AMERICAN Spiral-Welded Steel Pipe And Big Easy Flood Control

If you think Hurricane Katrina was the first time New Orleans suffered major flood damage, think again. Flooding has been as much a part of New Orleans’ 300-year history as jazz, jambalaya and French Quarter juke joints.

One of the city’s worst floods ever came in the mid-1990s, and that led to the creation of the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Risk Reduction Project (SELA). The main objective for SELA is to reduce flooding in three parishes — Orleans, Jefferson and St. Tammany. Funding issues stymied SELA’s initial progress, but federal money began pouring in after a Katrina-related levee break flooded 80 percent of New Orleans in 2005.