DisastersWater level gauges failed during Hurricane Isaac
As Hurricane Isaac beat down on New Orleans, the damage it caused was nowhere near as severe as that of Katrina, but it lasted longer than most people expected and for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it provided a field test of a multi-billion dollar investment in flood protection
As Hurricane Isaac beat down on New Orleans, the damage it caused was nowhere near as severe as that of Katrina, but it lasted longer than most people expected and for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it provided a field test of a multi-billion dollar investment in flood protection.
“Isaac gave us I think more of a workout than we thought initially, and we saw some significant surge.” Ray Newman, the Corps’ 17th Street Canal captain told WVUE.
The Corps admits that there were some problems with the sensors placed at the 17th Street Canal, sensors which have a critical role in a storm. “When we close the gates to stop the surge from the outside [of the floodgates] from coming in to these inner walls, the outfall canal walls, then the level on the inside is generally lower than the outside.” Newman said.
According to information provided to WVUE bythe Corps, nine gauges at the outfall canals malfunctioned at some point and another malfunctioned at the Seabrook, but the Corps would not say whetherthat gauge had the same problems as the other nine.
According to Newman, during the storm the sensors experienced brief outages. “They would come and go some of them, you know, lose them for just a minute at a time and then they were right back,” Newman said.
For Tim Doody, president of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority, this is unacceptable.
“If we don’t have instruments that we can rely on, we’re getting bad information and we’re potentially sending out our employees to verify the information that we think we’re receiving.” Doody told WVUE.
The water level in the canal should remain at six and a half feet or lower according to the Corps, but at one point during Isaac, there was a flawed reading of eight feet. The Corps insiststhat the sensor malfunction never put the community in danger.
”Were ready to do whatever it took to maintain the safe canal level.” Newman said.
Doody saidthat the Flood Authority needs the best information available during a storm. “We need to be provided the same information that the corps is receiving,” Doody stated.
Newman said an investigation by the Corps revealed that some gauges were place too low, but placing them to high could cause issues with their stability during a storm. Now the Corps is looking at getting additional gauges with new technology.
