New Orleans levees still might not be ready.
By on Aug 26th, 2006 at 10:56 pm
New Orleans levees still might not be ready.
“Despite aggressive efforts to repair the New Orleans levee system following the destruction of Hurricane Katrina, it isn’t clear yet whether it could withstand a hurricane with heavy storm surge this year, the head of the Army Corps of Engineers conceded Saturday.”
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The levee failure was caused by poor planning, the republican congress cutting funding to strengthen the levees to withstand a category 5 storm and now a year later after all the “promises” to rebuild and never let it happen again, they still aren’t ready? The LIE that these things take time is nothing but a lie, to excuse incompetence.
August 26th, 2006 at 11:00 pmFor some reason, it seems anything the government does they screw up…
Corruption, waste, mismanagement, pork, the list goes on and on.
Common sense tells you it takes a food to build a city on land below
city sealevel, what over 1 million people and billions if not trillions
of dollars investment.
whoever okayed New Orleans to be built where it was was a FOOL. Why didn’t
they build the City 30 – 40 miles inland and put the resort or whatever else
that could be diposable up by the coast. You know they could have built a
road leading to that portion of the City…. BUT NO…..
Instead they invest billions upon billions to a area for a major diaster
just waiting to happen.
Be happy … we all pay AT LEAST $20 day for services from our trusty
government x 365 x 75 years are more…. THAT’S $750,000 a person
contribution to what would be expected acceptable return of services
and what do we get…. a great big F.
One more hurricane and it’s all over for new orleans and the likelihood
August 27th, 2006 at 12:25 amis significant
Umm, I can see you are history challenged also. You see New Orleans was above sea level when it was built. It is sinking. They didn’t build it below sea level.
August 27th, 2006 at 1:08 amFor some reason, it seems anything the government does they screw up…
Comment by Jimbo — August 27, 2006 @ 12:25 am
the guys in charge HATE government, that’s why they do what they can to destroy it… “see, we told you so”…
August 27th, 2006 at 1:10 amthanks for letting me know it’s been sinking. heck no… i think the government overall
could be really good if we get all that corruption out of it and return are sacred leaders
back to their intended roles, reciprocal service providers, finally to serve us.
New orleans is definitely is just another disaster waiting to happen unless
August 27th, 2006 at 1:58 amthey really can come up with the protection it needs
Three things:
1. The racism displayed by the Bush Administration after Hurricane Katrina was disgusting.
2. New Orleanians cannot be blamed for living in communities that were either well-established or they were born into or both.
3. Government is completely necessary in some situations as this proves.
August 27th, 2006 at 2:48 amLt. Gen. Carl Strock was confident the Corps had done all it could to repair and reinforce 220 miles of levee walls, but he said many variables would determine whether the levees could withstand a major hurricane striking near New Orleans, as Katrina did Aug. 29, 2005. “To pinpoint it to one thing and say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ is very difficult,” said Strock. By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer
Strock forgot to mention one little thing: the levees were reinforced for a category three hurricane, not category five. Armando Gomez
August 27th, 2006 at 3:38 amThe Netherlands seems to do very well with sea walls despite North Atlantic storms and is the product of (gasp) liberal politicians who actually took care of the needs of the people of the country instead of reciting platitudes and going to war with everyone.
August 27th, 2006 at 6:59 amPresumably there will only be another disaster if God decided to punish America again for its loose morals. Therefore, putting flag burning and gay marriage at the top of the political agenda stops any more hurricanes. Hence, no need for levee repairs!
August 27th, 2006 at 9:37 amWell, there is a major tropical depression brewing which is heading for the Yucatan and if it decides to head for the Gulf of Mexico instead of heading inland, NOLA could be f**k again. The Cheney Repubs don’t want to fix the levees. They want NOLA to become a Cracker city… a Red Cracker city. Cheney Repubs don’t want folks of color returning to NOLA.
August 27th, 2006 at 10:12 amkaty – these guys in charge “hate government” but they really want a big central government… one that they can control. And one where they can live off our tax dollars. Cheney&Co Republicans just want to rape America of all our resources. And that takes big government with them in charge.
August 27th, 2006 at 10:16 amAnd this is surprising how?
America’s Least Wanted
August 27th, 2006 at 10:17 amPrince – neither flag burning or gay marriage amendments passed so guess we’re in for another big one.
August 27th, 2006 at 10:19 amI used to be a Louisianian.
The city, pre-katrina, had a crime rate 14 times NYC or some such, a very unbalanced economy, akin to that of a rust-belt city, a fractious local government, heavily racially divided (and not just white/black, that’s only the half of it).
Nagin was a failure as mayor before Katrina, and they knew it. The previous mayor was a failure, too, and they knew that, too (he tried to change the city charter to allow himself an extra term in office, like a third world dictator recently did, but was defeated).
The city council was a complete joke. The housing department had been taken over by the feds, and the school system was in the process of being taken over by the state, all this before katrina.
