A New Role for Nonstructural Shoreline Management in Developing ResilientCoastal Communities

Researchers have found that hurricanes are commonly recurring hazards for coastal areas. For example, just thirty six years after a very devastating Hurricane Camille, damage from Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi alone exceeded 125 billion dollars (US, 2007 price level) and resulted in the loss of nearly 250 lives. Congress tasked the United States Corps of Engineers to develop a comprehensive plan to help prevent the future loss of life and property along the Mississippi Coast due to storm surge. The Corps' study team found that structural solutions (i.e. levees and floodwalls) for this low lying area are extremely difficult to construct because of its many estuaries, bayous, and wetlands. They also found that the most cost effective solutions, and least damaging to the environment, are nonstructural in nature (i.e. buyouts, and raising foundations). This paper summarizes the nonstructural approach taken by the Corps in developing its comprehensive recommendations to Congress.