[StBernard] ASCE report

[Westley Annis]

My appreciate of the ASCE press release regarding the MRGO is that the Corps
computers indicated that for a storm surge as massive as Katrina, the water
rolling in was so supersized that it inundated everything. I can visualize a
model that could show it to be like a groove in sidewalk that if you flood
the sidewalk completed, the water doesn't know the groove is there. I have
heard people who were here before, during and after Katrina, including the
parish president, say that the water was coming in from levee to levee the
Sunday night before the storm and there was no MRGO channel visible at that
point. 

But MOST important is that ASCE says that for storm surges less than
Katrina, the MRGO and other waterways can influence the flood pattern. I
would have to see the assumptions in the computer model to agree or disagree
with the COE 's statement that the MRGO makes a six inch difference in storm
surge for a small storm. I would need to know what the wind speed, path,
duration, size, forward speed of the storm was and what were the assumptions
regarding the "triangle" or "funnel" when the MRGO merges with the
Intracoastal Waterway Canal before I could comment.

Computer models only produce output based on given input and I am not
knowledgeable about the input criteria. One year, when I have time to read
the 7,000 page report, then I might feel qualified to comment. ddk