TEXTILES.ORG
August 29, 2005, was K-Day for New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina had been ginning up for days off the Bahamas and Gulf of Mexico. By the evening of the 28th, she had the Crescent City in her crosshairs.
Early morning on the 29th, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States. When the storm made landfall, it had a Category 3 rating, with sustained winds of 100–140 miles per hour, stretching across some 400 miles.
The storm itself did a great deal of damage, but its aftermath was catastrophic. Levee breaches led to massive flooding, and many people charged that the federal government was slow to meet the needs of the people affected by the storm. Hundreds of thousands of people in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama were displaced from their homes, and experts estimate that Katrina caused more than $100 billion in damage.
During the ensuing years of recovery and rehabilitation, all manner of geosynthetic materials were used in classic reinforcement and separation applications. Below is a short list of some of the best articles about geosynthetics and Katrina in Geosynthetics magazine.
Expedient site construction provided housing for Mississippi residents displaced by Katrina
Geosynthetics, June/July 2007
Geosynthetic-reinforced levees performed well
Geosynthetics, June/July 2008
Geotextiles in levees (Part 1 of 2)
Geosynthetics, April/May 2009
Geotextiles in levees (Part 2 of 2)
Geosynthetics, June/July 2009
The role of geosynthetics in the new New Orleans levees
Geosynthetics, October/November 2011
Reinforced levees stand strong
Geosynthetics, February/March 2013