The Storm What Went Wrong and Why During Hurricane Katrina--the Inside Story from One Louisiana Scientist

by van Heerden, Ivor; Bryan, Mike

• ISBN13: 9780670037810
• ISBN10: 0670037818
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-05-18
• Publisher: Viking Adult

Summary

The ultimate inside story: how bureaucracy, politics, and a disregard of science combined to cripple—perhaps forever—a great American city As deputy director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center, Ivor van Heerden had for years been warning state and local officials about New Orleans’s vulnerability to flooding. But like Cassandra’s, his predictions were ignored—until Hurricane Katrina hit on August 29, 2005. Suddenly, van Heerden found himself at the center of a media maelstrom. Stepping forward to challenge the official version of events, he revealed the truth about the city’s shoddy levee construction.Now, in The Storm, van Heerden shares up-to-the-minute reporting from his investigations and connects the dots among the Army Corps of Engineers, the bureaucrats, the politicians, and the chain of events—both natural and human—that culminated in catastrophe. An epic of cutting- edge science and systemic bureaucratic failure, The Stormis the first book from a major player in the Katrina disaster and a riveting narrative that brings expertise, passion, and a human viewpoint to America’s greatest natural disaster.

Author Biography

Ivor van Heerden, a native of South Africa, is deputy director, LSU Hurricane Center; director, Center for the Study of Public Health Impacts of Hurricanes; and associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at LSU.

Mike Bryan, a native Texan, is the author of the bestselling Cal Ripken autobiography, The Only Way I Know, along with many other books.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION: DISASTER, TRAGEDY, FAILURE-AND HOPE	1	(210)
1. STORM CLOUDS	13	(20)
2. LEAVE, PLEASE!	33	(22)
3. LAUGHED OUT OF THE ROOM	55	(18)
4. LEVEES LITE	73	(26)
5. THE SECOND-WORST-CASE SCENARIO	99	(10)
6. INTO THE BREACH	109	(28)
7. IS ANYONE IN CHARGE HERE?	137	(16)
8. WETLANDS FOREVER	153	(34)
9. THE SCORE ON THE CORPS	187	(24)
10. THE INVESTIGATION	211	(39)
11. NOW OR NEVER	250	(41)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	291	(4)
RERENCES AND RESOURCES	295	(2)
INDEX	297