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Preparing for natural disasters is a long, multi-faceted process that requires years of planning, coordination, and direct action. Since 2005, Gulf Coast residents and planners, supported by the federal government, have taken important steps towards building hurricane resilience.
Adding storm shutters, elevating or flood-proofing homes and businesses, and restricting future development in the floodplain are the sorts of measures that are critical. But it is also important for local authorities to examine what areas are at greatest risk and how that risk can be mitigated.
In 2009, RAND researchers and collaborators from the Tulane University Institute on Water Resources Law and Policy and from Dillard University began a two-year research study, funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Sectoral Application Research Program (SARP). The purpose of the study was to develop a new approach for assessing hurricane flood risk in New Orleans under uncertainty and evaluating city-wide approaches for reducing this risk. This project received additional support and has been extended through 2012. It consists of three interrelated activities:
The project team worked directly with the Office of Homeland Security's Hazard Mitigation Branch to understand the risk mitigation options available to New Orleans and to identify the information to best support their objectives. In the second year of the project, team researchers engaged the public through interviews and workshops to understand the public perception of storm-surge flood risk, to provide recommendations for conveying information about risk mitigation programs.
Considers proposals to augment the existing flood-damage protection system in New Orleans with ''nonstructural'' risk mitigation programs focused on single-family homes.
David Groves, Principal Investigator
Henry Willis, Co-PI
Jordan Fischbach
Lauren Andrews
David R. Johnson, Pardee RAND Graduate School fellow
