May 2006 ISSUE
Katrina Makes Impression with Geoscientist
Master’s grad Sara Fearnley took a professional interest in Hurricane
Katrina, so she stuck around to see whether the scientists had it right. They
did — and next time, she’ll be booking an out-of-town hotel room.
BY FRANCINE MAXWELL
Editorial Assistant
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A Whole New Kind of Shade |
When Sarah Fearnley relocated to New Orleans in 2002, the University of Alberta graduate had no idea she would come face to face with a hurricane named Katrina.
Ms. Fearnley, who went on to get a master’s degree in geology from the University of New Orleans in 2004, has been working with a research institute that studies barrier island restoration, relative sea level increases, land loss and water quality in New Orleans.
You could say she had a professional interest. Rather than evacuate, Ms. Fearnley wanted to see what would happen for herself.
Did she ever.
“There are many reasons I didn’t evacuate, but ultimately I just did not want to leave. The forecasters had the storm going to Florida up until the Friday before it struck, and I had stayed through other storms and everything had been fine,” said the former Innisfail and Edmonton resident, who graduated from environmental and conservation sciences at U of A.
“Being in the middle of a hurricane is a thrill like no other. I definitely wanted to see first hand what would happen to the city.”
Battening down the hatches with a friend and a menagerie of pets, Ms. Fearnley soon learned that this storm was nothing like she had experienced before. With intense winds and sideways rain, she knew this was a big one.
“The wind was so fierce it sounded like a freight train going through the backyard. There was also this intermittent high-pitched whistle every now and again. It was very creepy. The wind was blowing so hard that the rain was a fine mist blowing horizontally. You couldn’t see it, but in two minutes you were soaked.”
After some 14 hours of hiding from Katrina’s wrath, Ms. Fearnley ventured outside to survey the scene. She breathed a sigh of relief in the wake of knowing what could have been.
“When I first moved to New Orleans I did not fully understand the geology of the region,” she says. She lived briefly on the lakefront and then in an area of Uptown, close to Mid-City.
Both her previous residences flooded during Katrina, bringing in between
six and 10 feet of water.
“I now live in Uptown New Orleans, very close to the Mississippi River
along the river’s natural levee. It is about 12 feet above sea level, on
the rim of the Bowl.”
That means Ms. Fearnley escaped much of the devastation portrayed on television.
“I was very lucky, my house and neighbourhood sustained very little damage. The wind blew out a window at my friend’s house and during the storm my roof was damaged. A couple of inches of water got in my apartment, either from under the door or through the damaged roof. Mostly it was downed trees and other wind damage in our area.”
The damage sustained in the city was mostly in the city centre known as the Bowl. Ms. Fearnley says that some people knew what would happen.
“The scientific community knew exactly what New Orleans would face if a Category 3 or higher storm made a direct hit on the city. It was interesting watching it all happen from a scientific perspective. Everything happened just as we learned in school.
“The storm surge built up on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain and the pressure of the water eventually breached the levees. Once water gets in, it fills the city like a bowl and the only way to get it out is to pump.”
The future of New Orleans is dependent on getting protection in place. Programs such as ongoing flood protection, investments in natural protection and additions of floodgates and other technology are needed. Government money, says Ms. Fearnley, is essential.
Not just government, however. Being involved in the soil conservation business, Ms. Fearnley has a part to play, too.
“The Pontchartrain Institute has continued to be involved in coastal restoration and land loss in Louisiana since Katrina. We are working with the state to expand our monitoring efforts in the coastal zone to pinpoint hotspots of coastal land loss to better focus and coordinate restoration projects.
“There has also been talk of a comprehensive levee mapping project in southeast
Louisiana. Solving Louisiana’s land loss problems and New Orleans’ flood
control issues will be ongoing and long term.”
As for leaving New Orleans for safer ground, Ms. Fearnley says that she will
stay where she is — but get out of the way if there’s a next time.
“I definitely feel more apprehensive about the upcoming hurricane season. I will be one of the first people booking hotel rooms and evacuating before the storm hits. I never want to go through that again.”