West Bank Hurricane Flood-Protection System

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

• What it takes to sustain the Westbank of New Orleans, including local drainage, hurricane-surge protection, and marine-navigation needs
• How federal, state, regional, and local government units work together to provide integrated drainage and flood-protection facilities and services to the New Orleans area
• Strategies for crafting resilience and sustainability in communities that lie at or below sea level

MORE SESSION DETAILS

The levees, post-Hurricane Katrina floodwalls, West Closure Complex (WCC) on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW), and the Harvey Canal provide the Westbank portions of Jefferson, Orleans, and Plaquemines parishes with a 100-year storm level of protection. The WCC is unique, filling three distinct roles. During non-storm times, it serves as a GIWW navigation structure. During storms, the sector gate is closed to marine traffic to provide storm-surge protection to the land area behind it. Finally, during storms the water area behind the closed gate becomes an intake basin for the world’s largest drainage-pumping station. See this state-of-the-art complex up close.