The 9th Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana is located in between a big bend in the Mississippi River and a wide shipping waterway known as the Industrial Canal.

The 9th Ward like many areas in New Orleans is lined with levee systems and sits well below sea level. Residents of this area relied on levees over the years to protect them from hurricane storm surges. The storm surges that push towards the city of New Orleans funnel into the waterways that border the 9th Ward and have always proposed a major threat of total devastation. Most levees in the area are made of an earthen base, topped with extended concrete and/or sheet pile seawalls to heighten elevation.

When Hurricane Katrina’s storm surges pushed into the bordering canals of the 9th Ward, the water quickly began to rise above the earthen levels, pressing against the existing seawalls. Water began to top the seawalls and in doing so eroded the soils at the base of seawall on the inland side.  Without protection of scour and counter weight to support the water weight, the levees failed bringing catastrophic disaster to the community.

Since then, The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has studied the failures and is implementing a variation of new designs and technologies to prevent failures from reoccurring in the future. One of the identified additions is the need for levees, such as those in the 9th Ward, to be armored. A tough hard structure would be needed on the inland side of the extended seawalls. This structure would be required to give support to the existing wall while at the same time absorb the forces of water during overtopping. The HESCO Concertainer Unit, studied by the U.S.A.C.E. over the years, was chosen as a product to be implemented into the 9th Ward’s levee system.

The Concertainer Unit was installed atop an existing levee which consisted of an earthen base and a core of heavy gauge, steel sheet pile. The 4’ tall, 3’ wide welded wire product is lined with a polypropylene geotextile fabric and is designed to contain earthen materials. The interlocking system weighs over 1,500 lbs. per linear foot when installed and provided the U.S.A.C.E. with the protective addition they were looking for.

The HESCO Concertainer system is manufactured in sections of 15’ and folds accordion style for easy shipping. One pallet of product packs 10 Concertainer units, providing 150’ of protection. At the manufacturing facility, completed product is maintained in stock.

As seen in the photos, the HESCO Concertainer Units were placed flush against the inland side of the existing sheet piles and filled with earthen material.  While supporting the sheet piles with tremendous weight, the 4’ Concertainer units gave the system an added foot of flood protection.

Although the Concertainer units were the fix of choice, other concepts were carefully studied. The U.S.A.C.E. considered bringing in heavy crane machinery to raise the sheet pile level by pulling the piles up a foot. This brought the concern of weakening the base of the already fragile levee and still wouldn’t give the needed counter weight on the inland side. Another factor of the project was the obstructions of high voltage wires and train tracks along side the levee needing to be removed before a large crane could mobilize the site.  The Concertainer system was installed with standard, construction equipment such as a back-hoe, excavator and a crew of 6 men.