LAT/AP: Rain Returns to Hard-Hit New Orleans (flood, levee risk)

[DeepModem Mom]

Rain Returns to Hard-Hit New Orleans
By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer


NEW ORLEANS -- In a grim opening salvo from Hurricane Rita, a steady rain began falling Thursday on New Orleans for the first time since Katrina laid waste to the city, and engineers rushed to shore up the broken levees for fear of another ruinous round of flooding.

The forecast called for 3 to 5 inches of rain in New Orleans in the coming days. That is dangerously close to the amount engineers said could send floodwaters pouring back into neighborhoods that have been dry for less than a week.

There was also the risk that the storm could take a sharper-than-expected turn on its way toward Texas and hit much closer to New Orleans.

"Right now, it's a wait-and-see and hope-for-the-best," Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Mitch Frazier said.

He said the forecast brought renewed urgency to efforts to shore up levees with sandbags and bring in more portable pumps. The corps also installed 60-foot sections of metal across some of the city's canals to protect against storm surges....


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top13sep22,0,706283.story

[demnan]

1. How horrible

If you go on the NOAA site and run a 6 hour loop it looks like the hurricane is headed right to about 50 miles west of New Orleans. This would devestate whatever is left there.