For a city of 1.3 milion metro, it had a crummy museum, crummy orchestra, crummy parks (they couldn’t afford to cut the grass on the side of the road, literally), crummy streets (they were sinking unevenly), crummy schools, a crummy zoo, crummy library, crummy courts, corrupt judges, crummy jails, corrupt police, decrepit utilities, an ancient, lead paint encrusted housing stock, a massitve termite problem, crummy health care system, crummy universities (unless you were rich), a crummy airport, an obsolete superdome (the city was debating with the NoLa saints over replacing it at tremendous expense…instead of debating the provision of more basic public services that they damn well knew they lacked), a crummy philanthropic community (Baton Rouge, half as large, had a community foundation with twice as much money), crummy employers (only one unionized hotel in the entire city of, what 100,000 plus rooms, all national chains).
They knew all this. They knew that they would be flooded, but they just thought it would be ten, twenty, or forty years down the road.
They knew that the Orleans Avenue Canal had a 300 foot section of uncompleted floodwall, through which water would pour from the lake directly into the lowest section.
They knew that there was no backup power supply for the 20 cycle current pumping system.
They knew that the London Ave. canal wall was sinking during construction and sued to prevent the contractor from collecting the extra expense involved in correcting it.
The city controlled drainage board just assumed that the bottom of the canal was impermiable when they dredged it deeper than the bottom of the levee foundation. They never actually checked with the corps.
They knew that the mississippi gulf outlet was a storm surge conduit, but their congressman was more interested in corruption and graft.
They knew that the new pumping station built next to the I-10 underpass was stupid, and it failed not two years after being built at a cost of tens of millions of dollars, sealing off the main, elevated, highway route into the city.
They knew that 100,000 residents had no transportation out of the city. This was not a bush admin. conspiracy. They just didn’t do anything about it.
Given what I know about new orleans, I am amazed that it wasn’t worse.
August 27th, 2006 at 10:24 ambudpaul – wow, you have courage. I’ve tried reading RedState and every time I do, I get sick in my stomach. That was an interesting straw poll. Thanks for having the guts to read it and post the results.
August 27th, 2006 at 10:28 amandrewL,
I used to be a Louisianian, too. My oldest son is an honorary Cajun.
Tell me, andrew, what is your point? Louisiana is not a perfect place. Not a single place I have ever lived has been even close to perfect. The people of the New Orleans area didn’t deserve the treatment they got after Katrina. This is the United State of America, and shit like that isn’t supposed to happen.
August 27th, 2006 at 10:31 amNagin was a failure as mayor before Katrina, and they knew it. The previous mayor was a failure, too, and they knew that, too (he tried to change the city charter to allow himself an extra term in office, like a third world dictator recently did, but was defeated).
Guilliani tried this trick too.
Well, it’s a good thing that you got out of New Orleans. Looks like nothing has changed. What’s the saying “the same old wine but a brand new bottle” ? Are you trying to say that it’s okay that the bed wetting frat boy can handle the task of helping NOLA rebuild?
August 27th, 2006 at 10:35 amoops… meant to post – bed wetting frat boy can’t handle the task of helping NOLA rebuild.
August 27th, 2006 at 10:37 amHow does it feel amurka to have a completely inept and incompetent government – all republicrats by the way – put in office by the supreme court – and kept there by illegal voting practices?
Dont you think it is time for a drastic change? Like you know, if you had dirty underwear, you would perhaps change them, dont you think?
August 27th, 2006 at 10:38 amRebel – good analogy. This Cheney/Rumsfeld/Bush administration and rubber stamp Republican Congress is just like dirty underwear.
Vote for new direction – vote Democrat in November
August 27th, 2006 at 10:41 amFor fiscal 2006, BushCo cut $71 Million dollars from the NO ACOE budget. And that is AFTER Hurricane Katrina. Now why would they do that? And 60% of NO is STILL WITHOUT ELECTRICITY, one year later. There is NO excuse for that.
August 27th, 2006 at 10:41 amCheney/Rumsfeld &Co. needs the money for their wars so tough sh*t NOLA. Unless Osama suddenly appears in the French Quarter, New Orleans is plum out of luck. Frat boy Bush believes that NOLA residents just need to learn how to swim. He wants to know how long can you tred water? That will determine when the Big Easy residents get rescued after the next catastrophe.
August 27th, 2006 at 10:45 amThe point is, to echo the verbiage from the post, it is not clear that new orleans levees will be able to withstand heavy storm surge this year or next because both the local and federal governments invested so much in a system that can be so easily overwhelmed, and that has no redundancy.
All parties have known this for many years, or should have known. It should not be surprising to anyone familiar with the city that decisions of decades can be corrected in 9 months.
Aside from the problems of correcting infrastructure that was not the best in a country with a less than stellar record (read, big dig, etc., where even gold plated projects have failed), I would agree with you that the humanitarian response was very ill treatment indeed and was not befitting an administration in washington that considers itself the leaders of a world superpower.
I am not convinced, however, that the levees could be up to the level of pre-katrina (i.e., when they failed), in the amount of time since elapsed. Could they, I concede, be in better shape than they are now? Well, the president and the corps did make some strong promises in that regard, didn’t they.
August 27th, 2006 at 10:48 amWell, the president and the corps did make some strong promises in that regard, didn’t they.
