The Greater New Orleans Inc. economic development group has tallied $327 million in Sandy rebuilding work where Louisiana architecture, construction, engineering and planning firms became prime contractors for state governments and the federal government.
With the surges of Hurricane Katrina rebuilding, BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill recovery, coastal restoration planning and a geographic vulnerability to rising sea levels, The Data Center research group found that jobs in water management in Southeast Louisiana increased by 7,832 from 2010 to 2013, and the state had a higher concentration of such jobs than the national average.
"Only a few states and regions have begun to tackle this challenge," said the April study from the Data Center, which reported that coastal areas nationwide host 42 percent of United States economic output and potentially face similar issues. "Louisiana is in the vanguard."
So nine years after Katrina, economic developers argue that some of the New Orleans area's greatest weaknesses - hurricanes, floods, fading coastal wetlands, sinking land - can join its greatest economic advantages.
The region has a cluster of expertise that other locations are increasingly likely to seek out as global climate change unfolds, joining the Netherlands as a recognized authority on water management, the thinking goes.
