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New Orleans Repeating Deadly Levee Mistakes
by Gh0s7 | August 23, 2008 at 10:22 pm | 303 views | 7 comments | 13 recommendations
You have heard the saying that history repeats itself and in the still recovering city of New Orleans, signs are becoming evident that such a saying is true. The Associated Press has been following the levee work that has been done in New Orleans and has found that many factors such as legal fighting and engineering miscalculations could cause New Orleans to fall victim to yet another disastrous flood.
Surprisingly, most people do not know that New Orleans was hit by a storm before Katrina in 1965 that was known as Betsy. The storm struck New Orleans and flooded most of the same areas that were flooded by Katrina. The similarities between the effects of Hurricane Betsy and Hurricane Katrina are startling. When Betsy hit New Orleans, the levees broke, water reached to rooftops and people were clinging to trees to survive.
In Betsy's aftermath, President Lyndon B. Johnson — like President Bush — pledged to rebuild New Orleans and make it safe from hurricanes. Little more than a month after the storm, Congress gave the corps $85 million to build a Category 3 hurricane levee system.By 1976, though, the Government Accountability Office found the completion date for the work had slipped 13 years, from 1978 to 1991. Costs had soared to $352 million. By 1982, the GAO found that the project's cost had increased to $757 million and the agency said the work would not get done by 2008.
Needless to say, I think that we all know how the levee construction efforts turned out and many sources have stated that the construction was left incomplete.
When and if the Army Corps of Engineers finishes $14.8 billion in post-Katrina work, the city will have limited protection — what are defined as 100-year levees.This does not mean they'd stand up to storms for a century. Under the 100-year standard, in fact, experts say that every house being rebuilt in New Orleans has a 26% chance of being flooded again over a 30-year mortgage; and every child born in New Orleans would have nearly a 60% chance of seeing a major flood in his or her life.
The Associated Press has found that many of the people in New Orleans are forgetting the true nature of the previous disaster and most are falling victim to the misconception that they are now safe from flooding.
"They've heightened the levees. They're raised up. It makes me feel safe"
The article goes on to state that for the foreseeable future, New Orleans will be protected by levees that will be unable to protect the city against another storm like Katrina. I believe that the questions we should ask ourselves are What happened after Hurricane Betsy? What happened again after Hurricane Katrina? If we do not learn from the mistakes that we have made in the past then the same kinds of things will happen again when another hurricane heads towards New Orleans.
August 23, 2008 at 10:22 pm by Gh0s7, 303 views, 7 comments
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (7)
at 22:35 on August 23rd, 2008
Gh0s7, I like this story. It's good stuff.
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JaimeH (not verified)at 23:15 on August 23rd, 2008
A couple of years ago, while traveling to his Grandparents FEMA trailer in Lakeview, my then 3 year old son once said "Mama, I need to grow up right now. I need to grow so I can fix all the houses... because they are homes. Everybody needs a home."
I told him all the grown ups were going to work on doing that. His job was the most important one of all. To remember.
at 01:20 on August 24th, 2008
Gh0s7, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 05:29 on August 24th, 2008
Gh0s7, I like this story. It's good stuff.
If I'm not mistaken, much of New Orleans is situated below sea level ... nothing is going to change that. Anyone with the opportunity, the means and the inclination should really just go for it and find some higher ground to live on ...
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doctorj (not verified)at 06:47 on August 24th, 2008
Rebuilding New Orleans
at 10:43 on August 24th, 2008
You finally ask some of the right questions. Further research from Louisiana and New Orleans websites will reveal that hardly anyone here feels safe from the levees. The corps used inferior materials in rebuilding damaged levees, only repaired the damaged areas, leaving weak spots untouched, and has insisted on cutting down older trees near the 17th St Canal levees, which will cause underground weaknesses when the roots rot.
Also the rebuilt levee along Lake Ponchartrain is not at the height the Corps claims.
The corps has consistently refused to use proper surveys done by Louisiana engineers and other unconnected groups. There is Levees.org dedicated to safer levees nationwide.
Another big problem is the MRGO canal, useless endangering canal from Missisippi to Gulf, that helped flood New Orleans and the two parishes, demands to close it have not gotten results. Not being used, it needs to be totally filled in.
FYI Hurricane Betsy did flood New Orleans, but it subsided in only 10 days and only 76 people lost their lives compared to the thousands from Katrina. The Corps supposedly rebuilt the failed levees higher and safer after Betsy. Uhhh.....Duhhh.
An interesting analysis of a historic neighborhood near the French Quarter post-Betsy.
As for the people of New Orleans returning to their former lifestyle, it will never be the same, too many died, too many were evacuated never to return, and too many criminals managed to come back or never left (they were looting while the hurricane passed thru).
So, don't begrudge them the party, they earned it. And they are not stupid.
at 07:54 on August 25th, 2008
It's good stuff.