Comment by andrewL
Yes they did, andrew, and as soon as GWB opened his mouth, the people of NO should have realized they were screwed.
August 27th, 2006 at 10:57 amThe latest NOAA forecast shows it heading for yours truely – in Saint Augustine, Florida.
August 27th, 2006 at 11:02 amWaltTheMan – take shelter.
August 27th, 2006 at 11:09 amWhisle blowers say State Farm Insurance cheated Katrina victims.
August 27th, 2006 at 11:47 amCould it be that large sections of below sea level New Orelans have been unofficially abandoned?
August 27th, 2006 at 11:56 amState Farm refused to insure my home in Florida because it is too close to the ocean (1200 feet). I was with State Farm in New York for over 30 years. So much for loyalty to the customer.
August 27th, 2006 at 11:59 am#8.
Thank you Bones, but I would like to ament one tiny part. Extensive projects such as the Deltawerken are generally started with as broad a consensus as possible. The sheer time (decades) and expenditure (astronomical) involved in the realization of those constructions guanrantees that whichever coalition was governing when the project was fired up, will not be in charge half-way or near the end. Without a broad consensus these kinds of projects are in jeopardy of being aborted prematurely and likely consequences such as a repeat of the Februari 1953 Watersnoodramp are too horrible to comtemplate.
In essence one can view the succesful completion of our seabarriers as triumph over short-term thinking, or political pragmatism. (Imagine election rethoric like “There hasn’t been a storm in 4 years! Let’s abandon this, cut costs and lower taxes!”)
Katrina was a tragedy, a nightmare. Although I hope that New Orleans will be spared similar ordeals, especially in the near future, at the moment I feel saddened that I’m not surprised that the city ill-prepared.
Having said all that, in case anyone wonders why a non-American would regularly visit this site in particular, there’s recent history on one hand and then there’s the fact that I have voted liberal for my entire life. You guys have my full support and I really hope you manage to put the first dents in the dragon that needs slaying come november.
August 27th, 2006 at 12:27 pmJFH,
Thank you for your perspective on the levee issue. I think no one really understand the potential scale of the levee project — most especially our current administration.
Welcome JFH!
August 27th, 2006 at 12:33 pmBush Doesn’t Care About New Orleans
August 27th, 2006 at 12:43 pmhttp://www.brasscheck.com/videos/neworleans/neworleans5.html
# 30
JFH
Thank you for your insight and thanks for your support.
Best wishes to you and your family over there in the Netherlands.
August 27th, 2006 at 12:45 pmI posted a loger post to say that it looks like Saint Augustine may be skirted. The spam filter ate it because I included a link to the hurricane tracking center. Remove the blanks from the following reference and paste it into your Address line.:
August 27th, 2006 at 6:01 pmw ww.n hc.no aa.gov
Why TP should consider a .gov site as possible SPAM evades me.
loger sb longer, sorry.
August 27th, 2006 at 6:01 pmfunny how most of the places that accepted the refugees from New Orleans had their crime rate go up considerably. the monkeys need to go back in to their cages
August 27th, 2006 at 6:58 pm#36- stli- The ‘poster child’ for why some species eat their young.
August 27th, 2006 at 7:33 pmThanks Zooey & Killer Whale.
On the understanding the scale of a project that makes New Orleans waterproof, post-Katrina our government did send help, not only in materials but engineers as well (which isn’t really special, post-February ‘53 your country had send a lot of help too). They helped with getting the gaps in the levees closed and had a look into the whole situation. There was (is?) a whole lot of room for improvements, but it’s mainly the finances that are an obstacle.
As for a point of reference, the Deltawerken were estimated to cost 3.3 billion Guldens. Or in modern day currency 1.49 billion Euro’s. And that was back in 1957 and only the original cost estimate. A lot of cost overruns happened overtime, especially to lessen the environmental impacts of the project. I for one really don’t want to know what the total costs were in the end, I still recall the news from around 1988 or so when the stormvloedkering came into operation, basically a “levee” with gates which can be closed under more extreme circumstances and thereby preserving the salt-water environment behind it. It was a bit like a moonlanding, except that we can take a car, drive up there and see what it’s like.
The principal difference between the USA and Nederland is that we have a small, densely populated country a lot of which is reclaimed from the sea. Or simply stated, we don’t have anywhere else to go to. To me, the current situation of New Orleans seems to be a wait-and-see approach, with the government silently hoping that far less people will return to the disaster area, so that when a plan is finally approved there will be less city area to protect. Then there’s also the natural situation that needs consideration – it might well be that not all of New Orleans can be protected. You might build levees that can withstand 99.999% of the worst that nature might throw at you, but what will happen in time? The buildings won’t stop sinking and that problem will have to be tackled along with the levees.
Then again, we also had a documentary wherein it was shown how the current levees where constructed. Back in the 13th century we build levees that were far more advanced than what basically amounts to a compact wall of sand, so even if a near-complete waterproof plan is too costly to implement, there are at least alternatives that might help save some lives or properties, provided a real big category-5 doesn’t hit too soon.
August 27th, 2006 at 8:47 pm