Analysis of Engineering Ethics Failures in Hurricane Katrina

This report examines the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina and the critical role that engineering ethics played in the disaster. The analysis focuses on the failures of levees and floodwalls, highlighting how unethical engineering practices and a disregard for safety codes significantly increased the storm's damage and loss of life. The report details specific engineering mistakes, such as inadequate soil analysis, insufficient levee heights, and a lack of concrete support pilings, which directly contributed to the flooding and widespread destruction. Furthermore, the report explores the dismissal of engineers who raised concerns about the safety of the structures, emphasizing the importance of whistleblowers and the need for ethical decision-making within the engineering field. The findings underscore the necessity for engineers to prioritize public safety, adhere to strict ethical guidelines, and learn from past failures to prevent similar tragedies in the future. Recommendations include improved early warning systems, thorough geotechnical investigations, and independent design reviews to ensure the integrity and safety of critical infrastructure.

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ENGINEERING ETHICS – HURRICANE KATRINA
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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

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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

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significantly increased the vulnerability of levees to failure during the storm surge. An engineer
who follows the code of ethics cannot allow such construction to proceed because it will be
putting the health, safety and welfare of the public at risk. Another mistake was that some of the
levees did not have the desired height. The levees were not designed to accommodate any
additional increase of water level in the area caused by flooding yet the region was susceptible to
floods. This is obviously failure to observe the engineering code of ethics because such actions
will be risking the health, safety and welfare of the public. The engineers also made the mistake
of not updating the levees with concrete support pilings as it was required. These supports were
meant to increase the capability of levees to withstand water pressure applied by floodwater. If
the engineers had observed the code of ethics, they would have ensured that all levees were
updated with the required concrete supports so as to protect the public against flood risks.
It was also discovered that the canals did not have flood gates (Griffis, 2007), which are
very useful in controlling water flow in canals during flooding. Lack of flood gates in a canal is
definitely an imminent disaster that any engineer should not tolerate in a flood prone area.
Failure to ensure that the canals had floodgates was a roof that the engineers did not observe the
code of ethics. In general, several design elements of the flood protection systems did not have
the required factors of safety and the Corps engineers made faulty assumptions when designing
and constructing these systems. All the fatal engineering mistakes made by the engineers showed
failure to adhere to the engineering code of ethics. The engineering flaws made in the levees and
floodwalls are the ones that exposed residents in the affected areas to severe risk levels in case of
flooding (Chan & Rhodes, 2014).
Another shocking revelation from the Hurricane Katrina aftermath was the dismissal of
three engineers: Van Heerden, Robert Bea and Maria Garzino. Van Heerden was Louisiana State

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University (LSU) Hurricane Center’s deputy director before occurrence of Katrina. He had also
created several models showing how several parts of southeastern Louisiana and New Orleans
would be submerged in water in case a hurricane happened along the Gulf of Mexico. However,
his models were ignored by his colleagues and government authorities. Van Heerden was sacked
by LSU in 2009. Robert Bea was a geotechnical engineer at the University of California and
head of the independent team of the National Science Foundation that investigated the factors
that caused flooding during Hurricane Katrina. Maria Garzino was an engineer in the Corps. She
constantly tried to inform the Congress and her superiors that the water pumps that were being
installed by the Corps after the storm to protect the city in case of similar storms in the future
would fail.
The three were termed as whistleblowers of the engineering mistakes that caused the
hurricane and some of the inadequate measures that were being taken to prevent such incidents
in the future. From these revelations, it is evident that some engineers and government officials
were aware of the possible failure of the flood protection systems and the potential risks that the
public was exposed to. Nevertheless, they did not take action on time to prevent the looming
disaster and when it happened, the damage was huge. These engineers also failed to
communicate to the public about early warnings or the severity of the hurricane risks. They also
did not communicate to the residents in the area as fast as possible to help them leave the area
before the situation worsened (Taylor, Priest, Sisco, Banning, & Campbell, 2009). This timely
communication would have prompted some people to leave the area before the disaster. The
various engineering failures were caused by decisions made by various parties (Shrum, 2013).
For instance, the federal levee system was old and had been neglected by the federal
government. If the levees had been designed, built and maintained appropriately, the flooding

