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A Sense of Place at Risk - Perspectives of residents of coastal Louisiana on nonstructural risk reduction strategies
April 14, 2016
Supported by Oxfam America, this study documented the views of residents from three vulnerable Louisiana coastal parishes - Terrebonne, Lafourche, and Plaquemines. These parishes face extreme coastal land loss from flooding and sea level rise, and other critical climate and social impacts. The study focuses on nonstructural coastal flooding mitigation measures, such as restoring coastal marshlands. A series of interviews were conducted to investigate how residents understand and respond to the challenges of sea level rise and climate change.
Resource Category: Solutions
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New Orleans, Louisiana Zika virus response
April 2016
In 2016, when the risk of Zika virus in the United States became higher, the mayor of New Orleans brought together public and private partners to proactively manage those risks and protect the city’s most vulnerable residents. By activating the local public health department, the Board of mosquito control, local physicians, environmental experts, and community members, the government was able to create a comprehensive Zika response plan to protect the public, especially pregnant women. In the first phase, partners educated the public on risks and mitigation strategies, especially healthcare providers and facilities. The city also stepped up vector control to reduce risk and surveillance of mosquito populations to ensure effectiveness. This combination of efforts was intended to ensure that Phases 2 and 3 of the Plan (activated in the case of reported cases of Zika) would be delayed or unnecessary due to preventive measures. By focusing education efforts for the public and healthcare entities on the risk to the most vulnerable subgroup of residents, the partners could ensure that pregnant women would be well-protected. The efforts were funded by general public health funding streams.
Resource Category: Planning
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Resilient Jean Lafitte, Louisiana - A Flood Emergency Preparedness Plan
2016
The Town of Jean Lafitte, Louisiana sits at or below sea level on the Gulf of Mexico and is highly vulnerable to extreme flooding from storm events, while economically dependent on maritime industries. Their Flood Emergency Preparedness Plan (FEPP) presents flood risk reduction recommendations in response to the compounding impacts of hurricanes, storm surge, coastal erosion, subsidence, sea level rise, and climate change. The FEPP's flood risk reduction initiatives were heavily informed by the 2013 Town Resiliency Plan “Jean Lafitte Tomorrow.
Resource Category: Planning
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Resilient Jean Lafitte, Louisiana Flood Preparedness Toolkit
2016
The Jean Lafitte Flood Preparedness Toolkit developed by the Town of Jean Lafitte, Louisiana, provides information, guidelines and recommended regulations to reduce flood risk in the region. Jean Lafitte faces many climate related impacts including sea level rise, storm surge, hurricanes, with subsequent extreme flooding, erosion and permanent wetland loss - that in turn leads to more flooding. The toolkit provides best practices and guidelines to reduce flood risk on a Site and Building Scale as well as on Community Scale development.
Resource Category: Solutions
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Climate Change, Resilience and Fairness - How Nonstructural Adaptation Can Protect and Empower Socially Vulnerable Communities on the Gulf Coast
April 2016
Utilizing case studies from extreme flooding events, this paper synthesizes lessons learned, hazard mitigation strategies, and best practices in adaptation. The focus is on nonstructural adaptation strategies such as disaster planning and mitigation, and property buyouts. The best practices for implementing nonstructural adaptation strategies are also discussed with respect to impacts on, and solutions for, vulnerable communities. The paper is grounded in three case studies of flooding events that each caused widespread damage, occurred across a range of demographic and socio-economic conditions, and involved both structural and nonstructural post-disaster adaptation strategies.
Resource Category: Solutions
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Louisiana’s Strategic Adaptations for Future Environments
Louisiana’s Strategic Adaptations for Future Environment (LA SAFE) supplements Louisiana’s 2012 Coastal Master Plan by serving as a generalized framework for land use and community development along Louisiana’s coast. Recognizing that not all vulnerable areas can be protected from flood risks, the report outlines three different development strategies - Retreat, Retrofit, or Resettle. Based upon the expected flood inundation from a 100-year storm event over the next 50 years, the strategies respond to three typological zones: Retreat from areas projected to experience more than 14 feet of flood inundation; Retrofit places of economic and cultural value projected to experience between 3 and 14 feet of flood inundation; and Resettle to maximize underdeveloped areas and high-ground corridors that are projected to experience less than 3 feet of flood inundation.
Resource Category: Planning
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Surviving and Thriving in the Face of Rising Seas: Building Resilience for Communities on the Front Lines of Climate Change
November 2015
From the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), this report explores the increased risks faced by socially vulnerable populations to sea-level rise. Building on prior research finding that elderly, minorities, and poor populations will be disproportionately affected by climate change, the paper presents an analytical framework for identifying “climate equity hotspots,” or places where socially vulnerable people live that are also at high risk for coastal flooding.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Rachel Cleetus, Ramon Bueno, Kristina Dahl
Resource Category: Assessments
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Resettlement as a Resilience Strategy
October 27, 2015
This document provides background information and guidance to Louisiana’s state and local governments on the retreat and resettlement process, and outlines the strategy for the ongoing resettlement of the Isle de Jean Charles Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Native American community. As sea level rise and land loss threaten Louisiana’s low-lying regions, coastal communities must consider the costs and benefits of retreat and resettlement. The report provides a history of resettlement in the United States and makes the case that the resettlement of Isle de Jean Charles is just the beginning of more resettlement projects in the region.
Resource Category: Planning
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Louisiana Flood Risk and Resilience Viewer
Louisiana's Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) has launched a “Flood Risk and Resilience Viewer,” an online resource which displays information on coastal land change, flood risk, and impacts to communities. This innovative tool provides coastal residents with access to the state’s best information about how Louisiana’s coast may change in the future, as well as resources to make communities and properties safer.
Resource Category: Data and tools
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Reimagining New Orleans Post Katrina - A Case Study in Using Disaster Recovery Funds to Rebuild More Resiliently
August 26, 2015
A decade after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, a new case study by the Georgetown Climate Center examines some of the lessons learned from state and local efforts to use disaster relief funding to rebuild New Orleans' public schools and stormwater systems.
Author or Affiliated User: James DeWeese
Resource Category: Solutions
