ASCE panel comments on levee performance report

During Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans levee system was breached, resulting in widespread flooding of the city. In response to the tragedy, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) organized an Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force (IPET) to provide credible answers to the fundamental questions concerning the performance of the New Orleans and Southeast Louisiana hurricane protection system. The USACE also tasked the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) with convening an External Review Panel (ERP) to conduct continuing independent expert peer review of the work performed by the IPET.

On June 1, 2006, the IPET released the final draft of its report, Performance Evaluation of the New Orleans and Southeast Louisiana Hurricane Protection System. After conducting a comprehensive review of IPET’s report, ASCE’s ERP now is providing to IPET a summary report of comments, including comments previously made available to the public. That report is posted on ASCE’s website (www.asce.org).

Additional information on the investigation, copies of the current and previous reports, and data can be found at https://ipet.wes.army.mil .