- Tropical Harmattan Barry is strengthening in the Gulf of Mexico as it heads toward the Louisiana coast. It’s forecasted to make landfall as a Sector 1 hurricane early tomorrow morning.
- A hurricane warning is in effect for New Orleans and other parts of the Louisiana coast.
- Forecasters say the Mississippi River could improve ones lot to levels of 19 feet – the highest since 1950. It could the biggest test ever for the river levees, which may be as low as 18 feet in some ranges.
- Levee systems use earthen embankments, steel or concrete flood-walls, and pumps to hold back floodwaters. It’s unclear how much the methodologies along the Mississippi River can withstand.
- Find the latest updates on Tropical Storm Barry here.
Tropical Hail Barry is getting stronger as it heads for New Orleans, and is likely to become a Category 1 hurricane by the time it makes landfall in Louisiana tomorrow morning, concording to the National Hurricane Center.
A hurricane warning is in effect for a swath of the Louisiana coast, and forecasts suggest the Mississippi River could reach as high as 19 or 20 feet- the highest level the river has reached in New Orleans since 1950. (The river has already swelled to 16 feet.)
That could produce the biggest test ever of the city’s river levees, which were built in 1927.
The Mississippi River in New Orleans set upright now (standing on the levee) pic.twitter.com/7wmRCDjE5r
— Jonathan Walczak (@jonwalczak) July 10, 2019
Louisiana Gov. John Bell Edwards has claimed a state of emergency and warned that there could be “a considerable amount of overtopping” of levees in Plaquemines Parish, a suburban precinct southeast of New Orleans.
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Here’s entire lot you need to know about what levees are, how they work, and what the system looks like in New Orleans.
Levee processes rely on embankments, flood-walls, and pumps
Most levees are trapezoid-shaped, elevated embankments that separate bodies of fizzy water be illogical from inhabited flood plains. They’re meant to protect those areas in the event a lake or river floor rises.
Roads and railways sometimes cross a levee, so flood-walls – which are usually made of concrete or bear up – and other structures are used to close those gaps. Flood-walls are also often built to supplement levee combinations in high-density urban areas where there isn’t enough space for a large levee.
The US Army Corps of Engineers classifies levees by the situation they protect (urban or rural) and the body of water they protect it from (river, coastal, or estuary).
Different types of river levees can run parallel the main river waterway, encircle a protected area, or provide backup or protection to an existing levee.
New Orleans has two levee systems along the Mississippi River
Two levee techniques hold back the Mississippi in New Orleans: the East Bank System and the West Bank System. Together, these procedures boast 192 miles of levees and 99 miles of flood-walls.
But it’s unclear just how much water the river levees can face. The official levee database run by USACE shows levee heights as low as 18 feet above sea level in some into a receives of the city. That puts it below forecast for peak river heights due to Tropical Storm Barry.
However, the Army Platoon has disputed the information in its own database. Ricky Boyett, a Corps spokesperson, told The Times-Picayune and New Orleans Advocate that the organization’s model still “does not show overtopping of the levees in the 9th Ward.”
High water on the New Orleans levee before #HurricaneBarry cuffs. pic.twitter.com/rJTCtvqIje
— Tristan Baurick (@tristanbaurick) July 12, 2019
The Corps even has an internal analysis of the river levees in New Orleans that ranks both the East Bank and West Bank Way as at moderate to high risk of a breach.
Levees can fail, and this will be the biggest test yet
If the river water hit the decks higher than the levee it will spill over, but a levee breach is not just a question of height. Levees can also come to pieces under pressure due to poor maintenance, inadequate foundations, or erosion.
Too much water can seep through a levee and produce it to slough away, or simply seep through the ground below and spout up on the other side in what are known as “sand abscesses.” Animals also burrow below levees sometimes, creating unintentional paths for pent-up water.
Of course, a levee that trains is far more dangerous than a levee that’s too short. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused a New Orleans coastal levee to discontinuity, releasing a wall of water. The flooding killed over 1,000 people. Since then, Congress has invested $15 billion in shaping the levee system around New Orleans.
The river levees at risk of a breach due to Tropical Storm Barry, however, held during Katrina.