Revisiting Katrina

The flooded urban landscape. The destroyed homes and splintered lives. The rooftop pleas for rescue. The images left in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are permanently etched into the American consciousness.

Four years later, one of the five deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history is still on the radar of those trying to decipher the devastation, rebuild communities, and prevent the mistakes made in preparing for the storm and moving people out of harm’s way from happening again. On November 2 and November 3, Lynn Dupont, principal planner and GIS manager for the New Orleans Regional Planning Commission (NORPC) will share her expert knowledge of the subject at Wheaton College.

Dupont will present a lecture on Monday, November 2, reflecting on the Katrina response and recovery efforts, especially in New Orleans, one of the heaviest hit areas. The lecture will be at 7 p.m. in Hindle Auditorium in the Science Center. The event is open to the public. On Tuesday, November 3, she will visit classes and meet with student groups and other interested parties.

Katrina’s impact on New Orleans has never left the hearts and minds of students, staff and faculty members. For four years, the Office of Service, Spirituality and Social Responsibility has coordinated a January break trip in which students, faculty and staff travel to New Orleans to help recovery efforts there. Professor of Mathematics Thomas Ratliff explores the issues raised by the storm in his First Year Seminar “Water, Water Everywhere: The Legacy of the 1927 Flood of the Mississippi River and Hurricane Katrina.” Such issues are also addressed in Urban Economics, taught by Associate Professor of Economics Russell Williams, who invited Dupont to come to campus.

While on campus Dupont will meet with Ratliff and attend Associate Professor of Geology Geoffrey Collins's geology class and Assistant Professor of Political Science Marcus Allen's “Contemporary Urban Politics” class. She also is scheduled to meet with the group of students who are planning to go to New Orleans during the upcoming January break.

“The scale and extent of the devastation from the Katrina and Rita hurricanes of 2005 is beyond what most Americans realize,” said Dupont. “This presentation will give a brief geographical history of why New Orleans is where it is in terms of economic, cultural and historical background, giving the audience a basis for understanding the widespread effects of this catastrophe not only on the city, and the region, but on the country.”

Dupont is a New Orleans native who, through her position at the NORPC, was actively involved helping to coordinate  the data response and Geographic Information Systems [GIS], working with a myriad of agencies having somewhat conflicting agendas in a setting that included unbelievable numbers of generous volunteers all responding in a chaotic atmosphere.

She plans to talk about the GIS data, collaborative endeavors, recovery efforts and the changes that have occurred since the Katrina and Hurricane Rita experiences.

Williams noted that not only will Dupont be speaking from a professional perspective, but also from a personal one as well. “Lynn, herself, lost her house to Katrina—water was up to the second floor—and did not know the whereabouts of her daughter, who had been staying with friends, for a couple of days after the flood,” he said.

Dupont has worked at the NORPC since 1999, as principal planner and GIS manager, working with state and federal agencies in procuring data for use at the local level for enhancement projects, land use studies and general data integration in the region. Before joining NORPC, Dupont, who is a licensed landscape architect, worked for many years on the physical design of subdivisions and retirement communities, and on basic commercial, industrial and military site design in Virginia Beach and Charlotte. She has a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University of New Orleans.

In her work at the NORPC, she has received many recognitions and awards, among them: serving as past-president of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association, and receiving the 2009 State of Louisiana Special Achievement Award in Remote Sensing and GIS for her work with the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.