General Site Information

Newsroom: This section includes press releases, news clips, videos, and other public information links can be found here.

Definitions: Explanations of key terms can be found in this section. We strongly encourage that you refer to the terms in this page for definitions of risk analysis terms, and hurricane-related definitions and acronyms.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions): This is one of the most important pages on this site. It answers questions about the science behind the risk maps, what these maps mean to local citizens, how this will affect flood insurance, etc. Many of these questions have been asked by local officials, community groups and individuals about Risk Analysis and the Greater New Orleans Hurricane Protection System projects.

What We Learned: Illustrates the key findings from the IPET study. For example, categorizing a hurricane by its wind speed does not tell us how it will affect a flood protection system. Click here to discover why hurricane size matters.

How to Use This Info: What does all this science mean to a citizen living in the greater New Orleans area? Click here to find out.

The Study: Download and read the IPET Volume 8, Risk & Reliability Study. This is a great asset for researchers, scientists and teachers to see how the IPET developed this risk assessment tool.

Other IPET Reports: This is a link to the other volumes of the overall comprehensive forensic report developed by IPET.

How to Read the Risk Maps – This is a link to a presentation on how to read the color-coded risk maps.

How to View Maps Using GoogleEarth – provides an online tutorial on how to download and use Google Earth to view interactive risk maps on this site. A free download of Google Earth, with directions for installation is available at http://download.earth.googlepages.com/.

How to Download Google Earth Risk Maps

First, click on the "Interactive Maps" link on the left side of any page

You will now see a map of Greater New Orleans (Plaquemines Parish map is below the Greater New Orleans map).

Click on the area, or sub-basin, you want to access

A new window will pop up, showing a larger map of the sub-basin, as well as several links. Here you can select from the following menu:

• Download Google Earth Overlays
• Download PDF Map Overlays
• Consequence Data
• View Ongoing Area Projects

Select the "Download Google Earth Overlays" link

Follow the instructions for downloading

Click here for information on "How to View Maps Using Google Earth"

How to PDF Risk Maps

First, click on the "Interactive Maps" link on the left side of any page

You will now see a map of greater New Orleans (Plaquemines Parish map is below the greater New Orleans map).

Click on the area, or sub-basin, you want to access

A new window will pop up, showing a larger map of the sub-basin, as well as several links. Here you can select from the following menu:

• Download Google Earth Overlays
• Download PDF map overlays
• Consequence Data
• View Ongoing Area Projects

Select the "Download PDF Map Overlays" link

Follow the instructions for downloading

How to Get Information from Other Agencies

Use the "links" pull-down menu on the left side of the page to select the home pages for various other agencies.