Associate and project Manager Jerri Daniels explains what levees are in less than 90 seconds.
To find out more about the levees in your area, visit www.infrastructurereportcard.org. Visit FEMA.gov and search "living with levees"" to see what mitigation tactics you can take to keep you and your family safe if you live behind a levee.
Transcript:
"Hi, I'm Jerry Daniels, a project manager in the water resources service line Dewberry. Today I'm going to talk to you a little bit about levees using a real New Orleans levee as an example.
Levees are located in all of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, and they total over 100,000 miles nationally. Levees are defined as man-made structures that were designed to contain, divert, control flood waters. They're usually made out of earthen materials like the levee that you see behind me, but here in New Orleans the Corps of Engineers has designed the levees to work as a system with flood walls, pumps, and gates. Our pumps are so effective they can fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool in three and a half seconds. In 2011, we saved 141 billion dollars in flood damage costs as a result of the levees that protected communities in our nation. That's a six to one return on investment when you consider the initial construction costs.
How are the levees in your area? You can go to www.infrastructurereportcard.org to find out. That was a little bit about our levees here in New Orleans. You should visit fema.gov and search living with levees to see what mitigation actions you can take to keep you and your family safe if you live behind a levee.
Thank you.
