Description

Exactly seven years after Katrina, Hurricane Isaac made landfall in New Orleans at the end of August 2012. This hurricane was of the lowest category (Cat 1) but pushed water high around the city. It was the first test case for the new flood defence system in which US$14 billion was invested after Katrina. The system passed this test well. An analysis afterwards shows that the damage and casualties would have been very substantial if the pre-Katrina levee system had still been in place. However, things did go wrong (again) south of New Orleans. There, the level of protection is much lower. Several tools were used during the storm that greatly improved storm surge forecasting. A good example is the hurricane atlas, which can be used to generate a picture of the expected storm surge water levels within a few minutes.

The presentation goes into detail about this storm and the lessons to be learned. This knowledge is also important for the Dutch situation. For example: in New Orleans, after Katrina, a lot of research was done on characterising hurricanes and translating these storm characteristics into water levels. Such an approach also offers prospects for the North Sea, as a recent graduation work shows

Speaker(s)

Dr.ir. Mathijs van Ledden (Royal HaskoningDHV, TU Delft) will discuss Hurricane Isaac and lessons learned. KIVI NIRIA and PS invite you to this lecture (incl. lunch).

Location

TU Delft, building CITG, Collegezaal G,

Stevinweg 1, 2628 CN Delft

Organiser

Construction and Hydraulic Engineering

Society "Practical Study

Name and contact details for information

For more information contact Leslie Mooyaart at the e-mail address below

leslie.mooyaart@rhdv.com