Release of new report of Storm Surge in St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes

• PC released a new report describing how hurricane surge behaves within the St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes during typical hurricane tracks.

• PC reviewed contrasting surge movement between Hurricanes Isaac and Katrina.

• Similar to a study conducted for Lake Pontchartrain, we found that surge is distinctly different if the storm is moving west or east of the river.

• A storm which tracks west of the river is more threatening to areas like Braithwaite.

• A storm which tracks east of the river may be more threatening to lower Plaquemines Parish on both sides of the river due to surge moving within and across the Mississippi River.

• PC strongly recommends more modeling is needed to understand the interaction of storm surge with the Mississippi River and the nearby levees.

The PC report can be viewed at https://scienceforourcoast.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/DynamicsStormSurgeInBreton-BorgneRegion2020.pdf