WSJ: Why Levee Breaches In New Orleans Were Late-Breaking News

[question everything]

Why Levee Breaches In New Orleans Were Late-Breaking News

By JOE HAGAN and JOSEPH T. HALLINAN
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
September 12, 2005; Page B1

(snip)

Mr. Chertoff talked (to Tim Russert) about news coverage. "Well, I think if you look at what actually happened, I remember on Tuesday morning picking up newspapers, and I saw headlines, 'New Orleans Dodged The Bullet,' " he said. "Because if you recall, the storm moved to the east and then continued on and appeared to pass with considerable damage but nothing worse. It was on Tuesday that the levee -- may have been overnight Monday to Tuesday -- that the levee started to break."

But now it is known that major levee breaks occurred much earlier than that, starting in the morning of Monday, Aug. 29, the day Hurricane Katrina made landfall. Even as the storm veered off and many observers felt a sense of relief, the Industrial Canal levee in eastern New Orleans was giving way, and a rush of water swiftly submerged much of the Lower Ninth Ward and areas nearby, trapping thousands of people on rooftops and in attics. The 17th Street Canal levee also was breached early Monday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers now believes, resulting in a slower-rising flood over a larger area. Yet it wasn't until Tuesday that most people across the country, apparently including Mr. Chertoff, realized that any levees at all had been breached. Did media outlets get it wrong, as Mr. Chertoff claimed? Some did, some didn't.

(snip)

The New Orleans office of the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning at 8:14 a.m. Monday, saying "a levee breach occurred along the industrial canal at Tennessee Street. 3 to 8 feet of water is expected due to the breach." The media largely ignored it. The NWS's source of information was ham-radio transmissions by the Orleans Levee Board, a city-state agency. The 8:14 warning was the last one the local office issued before its communications were cut off. The statement was repeated only once more, at 10:52 a.m., by the National Weather Service office in Mobile, Ala. Yet some government officials certainly appeared aware of a breach and said so on network television. At 7:33 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 29, Gov. Kathleen B. Blanco said on NBC, "I believe the water has breached the levee system, and is -- is coming in."

In its Aug. 29 online edition, the New Orleans Times-Picayune first reported a breach in the 17th Street Canal levee at 2 p.m., citing City Hall officials. No other major news outlets picked up that report. The newspaper's Web site also reported massive flooding near the Industrial Canal, writing that city officials "fielded at least 100 calls from people in distress in the Lower 9th Ward and eastern New Orleans." At about 2:30, it reported that the Industrial Canal had been breached, citing a National Weather Service report. But in the hours immediately following the storm, some news organizations seemed to play down the damage in New Orleans. Introducing "World News Tonight" on Aug. 29, anchor Charles Gibson said: "In New Orleans, entire neighborhoods are underwater, but the levees held. The nightmare scenario of an entire city underwater did not happen." A spokeswoman for ABC, a unit of Walt Disney Co., had no comment.

(snip)

No major newspaper printed a headline that literally said New Orleans "dodged a bullet," as Mr. Chertoff claimed. But some did say the city had escaped a direct hit -- which was true, but misleading -- while others focused on the levees along the Mississippi River. Meanwhile, it was the levees along canals extending south from Lake Pontchartrain that gave way... In the 5 p.m. news report on News Corp.'s Fox News Channel, anchor Shepard Smith informed viewers of "late word" that the levees had held. But a few minutes later, in the same program, a public-health expert told the channel the exact opposite: "Well, the National Weather Service are reporting that one of the levees was breached. ... People have been forced out onto the roofs of their homes.".. It wasn't until Monday evening that a private helicopter company, Helinet Helicopter Services of Los Angeles, began feeding the first aerial images of New Orleans to Fox News, ABC, NBC, CNN and CBS. By early Tuesday morning, most major media had become aware of the awful extent of the destruction.

Confusion over the difference between a breach of a levee and a mere overrun may also be to blame. Locals have long known that an actual break in a levee would mean catastrophic and irreversible damage. But if flooding was only the result of water sloshing over the top of a levee, combined with 12 inches of rainfall and possible storm surges, then the situation could have been far less serious.

(snip)

Write to Joe Hagan at [e-mail] and Joseph T. Hallinan at [e-mail]

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112649152397237699,00.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace (subscripton)

[JuniperLea]

1. It is chilling that this ass relies on newspapers for news!

WTF??

Is it me, or is he demonic looking?

[enki23]

2. er... are they pretending they didn't know on monday?

bullshit. that's just cover for bushie's flying around to fundraisers and birthday parties. they fucking knew. *i* fucking knew. the new orleans media sure as fuck knew. the mayor fucking knew, and said *that day* that he had been trying his damnedest to get someone in the bush administration to give a shit.

what the fuck sort of fantasyland are these assholes living in?

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. The Mayor knew about the breeches and had asked FEMA

to send helicopters before they broke. He had sandbags ready and just needed the copters to come and drop them. FEMA told him that they would send the copters. Later on Nagin was told that they had been diverted. He knew then it was too late and the worst was about to happen.


Nagin: Entire City Will Soon Be Underwater

POSTED: 10:02 pm CDT August 30, 2005

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is "very upset" that an attempt to fix the breach in the levee at the 17th Street canal has failed, and he said the challenges that the city is facing have "escalated to another level."

"The sandbagging that we had hoped would happen didn't materialize today, so the water continued to rise at that particular location," he said.

<snip>
"It's going to rise to 3 feet above seal level. For example, St. Charles Avenue is 6 feet below sea level, there will most likely be 9 feet of water on St. Charles Avenue," Nagin said.

Also, if residents are in a part of city that is 10 feet below sea level, Nagin said the levels will probably rise to 13 feet of water.

He said the "bowl is now filling up" and the entire city will soon be underwater.

Nagin said the sandbagging was scheduled for midday, but the Blackhawk helicopters needed to help did not show up. He said the sandbags were ready and all the helicopter had to do was "show up." He said after his afternoon helicopter tour of the city, he was assured that officials had a plan and a timeline to drop the sandbags on the levee breach.

http://www.wdsu.com/weather/4917809/detail.html

[lindisfarne]

4. Were the helicopters held up by Bush'sf ailure until Thurs night

to sign off on Northern Command sending in resources?

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. This happened on Monday BEFORE the levee breached

Supposed they were diverted to rescue a large group of people.

[elare]

6. Someone needs to show Mr. Chertoff

how to use the Internet. I knew that the levees had been breached on Monday afternoon, and I was at work, with only time to check the hurricane reports online every 45 minutes or so.