Katrina’s Aftermath

Here is some information cited in the October issue of Architectural Record and its current website.

Between 275,000 and 300,000 homes in the Gulf Coast region were totally destroyed, and about as many were damaged. The Lousiana Department of Economic Development has estimated that it will require about 5 billion board feet of lumber and 3 billion board feet of paneling (plywood, etc.) to reconstruct and repair the homes. They anticipate the reconstruction will not be complete until the end of 2008.

The Gulf Coast, and especially New Orleans, held thousands of historical buildings, and many of them have been destroyed or damaged. For example, the retirement home of Jefferson Davis in Biloxi, built in the 1850’s, was severely damaged. This is only one of about 250 buildings on the historic register that are affected.

The $30 million Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art, under construction in Biloxi, was partially destroyed when a floating casino barge came to rest on it.

The French Quarter in New Orleans escaped without significant damage because it was on high ground, but other historic areas in the city did not do so well. In fact, about ten historic districts were severely flooded. New Orleans has about 37,000 structures in its historic districts.

Tulane University was hard hit, canceling classes for this semester. The School of Architecture’s 350 students have enrolled in other universities who have offered to absorb them while allowing them to continue officially with Tulane University.

Architectural firms are struggling to survive. Many have relocated to Baton Rouge where other architectural firms are providing some with workspace.

Virtually overnight, Baton Rouge doubled in size from 400,000 to 800,000 as Gulf Coast residents moved in. All available homes for sale have been purchased, and the city is trying to find a way to make its infrastructure grow at a pace quick enough to absorb its overpopulation.

Work to restore the New Orleans Superdome is getting underway at a rapid pace. Construction on the Superdome began in 1971, took four years to build, and cost as much as $173 million (in comparison, the Houston Astrodome cost $35 million in 1965). The Superdome was once the worlds largest building, holding 100,000 spectators in a 125 million cubic foot space. The architectural firm of Ellerbe Becket (Kansas City) and three other architectural firms will mount a joint effort to design its reconstructive repairs at a cost of $125 million.

Louisiana’s Governor Kathleen Blanco is still calling for federal dollars to restore New Orleans to a “smarter, safer, strong” state, including making it safe from a category 5 hurricane. They are looking to the Netherlands for assistance in designing the city to be able to withstand another hit. The Netherlands, where about sixty percent of its land is below sea level, has recovered from severe floods that occurred in 1953, but at a severe cost in infrastructure and maintenance.

The local power company, Entergy New Orleans, Inc. said that Katrina cost the company between $1.1 and $1.4 billion, and that their rates may climb 140 percent, further affecting the cost of reconstruction.

Complete reconstruction of New Orleans is in doubt, although local officials are trying hard to gain the resources to do so. (Recent news reports state that there are only about 75,000 of 484,000 left in the city.)

Coming into another cycle of severe hurricanes, there are fears that the city will flood again. Pollution and mold left over from Katrina floods still remain to be cleaned up. Many businesses have closed or have reduced services, including the $2.7 billion fishing industry, supplying thirty percent of the nation’s seafood. Many residents, forced to relocate to other parts of the country, are settling into new lives and won’t want to return.

Should New Orleans be reconstructed? If so, who should pay for it? In my opinion, those areas that were flooded should not be rebuilt, especially at taxpayer’s expense. A battle of this nature with nature simply isn’t winnable.