Ivor van Heerdan

Ivor van Heerden is a South African-born American scientist who was the deputy director of the Louisiana State University (LSU) Hurricane Center. He completed his doctoral degree in marine sciences as LSU and later established a hurricane modeling program at his alma mater. Van Heerdan participated in the Hurricane Pam exercise in July 2004, asserting that his recommendations were overlooked, a neglect which he argues exacerbated the Hurricane Katrina disaster. He is known for his criticism of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, attributing the 2005 levee failures in New Orleans to their faulty design and execution. Van Heerdan penned “The Storm” in 2007, which challenged the official version of events during and after Hurricane Katrina. For the last three decades, he has been one of the most persistent voices warning of the effects of major hurricanes on the Gulf and East Coasts and especially Louisiana.