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The US Army Corps Engineering (USACE) is advising the decision-makers in the area about the risks that the area is running. “We may be evacuated over the next few days. At the moment there are predictions that the storm will end up to the west of New Orleans. Hopefully the damage will remain limited,” says Mathijs van Ledden, resident project manager.

Royal Haskoning has been working on the instructions of the US Army Corps of Engineers on the reconstruction of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina right from the start (2006). Royal Haskoning consultants and engineers are using computer models to calculate flooding risks and in so doing are contributing to greater safety for the city.

“The USACE was tasked by Congress to provide the city with protection against a storm with a chance of 1% a year in 2011. The programme for this is costing 15 billion dollars and at this moment 20% of the project has been completed. A great deal more still has to happen, particularly to the east of the city, in order to provide the promised protection against floods, such as the building of a storm surge barrier. This is the largest design and build project in American history and the estimated costs of the barrier amount to approximately 700 million dollars,” explains Van Ledden.

Mrs Pam Taylor, Van Ledden’s neighbour is really concerned, ‘”ver the past few years the USACE primarily tackled the places where it went wrong. But the next time it can go wrong in other places. It’s a system and a system is as weak as the weakest link,” she says. “Luckily you Dutch are here to make the city really safe against flooding.”

The organization recently received a new order to investigate the effectiveness of compartmentalization of the Orleans Metro Polder. This new task is aimed at limiting the damage should, despite everything, things threaten to go wrong. “In the first instance we’re studying the use of raised railway lines that pass through the city and that could act as inner dykes. In the event of a dyke failure they could ensure that the entire polder does not end up underwater,” says project manager Mathijs van Ledden. A flooding model developed by Delft University of Technology is being used for this. The university’s expertise is also being called upon to assist in the calculation work and a review. The first results of the scouting calculations are scheduled for the end of October.