Posted on 11/29/2005 10:22:34 AM PST by Ellesu
Three months after Hurricane Katrina killed over 1,000 people in the New Orleans area, the White House's top adviser on Gulf Coast hurricane relief said he hasn't yet determined whether the federal government should pay to improve the city's levee system.
Donald Powell on Tuesday declined to say how long it would take before a decision is made on improving the levees beyond their strength prior to Katrina, a Category 3 storm that tore through levees at numerous points, killing 1,086.
"Hopefully that decision will be made sooner rather than later," Powell said.
Powell met with Gov. Kathleen Blanco at the Louisiana Capitol as part of a "fact finding" tour of the coast.
Blanco and other Louisiana officials, plus business and homeowners, have said the levee system must be improved if the New Orleans metropolitan area is repopulated, because people are reluctant to return until the government commits to protect the region from future storms.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has committed to rebuilding for Category 3 storm protection, but Blanco discussed with Powell whether they can be made stronger than that.
"We're looking at what expectations can reasonably be accomplished beyond the Category 3 protection," Blanco said.
ping
I guess if the Feds want to send money down there they can...but it will all be funneled off to Democratic pet projects...
"Category 3 storm that tore through levees at numerous points"
A Cat3 with a Cat 5 storm surge. There is some doubt as to whether levees can actually be constructed to defeat a "true" Cat 5.
How about, the levees are never rebuilt at all. What would be left would be swirling backwaters of the Mississippi River, and the former neighborhoods be allowed to revert to being bayous once again.
Rebuild NOTHING that is lower than the ambient level of the river. Haul in fill dirt, if it is essential that construction must be done there. Make an artificial island, or a series of peninsulas, out from the higher ground in the part of New Orleans that was relatively untouched by the hurricane and subsequent flooding. But rebuild no levees.
"Rebuild NOTHING that is lower than the ambient level of the river. Haul in fill dirt, if it is essential that construction must be done there. Make an artificial island, or a series of peninsulas, out from the higher ground in the part of New Orleans that was relatively untouched by the hurricane and subsequent flooding. But rebuild no levees."
I tend to agree with your idea of forgetting
the levees and concentrate on backfilling
to raise the level of viable land.
New Orleans levees are the jurisdiction
of the 'Orleans Levee Board',
not the Corps of Engineers
The Corps of Engineers contracts with the local authority, in this case, the Orleans Levee Board, to do the work (or arranges contracting with civil contracting firms), and maintains review authority over all the planned construction.
The funding comes from local sources, and whatever funds can be wrangled from the state of Louisiana or the Federal government. Simply because the plans may be reviewed and approved, does not mean that is what will actually be built. For a multitude of reasons (well, OK, it boils down to only one, graft), the funds get disbursed and the work is marked off as 'completed', even though end product may be substandard, or not done at all.
Been a LOT of things like that happen in New Orleans and Louisiana.
I kinda thought it was the other way around.
The Levee Board has been around for a long time,
if the boacd ceeded control to the Corps of Engineers,
in the 1960s or whenever, could you provide a link?
Note, the CoE has a 'district office' in
New Orleans, but my search of their website
showed maps of levees, but not the levees
in Orleans parish, so I believe
the levees in Orleans belong to the
Orleans Levee Board,
although the CoE may from time to time help.
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