US Fails To Address Coastal, Inland Flood Risks, Civil Engineers Say

"Nine years after levee failures flooded New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and two years after Hurricane Sandy devastated the East Coast, the nation has failed to determine the flooding risks faced by communities across the United States, the American Society of Civil Engineers said in a new report.

After Katrina, the engineering society called for addressing the financial impact and the threat to public safety of repeated flooding events. But a year-long review of the nation's response found much work remained to be done.

'If the devastating impacts of Sandy and the losses sustained in floods and hurricanes since Katrina were to be used as the measures of progress, the nation has failed to heed the call,' said the report, prepared by the society's Task Committee on Flood Safety Policies and Practices."

Mark Schleifstein reports for the New Orleans Times-Picayune September 24, 2014.