New Orleans sits smack dab between the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Pontchartrain, and when a hurricane comes rolling in, those bodies of water tend to spill into the streets. This
summer, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started construction on a barrier that can block a 16-foot swell blown in from the Gulf and a massive pumping station that will blast
floodwaters back to sea.
The $500-million station—the newest installment of a $14-billion federal project to fortify the Big Easy against the type of fierce storm
the city sees once in 100 years—will protect the 240,000 residents living in New Orleans, a high-risk flood area because of its
nearby shipping canals. The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is one of the city’s most trafficked industrial waterways, but it provides a
perfect path from the Gulf for a 16-foot storm surge to flood homes and businesses. When a major storm threatens, the waterway’s
new West Closure Complex will mount a two-point defense. First, operators will shut the 32-foot-tall, 225-foot-wide metal gates to
block the surge. Then they’ll fire up the world’s largest pumping station, which pulls 150,000 gallons of floodwater per second. And
unlike the city’s notorious levees, the WCC won’t break when residents need it most. “This station is designed to withstand almost
everything,” including 140mph winds and runaway barges, says Tim Connell, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s project manager
for the complex.
Army engineers will bring the gates and pumps online as they go, with the goal of wrapping up construction by 2011—provided there
are no interruptions, says Dennis Kamber, a senior technical adviser on the project: “We have our fingers crossed that Mother
Nature will be kind to us this year.”

By Susannah F. Locke

Posted 08.18.2009 at 11:54 am

New Orleans sits smack dab between the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Pontchartrain, and when a hurricane comes rolling in, those bodies of water tend to spill into the streets. This

summer, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started construction on a barrier that can block a 16-foot swell blown in from the Gulf and a massive pumping station that will blast

floodwaters back to sea.

The $500-million station—the newest installment of a $14-billion federal project to fortify the Big Easy against the type of fierce storm

the city sees once in 100 years—will protect the 240,000 residents living in New Orleans, a high-risk flood area because of its

nearby shipping canals. The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is one of the city’s most trafficked industrial waterways, but it provides a

perfect path from the Gulf for a 16-foot storm surge to flood homes and businesses. When a major storm threatens, the waterway’s

new West Closure Complex will mount a two-point defense. First, operators will shut the 32-foot-tall, 225-foot-wide metal gates to

block the surge. Then they’ll fire up the world’s largest pumping station, which pulls 150,000 gallons of floodwater per second. And

unlike the city’s notorious levees, the WCC won’t break when residents need it most. “This station is designed to withstand almost

everything,” including 140mph winds and runaway barges, says Tim Connell, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s project manager

for the complex.

Army engineers will bring the gates and pumps online as they go, with the goal of wrapping up construction by 2011—provided there

are no interruptions, says Dennis Kamber, a senior technical adviser on the project: “We have our fingers crossed that Mother

Nature will be kind to us this year.”