Ten years after Hurricane Katrina, is New Orleans better protected? The answer is complicated.
Historian John Barry says Louisiana’s new master plan for flood protection could help save the city, but it will cost billions of dollars and he wonders whether the political will exists to put it into place.
Barry says the plan faces several challenges, including sea level rise, due to land loss he says is caused in part by the energy industry, and the 100-year flood protection standard. He joins Here & Now’s Robin Young to talk about it.
Guest
- John Barry, historian and author of “Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America.” He’s also a former member of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority East and the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. He tweets @johnmbarry.
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