Rebekah+N

=Projects =

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Ecological Restoration Project
On August 29, 2005 a the most destructive natural disaster in North American history surprised many Americans as it ripped open the deep Cajun south city, New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina was a ferocious category 3 hurricane when it hit the coast of the lower U.S.; in the end it cost over $200 billion in property damage and displaced 4 million people. will be forever remembered and considered whenever hurricane threats are near other parts of the country. There were many engineering and governmental decisions that made Katrina such a horrific storm. 

The basic engineering problems dealt with the levees. They had not been properly evaluated since the mid 1900s and they were built from information released in 1929. The height of the city and the levees in the mid 1900s may have well been tall enough to keep out a category 3 hurricane, but as New Orleans grew and groaned, the city sunk down into the ground. The levees were up to 1.5 meters too short in some areas of the city when Hurricane Katrina hit. Had the levees been properly evaluated years before, or even when the storm was close by, many homes and lives would’ve been saved.  

The Army Corps of Engineers had been seeking governmental policy change several years before Katrina hit. Their proposed legislation involved the construction of five different projects for the sake of saving wetland ecosystems. New Orleans is located in the middle of a coastal wetland! The Corps proposed $1.1 billion be given to the creation of these projects so that no only wildlife could be preserved, but also cities. The government did not even look at the legislation until years later, after Katrina and Rita had harmed America’s coast line.

The restoration of hurricane Katrina was a slow going process, like all disaster relief programs. There was a lot of debris and trash to remove before rebuilding could begin. The restoration began as soon as the waters receded, but as in most situations, the funds to clean up this mess of a city were lacking. It took months to get the proper funding into contractors’ and the Corp’s hands but while they were suffering from fund mismanagement, several humanitarian organizations, such as The Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity, started to work cleaning up New Orleans. But as well as helping the inhabitants of New Orleans, many organizations focused on the ecological effects of the storm as well. One such program is the Caernavon Diversion which is building a series of structures on the south bank of the MI River east of New Orleans. The project includes using culverts to divert water from the MI River so that wetlands can be rebuilt; this is costing them $4.5 million. On top of wet land destruction, there were many trees and fauna that were destroyed which disrupted the carbon cycle especially and many species of fish and birds were displaced because of the waters. There were also barrier reefs off the coast that were completely destroyed with the passing of Katrina and killed lots of ocean life and habitat. As with any storm, the cleanliness of water is always an extremely important issue therefore that was also heavily focused on; they also had to remove salt water and salt water residue and restore clean drinking water to the city. By June 2006, less than a year later, New Orleans was in much better shape, hosting conventions, tourism, and wildlife once again. 

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