levees and floodwalls. At the same time, though, the corps had to get rid of the water from inundated areas so that normal hurricane-recovery operations could begin. That was the job of Task Force Unwatering.

Corps engineers recognized that the New Orleans district team knew the pumping systems, the area and local contractors better than anyone else. So the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board staff took over the basin operations and permanent pump stations.

Seven senior project managers from the corps became the voice of the organization for each local manager. Teams from Little Rock, Arkansas, USA and Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA as well as specialists from the Netherlands and Germany were brought in to assist with specific problem areas, such as hospital basements or highway underpasses.

ALL IN A DAY'S WORK

PHOTO COURTESY OF U.S. ARMY CORPS
OF ENGINEERS–TEAM NEW ORLEANS

TRACKING THE STORM

Draining the floodwater quickly was essential to protecting public health and safety. When Hurricane Katrina first hit, the corps originally predicted water removal would take six months. That date was revised to 60 days. And the team managed to complete the job in just 45.

“We used any pump we could acquire, and we did whatever we could to get the water out,” says Mr. Park.

At the same time, the Army National Guard flew in six Blackhawk and two Chinook helicopters. Crews ran daily operations to drop an average of 600 sandbags weighing 7,000 pounds (3,175 kilograms) on gaps in the breaches. Sandbagging operations ran 24 hours a day for 10 days, and the breaches were closed by 10 September 2005, only two weeks after Hurricane Katrina blew into town.

Meanwhile, the Recovery Field Office was carrying out its mandate to remove debris, distribute water, restore power and install temporary roofs. Debris removal was a major concern because of numerous reports of hazardous materials and toxic waste contamination throughout the New Orleans area. A quality-management team segregated debris into common groups with hazardous materials identified and stored separately.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIPEDIA

Task Force Guardian was gathering momentum, too. The operation's primary function was to return the region's hurricane-protection system to its pre-storm protection level through a massive rebuilding effort. And the staff of 270 had to get the job done before the official kickoff of the next hurricane season on 1 June. The job required managing hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts with dozens of vendors and then coordinating the effort with numerous U.S. federal agencies—FEMA, the Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency, for example—and state and local governments.

The team faced other trials as well. Contracts had to be put out for bids and contractors hired. Task Force Guardian also had to obtain permission from local governments and secure support from local stakeholders to close the canals during construction, according to Mr. Baumy.

Then, there was the issue of construction.

“We had to question all our design criteria and essentially establish new criteria,” says Mr. Baumy.

In the end, excavation work for rebuilding the levees took about 5.5 million cubic yards (4.2 million cubic meters) of soil. The new levees were built with erosion-resistant clay, and a more stable wall formation was employed in floodwall construction. Levee system repairs were finished by mid-January 2006 and by the following June, pre-storm flood and storm-level protection was restored, with a few minor exceptions. From planning to construction, Task Force Guardian spent eight months accomplishing what would have normally taken a decade, according to the corps’ estimates.

The time constraint to execute what needed to be done was a huge departure from what is common in public works projects. No agency could have been prepared for the destruction caused by those hurricanes.

—Michael Park, Task Force Hope, New Orleans, Lousiana, USA

Outside the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans

PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIPEDIA

The total number of people involved in the Hurricane Katrina recovery effort was staggering. By the corps’ estimate, more than 10,000 workers, including the corps and numerous other government organizations, supported Task Force Hope alone. At the peak of the recovery efforts, more than 10 percent of the entire corps—approximately 8,000 employees—were engaged in Task Force Hope, with staff from as far away as Korea and Japan joining the team.

“We could never have executed the mission with the resources of the New Orleans district alone,” says Mr. Park. “It was a total team effort by the entire organization.” PM