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 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. Van Heerden 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, which eventually ended his tenure at LSU when he was dismissed by the university. For the last decade, he has been one of the most persistent voices warning of the inevitable effects of a major hurricane on the Louisiana coast.