[StBernard] Levee Design

[Westley Annis]

Deborah Keller wrote:
 
Also a factor in levee height is wave run up. In some geographic areas 
the Corps assumes that the water will be still, such as an inland 
canal, and in other areas there would be a wind driven wave running up 
the bankline or shoreline, so the levee protection has to be a little 
higher to take that into account and stronger to take the force of 
impact from a wave.

As a civil engineer, I'd prefer if we would all stop talking about 
categories of Saffir-Simpson and be specific about the actual design 
central pressure, max. sustained wind speed, storm surge, wind 
pressure, STORM PATH, and SPEED OF THE STORM ACROSS THE AREA.

Also, the creators of Saffir-Simpson said after Katrina, that these 
were approximations and that perhaps they need to re-think the numbers 
that fall in each category. In other words, maybe a Cat 3 storm 
produces storm surges greater t han 18 feet.

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Ms Keller,
 
Don't know if you saw the article on nola.com about the levees at Michoud
and how those levees worked during the storm at that NASA facility.
 
Speaking as an engineer, do you think it was more the "armoring" of the
levees there or the ability to have working pumps and operators that kept
those pumps going?
 
We know there is no money in the budget for the armoring of the levees on
the St. Bernard side.  All we're gonna get is what we had before.  That
being said,  I think the more professionals we can get to voice an opinion
on this might better serve our argument that we need this done on the St.
Bernard side also.
 
Jim York
jaywhy321 at yahoo.com