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that happened during Hurricane Katrina would have been decreased by over two-thirds
(Amadeo, 2018).
Hurricane Katrina demonstrated the great importance of engineering code of ethics,
which is to help engineers make technical decisions that do not compromise the health, safety
and welfare of the public. The code of ethics also help engineers to provide services with
honesty, fairness, equity and impartiality. If code of ethics had been observed by all engineers
and other persons that were involved in the design, construction and maintenance of levees,
floodwalls and umping stations in the affected area, the severity and level of damaged caused by
Katrina would not have been that much.
3. Challenges and Lessons Learnt
Some of the challenges and lessons learnt from Hurricane Katrina are as follows:
 Engineers play a major role in protecting the health, safety and welfare of the public.
Therefore any negligence made by an engineer can have fatal consequences.
 Decisions made by engineers have a huge impact on various aspects of human life.
 Any negligence or compromise by engineers on factors of safety can result to loss of
many lives and damage of property worth billions of dollars.
 Failure by engineers to adhere to the code of ethics can have fatal consequences.
 The severity of the hurricane was increased by engineers and other decision makers who
were involved in the design, construction and operation of the flood protection systems.
 The damage by natural disasters can be decreased by ensuring that manmade protection
systems put in place are designed, built and maintained properly.

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 Engineers should use all means possible to predict occurrence of disasters and take
necessary actions to prevent or mitigate their severity and damage.
 Early warning, communication and quick response and evacuation would have saved
some lives.
 The perspectives and opinions of junior engineers should be considered by their seniors
when working on a project.
 It is very important to maintain manmade structures and inspect them frequently to
identify any warning signs of failure.
 It is important for engineers to always adhere to the relevant engineering standards,
legislation, regulations and code of ethics when fulfilling their professional duties.
 The severity of natural disasters can be controlled if engineers make the right decisions
and adhere to the code of ethics.
 The main challenge of producing this information was finding facts about Hurricane
Katrina. This was overcome by searching for information from different sources
including journal articles, websites, conference proceedings and reports.
4. Recommendations
Based on the findings of the investigations and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the following
are some of the recommendations that can help reduce the severity of a similar even in the
future:
 Relevant government agencies in collaboration with professional bodies should formulate
better early warning, emergency communication, response/evacuation and environmental
policies.

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 Engineers should take early warning signs seriously and communicate the same to
relevant government agencies and the public.
 Engineers should carry out adequate and accurate investigations, including geotechnical
studies, before designing or constructing any engineering structure such as a dam, road,
bridge, railway, levees and floodwall.
 Engineers should design any flood protection system in a flood prone area for a more
severe storm.
 Engineers should ensure that any component they design has the highest possible value of
factor of safety. This includes the dimensions of the component and the properties of its
materials.
 Engineers should always learn from failures and put in place mechanisms of preventing
similar failures in the future. All engineering designs must be reviewed by independent
engineers or consultants before being approved for construction. This will help in
identifying and correcting design errors that may have been made by the design team.
 Engineers should ensure that there is no safety compromises when designing engineering
structures.
 Engineers should always consider the impacts of technical decisions they make
(American Society of Civil Engineers, 2015).
 Engineers should never accept or support decisions that compromise reliability and safety
of structures.
 Engineers should always clearly communicate potential risks and impacts associated with
certain decisions.
 Engineers should only make reasonable assumptions where applicable.

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 Relevant government agencies should formulate laws that will protect whistleblowers. It
is very unfortunate to see whistleblowers being dismissed yet their concerns may have
helped prevent failure of structures and their associated damages.
 Engineers found culpable of neglecting laws or code of ethics should be held responsible
for their actions and face the full force of law.
 There is need to emphasize the importance of engineering code of ethics in institutions of
higher learning where engineering courses are taught (Hess & Fore, 2018).
 Relevant government departments should ensure that manmade structures are maintained
properly and inspected frequently by independent specialists so as to establish any signs
of failure and take necessary actions to rectify them.

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