NEW ORLEANS – One week after metro New Orleans, defined as the area between the 17th Street Canal and the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal (IHNC; also known locally as the Industrial Canal), reached the 100-year level of risk reduction, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today achieved another major Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System (HSDRRS) milestone with the achievement of the 100-year level risk reduction in New Orleans East. The entire east bank of Orleans Parish can now defend against a storm surge event that has a one percent chance of occurring in any given year, or a 100-year storm surge event.
“The levee along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) between the CSX Railroad crossing and the Michoud Canal was the final hurricane system project to be structurally completed on the Orleans Parish east bank,” said Col. Robert Sinkler, commander of the Corps’ Hurricane Protection Office. “We worked closely with our contractors and partners to ensure the city’s east bank could have the 100-year level of risk reduction this hurricane season.”
"The completion of the 100-year risk reduction system for the east bank of New Orleans represents a significant milestone in helping protect our citizens from a catastrophic storm surge," said New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu. "We are pleased with our partnership with the Corps of Engineers as we have worked with them during every step of this project to ensure that New Orleanians are safe as we prepare for the beginning of the 2011 hurricane season."
Construction work in New Orleans East consisted of constructing new concrete floodwalls and vehicle floodgates and raising the existing levee along the lakefront between the IHNC and Southpoint (near Irish Bayou); constructing a new railroad gate and raising and widening the existing levee on the eastern side of New Orleans East between Southpoint and the GIWW; and raising the existing levee and constructing new floodwall along the GIWW to where the risk reduction system ties into the IHNC-Lake Borgne Surge Barrier.
The total construction value for the levees, floodwalls and gates in New Orleans East area was approximately $650 million. Elevations in New Orleans East range from 16 feet above sea level along the lakefront to 28 feet above sea level along the eastern and southern portions. Approximately 4.9 million cubic yards of clay material was incorporated into the levees bordering the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge.
Release no. 11-050