This week Levees.org founder Sandy Rosenthal is featured on Elizabeth Bachman’s show “Strategic Speaking for Results.”
This episode was Ms. Bachman’s selection to be the first guest of the year 2023.
Rosenthal discusses how she and her group Levees.org took on the organization responsible for the engineering design flaws in New Orleans’ levees –– the US Army Corps of Engineers
Replica of flooded home in New Orleans after the nearby London Avenue Canal breached in August 2005
Ten years ago, Hurricane Sandy’s storm surge flooded twenty-four US states, particularly New York and New Jersey.
Prior to landfall, the Associated Press reported that experts predicted a billion dollars in damage in the US. It turned out to be $43 billion (1).
Now, near the 10th anniversary of what is unofficially known as Superstorm Sandy, NBC Channel 4 TV in New York City devoted a 5-minute segment to address this question: “Why shouldn’t we be all protected?” (2)
This question is posed while observing that after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the US Army Corps of Engineers built a new system––including a massive regional surge barrier––in under eight years in Louisiana.
But for New York, and for New Jersey, the Corps is still debating the best approach to battle storm surge, ten years out.
Dr. J. David Rogers
Dr. J. David Rogers was recently awarded the Schuster Medal for his decades of work in geohazards (geologic conditions capable of causing widespread loss of property and life).
“Robert Schuster inspired me to deepen my involvement in the field,” says Rogers, the Karl F. Hasselmann Missouri Chair in Geological Engineering at Missouri S&T. “I want to help the world define problems and find solutions.”
Dr. Rogers is also a major Levees.org hero.
In 2015, Dr. Rogers was lead author in the eye-opening paper laying bare who was responsible for the levee breaches during Hurricane Katrina.
This watershed paper retracted wrong conclusions made in the initial levee investigation reports about what caused the levee failures during the 2005 storm.
The paper––published in the official journal of the World Council––describes how the levees failed mainly due to mistakes the Army Corps of Engineers made in the 1980s when interpreting the results of their levee load test study.
A story about the paper appeared in a front page above-the-fold New York Times story on Sunday May 24, 2015
Learn more about Dr. Rogers and the prestigious award.
