Planners and citizens of New Orleans now have a powerful new tool to guide their reconstruction decisions,  a flood-risk analysis system developed by scientists working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The system has evolved from a growing understanding of hurricanes and the performance of storm defenses engineered to resist them. And while its first application is to hurricane floods in New Orleans, officials say it could be applied to improving the performance of natural-hazard defenses anywhere.

“This is a prototype risk model, something that works now but will be refined over time,” said Lt. Gen. Robert Van Antwerp, Corps commander and chief of engineers, when the tool was unveiled in New Orleans on June 20. “We will use it, learn from it as we go and see if we can apply it to other areas. It’s fitting that the people in southeast Louisiana will be first, but I can’t help but dream that everyone in the rest of the country who has a levee or any feature that protects them won’t benefit from this.”