Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Miami. However, Katrina has shown that it is the failure of structural protection
systems that causes great disasters.
Non-structural safeguards to restore wetlands and barrier islands and protect
against coastal erosion are at the heart of the strategy of the Coastal Protection and
Restoration Authority of the state of Louisiana, as they are for the Mississippi
Coastal Improvement Program (MSCIP) in neighboring Mississippi which was also
heavily damaged by Katrina. Such protections, however, cannot be substituted for
the HPS as costs are high and lead times for the safeguards to become effective are
very long. These protections are essentially part of a broader strategy advocated in
most coastal protection programs calling for “multiple lines of defense”.
Urban planning offers a third alternative: make floodplains non-constructible and
purchase exposed property as part of a strategy of planned retreat to anticipate
coastal submersion as a result of climate change. From an economic point of view,
this would be the most rational choice for less densely populated areas which,
according to Titus, represent 85% of the US coastline [TIT 91]. This is the solution
advocated by the Army Corps of Engineers for parts of the neighboring Mississippi
coastline. The publication, in October 2007, of a master plan showing “potential
buy-out areas” covering approximately 17,000 buildings generated significant
controversy. Despite the scientific explanations, coastal communities oppose a
project that would, in their view, threaten their municipal tax base and precipitate
economic decline. Populations established in the targeted sectors complain that the
plan was published too late. After having struggled for over two years to rebuild
their lives, they feel it is too late to consider a buy-out proposal. Many hope that a
storm like Katrina, with its record 8.5 meter storm surge at Pass Christian, will not
happen again in the coming decades. As in New Orleans, the strategy of planned
retreat for areas at risk confronts solid resistance from concerned parties.
