Keywords
accessibility, disasters, evacuation, extreme event, Hurricane Katrina, ramps
Summary
A first hand account of flood damage caused to accessible ramps by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans is provided. The impacts of this damage to and destruction of ramps on the mobility and evacuation older adults and disabled people in affected areas is discussed, and the extent and causes of the damages are explained and quantified. An overview of various sponsors of existing ramp design guidelines is provided. Interventions are proposed, such as the establishment of additional specifications to enhance and strengthen ramp connections and mitigate future flood damage affecting the disabled and elderly. Issues for future investigation and research are discussed. Among them are the advisability of portable, temporary ramps in case of ramp failure from flood; flood preparedness/proofing of lifts for future raised housing; and the advisability of institutional partnering of various organizations such as FEMA, disability, veteran affairs and human services, insurance providers, as well as engineers, architects, and urban planners for establishing flood resistant design specifications for ramp design and construction and incentives that encourage compliance with such specifications.
Date of Original
9-1-2007
Volume
1
Issue
1
Broad Type
Article
Specific Collection
Multi: the RIT Journal of Diversity and Plurality in Design.
Notes
Note: imported from RIT’s Digital Media Library running on DSpace to the RIT Digital Institutional Repository in August 2025; Some links embedded into the PDF may not work
