Engineering Ethics - Hurricane Katrina Introduction Hurricane Katrina

ENGINEERING ETHICS – HURRICANE KATRINA 1
ENGINEERING ETHICS – HURRICANE KATRINA
Name
Course
Professor
University
City/state
Date

ENGINEERING ETHICS – HURRICANE KATRINA 2
Engineering Ethics – Hurricane Katrina
1. Introduction
Hurricane Katrina was a deadly and extremely destructive hurricane that formed on August 23,
2005 and dissipated on August 31, 2005 (Klopfer, 2015); (Zimmermann, 2015). The hurricane
wreaked devastation in the states of Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida and Mississippi,
which are along the Gulf of Mexico (CNN Library, 2013). It claimed over 1,800 lives and
destroyed infrastructure and property worth over $125 billion (Burnham & Hooper, 2012). The
hurricane was accompanied by widespread flooding that covered about 70% of the affected areas
(Fussell, 2015). This report presents an analysis of the impacts of engineering code of ethics on
Hurricane Katrina. Investigations conducted after the occurrence of Hurricane Katrina revealed
that engineering flaws were a major contributing factor that increased the storm surge and its
associated damages.
2. Topic Analysis and Relevance
Engineering code of ethics is very vital in the design and construction of structures that are
meant to solve societal problems. All engineers are required to be guided by the code of ethics
when fulfilling their professional obligations. Unfortunately, some engineers do not fully adhere
to the code of ethics and this has resulted to some of the worst disasters in different parts of the
world. One of such disasters is Hurricane Katrina. Flooding was the most destructive aspect of
Hurricane Katrina. According to the report released in June 2007 by the American Society of
Civil Engineers, two-thirds of flooding in Hurricane Katrina was caused by failure of flood
protection systems (levees and floodwalls) in the affected areas. Failure of the levees and
floodwalls was the main factor that contributed to the severity of Hurricane Katrina (Newberry,
2010). Another detailed report released in 2006 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers showed

ENGINEERING ETHICS – HURRICANE KATRINA 3
that the Corps were fully responsible for the failure of over 50 levees and floodwalls, which was
caused by engineering flaws.
One of the fundamental canons of engineering code of ethics is that engineers have a duty
to always prioritize and protect the health, safety and welfare of the public when fulfilling their
professional duties (American Society of Civil Engineers, 2017). This means that engineers must
ensure that they design and build structures that will protect and promote the health, safety and
welfare of the public. Findings from the investigations carried out after occurrence of Hurricane
Katrina showed that engineers did not fully adhere to the code of ethics. This is because
engineers were the ones responsible for the design and construction of various engineering
structures and works particularly the levees and floodwalls that protected the affected areas from
storm events. Therefore their failure to follow the required and relevant engineering standards
and codes of ethics resulted to incorrect decisions. In other words, the decisions made by the
engineers made a huge impact on the severity of Hurricane Katrina.
Subsequent flooding of Hurricane Katrina was largely caused by engineering mistakes in
the design of levees and floodwalls (flood protection systems). Multiple investigations conducted
after the hurricane concluded that there were several flaws in the design and constructions of the
flood protection systems (Gibbens, 2019). These flood protection systems were designed and
built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who were said to be responsible for the failure of the
flood protection levees.
One of the engineering mistakes was to underrate the significance of soil strength during
the design of the levees. Adequate geotechnical investigations were not carried out to determine
the suitability and capacity of the soil before using it to build the levees. The levees ended up
being built on and using weak soils that could stumble easily when exposed to flooding. This