LSU Expert Carol Friedland on Katrina’s Legacy: What’s Changed, What Still Needs to Be Done

After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated Louisiana and brought billions of dollars of damage to the state, lawmakers worked with researchers, engineers and others to create and implement new codes and laws in an attempt to prevent such serious damage happening again.

On Aug. 29, LSU and the LSU AgCenter hosted an event at the Energy, Coast and Environment Building in honor of the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall in Louisiana on the same date in 2005.

The daylong conference featured leading voices from LSU and government officials, who spoke about the impacts that hurricanes Katrina and Rita had on Louisiana and how policies and research have changed since those storms.

As a part of the program, Carol Friedland, the director of the AgCenter LaHouse Research and Education Center, spoke alongside Brad Hassert, executive director of the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors, for a seminar called “Innovating Resilience: Solutions Inspired by Katrina.” The two discussed recent developments in building materials and building codes that showed the changes, or lack thereof, since the two devastating hurricanes.

At the time of the storms, building codes were not uniform in the state, and some parishes had almost no building codes at all. After Katrina and Rita, however, officials pushed for a unified code that better protected Louisiana residents from dangerous storms and weather events.

“After Hurricane Katrina, we actually enacted very strong legislation to adopt the model code,” Friedland said. “Also, at the same time, the FEMA mitigation assessment team went out and documented a lot of the failures from Katrina. This program really helps us learn around the country what are the practices that are working and what are the practices that are not working and then getting those integrated into the code process.”

Friedland went on to talk about some developments for houses that she has been working on, like “fortified roofs,” which are new roofs that will protect residents more efficiently than the codes required in Louisiana.

Friedland also talked about the process of implementing new codes. Researchers must find agreement with governmental entities and other parties, like insurance adjusters and contractors, to succeed, she said.

Hassert spoke about the importance for homeowners to find a licensed contractor after a weather event causes damage to their house. This is mostly to ensure that the house will be repaired to code and so the homeowners will not be scammed or stolen from.

Hassert, who was recently appointed executive director of the Louisiana State Uniform Construction Code Council, urged researchers and other stakeholders to come together and participate in council meetings so they can make the most informed and beneficial decisions that they can.

Both Hassert and Friedland believe there is work to do to improve the codes and building standards in Louisiana houses, but with communication and more involved research, enhancements can be made.

“One of the ways I like to frame this is to think about are we happy with the level of losses that we have?” Friedland said. “Do we think that we’re doing well? Who is happy with the level of loss that we see? I think we can still do better.”

Original article posted by the LSU AgCenter here.