Hurricane Katrina

pallets of green oil barrels stacked

Biden Orders Release from Strategic Petroleum Reserve: What's the Emergency?

The purpose of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is to maintain oil flow to refineries during national emergencies when oil supplies are disrupted. What national emergency prompted President Biden to order the release of 50 million barrels?

November 29, 2021 - CNBC

New Orleans

Post-Katrina Programs a Blueprint for Housing the Working Class

The housing initiatives developed after Hurricane Katrina teach valuable lessons for post-pandemic affordable housing production.

September 7, 2021 - NOLA.com

Louisiana Wetlands

New Orleans Convent to Become Large Urban Wetland

Hurricane Katrina damaged a Catholic convent in New Orleans. Then the nuns spearheaded a project to transform the land into a wetland area that will protect the city from flooding in the future.

January 22, 2020 - Changing America

Levee flooding New Orleans

Report: $14 Billion New Orleans Flood System, Completed Less Than a Year Ago, Already Obsolete

The Army Corps of Engineers is already assessing the needs of repair work on a project it completed in May 2018 at the cost of $14 billion.

April 22, 2019 - E&E News

Hurricane Katrina Rebuilding

Gentrification in Post-Katrina New Orleans

An analysis of New Orleans before and after Hurricane Katrina shows that the neighborhoods most damaged were also the most likely to gentrify.

February 19, 2019 - CityLab

Pumping Station 2

Hurricane Nate to Test New Orlean's Drainage System

Nate will make landfall southeast of New Orleans on Saturday night as possibly a category 2 hurricane after leaving at least 22 dead in Central America. It's not so much the levees but the pumps and generators that have city officials worried.

October 8, 2017 - The New York Times

A Hurricane Response Lesson: Disrupt the Cycle of Futility

How do we disrupt the cycle of rebuilding things exactly as they were before—if slightly hardened—after increasingly powerful weather events?

September 8, 2017 - PlaceShakers

Getting Raised in Gentilly, Loisiana

Louisiana Dials Back Requirements for Elevating Homes in Flood Areas

Housing market pressures, flood insurance costs, changing FEMA maps, and improved methods of flood control are giving victims of flood damage in Louisiana mixed signals on how high they should rebuild their homes.

September 22, 2016 - The Advocate (Louisiana)

New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina

Unexpected Good News for Children Arises from an Environmental Devastation

Hurricane Katrina may have devastated much of New Orleans, but in its wake, literally, unexpected good work was done. Clean sediment was deposited over lead-contaminated soil, one reason why lead levels in children decreased.

July 28, 2016 - The Times Picayune

New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina

New Flood Maps Downplay Risks in New Orleans

Recently released flood maps created by FEMA for the city of New Orleans are receiving criticism for being 'overly optimistic' when it comes to risks posed by hurricanes and rising sea levels.

June 3, 2016 - The New York Times

Michigan Governor Finds Himself at Center of Flint Water Crisis

A case is made that Gov. Rick Snyder's handling of the lead-tainted water in Flint, Michigan is analogous to former President George W. Bush's bungling of the crisis resulting after Hurricane Katrina touched-down on the Gulf coast in August 2005.

January 14, 2016 - MSNBC

FEMA Trailer

The Katrina Cottage Legacy

The New Urbanist Katrina Cottages initiative for the Gulf Coast appeared to be a failure but their legacy lives on in the SmartDwellings and in the Tiny House movement.

September 20, 2015 - Original Green

Hopes for Restoring New Orleans-Florida Amtrak Service Pinned on Transportation Bill

Included in the draft version of the DRIVE Act: funding to study the restoration of Amtrak's Sunset Limited route along the Gulf Coast until Hurricane Katrina.

September 1, 2015 - The Hill

'New Orleans Saved Itself': Cutting-Edge Community Planning Post-Katrina

Ten years ago, a number of architecture firms went to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina for a humanitarian "experiment"—rebuilding part of the underserved Lower Ninth Ward as an innovative, LEED Platinum, affordable community.

August 28, 2015 - The Planning Report

New Orleans Streetcar

Two Narratives Collide in Post-Katrina New Orleans

“A narrative of rebirth, reform and success that coexists with a narrative of stasis, failure and unrealized dreams.”

August 28, 2015 - The New York Times

Evacuation

What We Didn't Learn From Katrina

Cities are immensely complex self-organizing systems, not mere top-down designs—but they do need top-down interventions in strategic places. Unfortunately, we still have inadequate models and tools.

August 28, 2015 - Michael Mehaffy

Remember That Katrina Cottages Thing? Whatever Happened to That?

Katrina Cottages held such great promise 10 years ago, as an alternative to FEMA trailers. But a host of roadblocks stood in the way. After a decade, has the tiny house time arrived?

August 11, 2015 - PlaceShakers

Katrina 'Ten Years After': and the Band Plays On

The 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is upon us. Many of us city planners invested whatever skills we thought we had, plus a heavy dose of passionate naivete, to recovery planning in the wake of the 2005 storm.

August 7, 2015 - PlaceShakers

New Orleans Aerial

New Orleans Public Housing in Decade-Long Stall

In the aftermath of Katrina, President Obama's Choice Neighborhoods initiative promised thousands of new affordable units. But so far the Housing Authority of New Orleans hasn't proved up to the task.

July 6, 2015 - Next City

The Conservative Method of Resilience Planning

Explaining how planning and building for resilience reconciles with Conservative politics.

April 20, 2015 - City Journal

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