Schwarzenegger seeks levee assistance (Chertoff will tour area)

[sabra]

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/politics/13974325.htm

Schwarzenegger seeks levee assistance

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff will tour the Sacramento area to see if federal help is needed to prevent a Katrina-style disaster there, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday.

Schwarzenegger said Chertoff made the commitment during a meeting in which Schwarzenegger pressed him to support a federal disaster declaration for Sacramento's fragile river and delta levee system. On Friday, Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency for the levees to try to get quick funding to repair them.

"He said that he will help, that he will look into it," Schwarzenegger told The Associated Press in an interview. "He has committed to come to California to take a tour with me."

"It's always easier if you see it," said Schwarzenegger, who toured the levees by helicopter several days before issuing the disaster declaration.

[realFedUp]

1. Schwarzenegger and Chertoff in the same sentence....

that should make us feel safer....this is all too easy
for comedians and comic strippers.

[Coastie for Truth]

2. Arnold - Trust Me - Chertoff and Bush won't do crap

We are on our own.

FEMA did throw some money at and we do have our own local

<>

[sabra]

3. I am not sure who the least credible person is in that pack?

[Coastie for Truth]

5. I'll go with the octogenarian volunteers of the Red Cross and CitizenCorps

ahead of Bush, Chertoff, or Arnold.

[Mz Pip]

4. I hope something comes of this.

Millions of acres in the central valley are protected by levees. There would be massive flooding, worse than NOLA if they broke. This is a disaster waiting to happen. Good for Ahnold if he can do something about.

I still won't vote for him, though.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[zbdent]

9. Remind me

when's the last time a hurricane hit California?

[Mz Pip]

10. We don't get hurricanes

but the central valley is prone to flooding. We had a huge storm on New Years Eve that shut down Interstate 80 and flooded much of Napa. A few years ago the Sacramento River flooded. If the levees around the river broke the devestation would be enormous. The agricultural region would suffer billions of dollars worth of loss.

This is not a centralized region like NOLA either. The Sacramento River stretches for a couple of hundred miles through the central valley and then opening up into the delta region before it hits the bay.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[Coastie for Truth]

13. Flooding is even an issue in Santa Clara County (Silicon Valley)

The Creeks that come down from the Santa Cruz Mountains into the Bay frequently flood. The kids live in Menlo Park (near the USGS Earthquake Center) - and they are on a Flood Warning as we speak.

And I am in a flood standby for a Red Cross detail to "South County" (below Gilroy).

[Garbo 2004]

11. No hurricanes, of course, but the levees are what saves this area from

annual flooding from the rivers. And it's a very large area. Winter storms, spring runoff from the mountains are annual events when the levees are particularly stressed. Sacramento, for example, is between two rivers. I recall a wet stormy winter many years ago when we in Sacramento were worried that the levees might not hold. Water was bubbling through levees in some areas and the rivers were high. It's a real threat. And the Delta further south is not unlike the Mississippi Delta.

It seems that almost every year one levee or more fails somewhere in the system, usually in the Sacto-San Joaquin Delta. That's a greater frequency than the times a major hurricane hits NOLA.

When farmland is flooded, it's usually just local news. It's a major agricultural area. If a levee were to fail in a highly populated area it would be national news. So there's two big industries in CA that are concerned, agriculture and real estate development. And then there are the residents of course.

But IMO one big reason Ahnold's now interested in this matter (besides the political PR in an election year) is due to the real estate developers interests. Developers are big political players in the area. For decades and still ongoing, real estate developers in this area have been buying up farmland and buiding housing developments in flood plains. The levees have always been a concern. But after Katrina and the publicity regarding failing or overtopped levees, there's been greater media attention to the condition of levees in our area and the potential for catastrophic flooding.

In new housing developments, however, the prospect of potentially being under 20 feet of water some day may not be a great selling point to potential buyers.

[MadMaddie]

6. If Chertof sends billions of dollars to the CA levies....

this will be another nail in the coffin of the Repug party.....
The Gulf already turning it's anger towards the * cabal will be in a huge uproar!!!

It will show that Chertoff and the * cabal are willing to listen to a repug governer when he says his levies are in trouble but not the LA governer....

<snip>
On Friday, Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency for the levees to try to get quick funding to repair them.
<snip>

The LA governer tried to do the same thing and she was turned down....and now she is being blamed for the aftermath of the hurricane.....

[Coastie for Truth]

7. Arnold's "State of Emergency" - as explained in a community

newspaper - has nothing to do with FEMA or Federal Aid, and everything to do with the Legislative path - in California - to start the project with California taxpayer money.

Remember - we have Cooper-Jarvis and Prop XIII and the Reagan Years and "Super Majority" Requirements on appropriations and budgets - so the Governor has to declare an emergency to do anything financial.

Hint: as an NGO emergency responder --- we are already on flood alert in California.

[951-Riverside]

8. Then they will seek earthquake protection in Louisiana

:sarcasm:

[Garbo 2004]

12. Yeah, cause you know flooding is not an annual concern in No. CA Central

Valley?

:sarcasm:

1997, for example: http://www.news.water.ca.gov/1997.spring/raging-waters.html

PBS Newshour story on NorCal levees and flooding: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/science/july-dec05/levees_12-22.html