[StBernard] Katrina's Mark on Technology

[Westley Annis]

>From the pages of Design News


Katrina's Mark on Technology 
John Dodge, Editor-in-Chief -- 11/5/2007
 
As a boy growing up, hurricanes were more exciting than terrifying. One I
recall quite vividly was Hurricane Carol, which ripped through New England
on Aug. 30, 1954, the day before my fifth birthday. My major concern was
that my birthday party would be postponed, which it was. Waiting 24 or 48
hours is an eternity for a 5 year old.

By no means does this anecdote mean to trivialize the powerful impact of a
hurricane like Katrina, which caused pain, suffering and dislocation that
remains widespread as the second, and relatively quiet, 2007 hurricane
season since draws to a close. Katrina reached Category 5 intensity while
Carol was only a Category 3, although I remember a lot of trees snapped off
at their trunks.

Think how much more devastating Katrina and the aftermath would have been
without mobile phones and wireless communications. There would have been
many more casualties. In 1954, wireless communication was largely confined
to police cars, fire trucks, cabs and the military.

At the same time, bad technology in the form of poorly built levees and a
76-mile shipping shortcut to the Gulf of Mexico was blamed for much of the
inundation in New Orleans and St. Bernard Parish along the Mississippi
River. Today, the population in St. Bernard Parish is a quarter of what it
was before Katrina.

Much of the flooding was caused by the man-made waterway known as MRGO
(Mississippi River Gulf Outlet) for which the Army Corps of Engineers has
recommended closure. The residents of St. Bernard Parish call it the
"Hurricane Highway" from the funnel effect it created that overwhelmed New
Orleans and its drainage canals. Heading north, Katrina passed directly
overhead, pushing a 25-ft wall of water up the MRGO straight to St. Bernard
Parish and New Orleans.

So, we shouldn't paint all technology with the same positive brush. Some is
good and some is bad although it's impossible to say what would have
precisely happened if MRGO didn't exist.

Here's the good. Maintaining a viable wireless and mobile phone network
capable of handling surges and surviving natural disasters is a life saver.
A practical and swift evacuation plan saves lives. Pumps, such as the ones
described in Joe Ogando's story, that can outrun Mother Nature are critical.
Indeed, those pumps needed a lot of engineering.

But sometimes, it's best to not do anything. In 1956, Congress OK'd MRGO in
the name of efficiency and national defense. Work started in 1958 and it was
completed 10 years later. It has been nothing short of an ecological and
economic disaster. On May 19, the Army Corps announced it would close MRGO
as the best thing to do "economically and environmentally." In 2000, the
national census pegged St. Bernard Parish's population at 67,229. On July 1,
it had declined by 76.9 percent. Only two homes in the parish were spared by
the 5 to 12 ft of standing rat and snake-infested water.

In the main, technology is crucial to not only surviving a hurricane like
Katrina, but also to quickly returning to a normal life post-storm. New
materials create stronger homes. Wireless keeps us in touch with rescuers.
And levees, flood gates and massive pumps can keep homes dry. Most of the
time, technology helps, but not always. One thing we can count on is that
there will be more Katrinas.

Write me at john.dodge at reedbusiness.com or visit my blog Design Engineering
at Large.