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Contact:
Rachel Doyle
Phone: 314.977.2538
doylerl@slu.edu

September 22, 2005

ST. LOUIS -- Although Hurricane Rita is expected to make landfall on Saturday between Galveston and Corpus Christi, Texas, the National Hurricane Center has not ruled out an impact for Louisiana. Some hurricane trackers are predicting that as much as three inches of rain could be dumped on the New Orleans area. The seemingly small amount could overwhelm the city's already taxed levee system.

In his 2003 book Geological Hazards, Saint Louis University professor Timothy Kusky, Ph.D., warned of the problems for New Orleans, should a strong hurricane ever hit the city.

"If a fast-moving and powerful hurricane ever makes a direct hit on New Orleans, it will likely initiate one of the most serious natural disasters that this nation has ever seen …The city will be flooded, dikes will be breached and destroyed, and thousands will perish. But even worse may be in store. If the hurricane is powerful enough to add flooding rains to areas upriver of New Orleans, the course of the Mississippi River could be changed," Kusky wrote.

Kusky is the Paul C. Reinert Chair of Natural Sciences in the department of Earth and atmospheric sciences at Saint Louis University.

Kusky will be available for interviews tomorrow Friday, Sept. 23, call Rachel Doyle at (314) 977-2538 to arrange an interview.

Saint Louis University is a Jesuit, Catholic university ranked among the top research institutions in the nation. The University fosters the intellectual and character development of 11,500 students on campuses in St. Louis and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818, it is the oldest university west of the Mississippi and the second oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Through teaching, research, health care and community service, Saint Louis University is the place where knowledge touches lives. Learn more about SLU at www.slu.edu.