Impact of Hurricanes on Buried Infrastructure Networks - A Case History

Hurricane Katrina brought the most severe flooding in modern US history, including the submergence of the city of New Orleans, a one million strong major metropolitan area. At present, there are no proven tools for assessing the damage sustained by buried infrastructure networks due to a hurricane or a flood. The paper describes the findings from a fourteen month study of the impact of Hurricanes and other flooding mechanisms on buried infrastructure systems. The study involved the development of an electronic database of detailed pipe damage data collected from six cities along the Mississippi and Louisiana coastal area, detailing the extent and distribution of damages to their buried pipe systems, and involved 25 municipal engineers, administrators, contractors and GIS analysts. A literature review of difficulties encountered during the recovery process in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew and the 1997 Red River flood is followed by case histories for three Louisiana's cities - Slidell, Covington and Lake Charles (the former two were impacted by Hurricane Katrina while the latter by Hurricane Rita). The paper is concluded with a discussion of non-traditional damage mechanisms associated with hurricanes identified in the course of this study and potential mitigation measures to alleviate their adverse impact on buried infrastructure systems.