Engineers to address Hurricane Katrina and the future of New Orleans

In the wake of the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, a professor of mechanical engineering at Tulane University does not want the disastrous event to slip from the national consciousness.

Robert G. Watts will lead a discussion forum titled "Environmental and Other Issues in a Post-Katrina New Orleans," on Nov. 8, at the Chicago Hilton. The forum, featuring analysis and commentary from engineers as well as officials overseeing the rebuilding efforts in New Orleans, will be held in conjunction with the 2006 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition.

Robert G. Watts

"I sense that the American people wish to move on from Hurricane Katrina. However, there exist major environmental, engineering, urban planning and socioeconomic issues in New Orleans," said Watts, who ranks the devastation brought by Katrina on a scale of Hiroshima in the aftermath of the Allied bombings in World War II.

In the panel discussion beginning at 9:30 a.m., participants will look back on the calamity of Aug. 29, 2005, and assess the structural failings and other conditions that allowed surging storm water to flood 80 percent of New Orleans, wiping out entire neighborhoods and killing hundreds of residents.

The panelists will also report on the progress of the rebuilding efforts in New Orleans, some of which Watts believes are shortsighted. "The local officials are shoring up the retaining walls by placing the support pilings deeper. However, these walls are not really designed to withstand a storm surge of the magnitude of Katrina," Watts noted.

He believes a better approach, albeit costly, is to build bigger and stronger levees. Other strategies to protect New Orleans against floodwaters, according to Watts, include reclaiming the wetlands on the fringes of the city and closing the city's Mississippi River outlet.

Watts also believes that New Orleans' vibrant diversity and culture will return in full. "New Orleans is a great city," he said. "When New Orleans establishes a coordinated plan for reconstruction, the city and all its character and charm will return."

The ASME Congress will open on Nov. 5 and feature more than 2,300 presentations on new advances in manufacturing, energy, aerospace, and a range of other subjects in the field of engineering.

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