On the Today section front, read James Reaney's interview profile of singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, performing at the JLC Aug. 29.

Saturday, 25 August, 2007

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Western expert in doc

Sat, August 25, 2007

A UWO engineer will be in a new film on hurricane Katrina.

By KATHY RUMLESKI, FREE PRESS REPORTER

Slobodan Simonovic recently warned London about the threat of a Thames River flood that could be worse than 1937, when thousands of locals were left homeless and a rescue worker killed.

Now Western's Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction director lends his expertise to a documentary about hurricane Katrina.

Two years to the day after Katrina touched down in Louisiana, High River Blues will air Wednesday as part of Turning Points of History on History Television.

Simonovic, an engineering expert in water resources, spent more than two hours at the London dike doing interviews last year for the documentary, which draws parallels between Katrina and the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.

More than 1,000 people lost their lives in that disaster.

He talked to producers about the engineering aspects of flooding and emergency management.

Simonovic said there are some interesting parallels between the two extreme weather events.

Simonovic, a member of the international joint commission that looked at 1997's Red River flood, said these catastrophes affect economics, politics, the environment and social movement.

Renewal occurs after these events, said Simonovic, who was critical of the U.S. response to Katrina.

"I don't see a renewal coming out of (Katrina). There is so little being done. FEMA and homeland security are really not doing anything to be better prepared or react more effectively."

He's hoping London will be prepared for flooding after his study of the Thames, presented this spring, showed floods will be more frequent.

"They took it quite seriously," he said. "I'm trying to provide, as much as possible, my professional expertise."

Another Canadian in the documentary is Brian Inglis of the Vancouver Search and Rescue Unit.

Inglis will never forget the day he arrived in a New Orleans suburb a few days after Katrina pounded the city and left thousands of people stranded amid toxic floodwaters.

Officials at St. Bernard Parish were overjoyed to see Inglis and his team show up, so much so that they reverentially started calling them Mounties, although they had no link to the RCMP.

"But the difficult part was these guys, grown men, tough men . . . they were crying because someone had finally shown up.

"It took your breath away how bad things were. They were in serious, serious trouble there, and no one was coming to help them."

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