NOLA Still in Grave Danger as Hurricaine Season Arrives

[AtomicKitten]

TIME Preview: New Orleans Still In Grave Danger As Hurricane Season Arrives
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003620509

By E&P Staff

Published: August 02, 2007 11:20 AM ET

NEW YORK In this week’s cover story coming in Time magazine tomorrow, Michael Grunwald finds in New Orleans a "pathetic" situation: Many of the same coastal scientists and engineers who sounded alarms about the dangers to that city before Hurricane Katrina are warning that the Army Corps of Engineers is “poised to repeat its mistakes—and extend them along the entire Louisiana coast …

"If you liked Katrina, they say, you’ll love what’s coming next … As the disaster’s Aug. 29 anniversary approaches, there will be plenty of talk about the future of New Orleans … But in the long run, recovery plans won’t matter much if investors, insurers and homesick evacuees can’t trust the Corps to prevent the city from drowning again."

The cover shows a floodwall and the heading, "Special Report: Why New Orleans Still Isn't Safe." The deck reads: "Two years after Katrina, this floodwall is all that stands between New Orleans and the next hurricane. It's pathetic. How a perfect storm of big-money politics, shoddy engineering and environmental ignorance is setting up the city for another catastrophe."

The 12-page story is followed by gallery of photos of "The Displaced."

* snip *

“Katrina wasn’t even close to the Big One,” LSU researcher Ivor van Heerden tells TIME. “We better start getting ready.”

Grunwald concludes the special report by calling for "better levees and more wetlands. Otherwise, it's going to need an obituary."

* Bonus item:

Elsewhere in the issue, columnist Joe Klein warns of the undue influence of liberal activists on the presidential race, while Michael Kinsley writes: “Political opinions are like old-fashioned airline tickets, with no change penalty … (but) the opinions of American citizens do matter … The United States is now despised around the world because of the Iraq ‘situation’ … This is not all the fault of the pundits or of ‘Washington’ or of politicians. It is the fault of all of us as a nation and many of us as individuals. It’s nice that such a large majority of Americans now feel that the Iraq adventure was a mistake. It would be nicer if even a small majority had thought so back when this would have made a difference.”

[Virginia Dare]

1. Who have we got to do a heck uv a job now?

skeletor's in charge now? :scared:

[kestrel91316]

2. Until and unless they RESTORE THE FRICKING WETLANDS

of SE Louisiana, everything else will be for naught.

That has got to be Job One. The levees will not hold if they don't have functioning wetlands to keep most the surge at bay.

They are trying out some new approaches to wetlands restoration. The "terraces" seem to be cheap and easy to build, and really do a good job in some places. Helps the wildlife, too.

http://www.ducks.org/Louisiana/LouisianaProjects/1396/LouisianaCoastalWetlandsMarshTerracingProject.html

[zulchzulu]

4. Ain't that the truth...

The wetlands have been disappearing for years due to many factors...namely trying to tell Mother Nature where the water is "supposed" to go...

[zulchzulu]

3. After visiting there recently, much Katrina damage is still there

A friend who works for the water utility and spent 11 days at the 17th Street Canal substation enduring the flood and damage during Katrina showed me the damage as well the bandaids they have put in the levee system where the weak sections were. I videotaped an interview with him about the event and it is gripping what he and his fellow four workmates went through.



There is a whole area in New Orleans East that is wide open to future damage and won't be ready for years.

As for August 29th, there are a lot of people that have been living in FEMA trailers on unused city land that are going to be kicked out onto the street. Mostly all of them are still waiting for the insurance companies to pay them...and that's a whole other scam where people are given basically three choices. 1. Get $150,000 if you sign a statement that you plan on staying on your property for 10 years. 2. $100,000 if you stay in Louisiana. 3. $49,000 if you just want to cash out.

I'm pondering living there half-time just to help out. I love that city.

[AtomicKitten]

7. thanks for the info

never been to NOLA
* sigh *

[youngdem]

5. Honestly, as a NOLA resident, let me just say that we are better off today flood protection wise

Rebuilding wise, it is an ongoing national embarrassment for a major US city with as much cultural import as New Orleans has, to be all but abandoned by the Feds is unforgivable.

But, being completely honest, we are better off today than before the storm.

We have closed the two main canals that breached, we have armored the Industrial Canal, they have rebuilt the MRGO levees and are currently moving equipment into place to close the Miss. River Gulf Outlet to cut off once and for all that avenue of flood waters into the city.

They have closed the city off from the lake with gates and additional pumping capacity. They have completed safehouses at ALL pumping stations so that crews will never again leave a station during a storm. They have drained and dredged drainage canals to make them faster and deeper. And they continue to announce and perform new work, further protecting the city.

Is it fast enough? No. Is it complete? No. Are there additions I would make? Fuck yes. But is it better than on August 28, 2005? Without a doubt yes.

They still need to build a swinging gate to close Lake Pontchartrain during hurricanes, and they need to focus more money on diverting Mississippi River water into the estuaries as nature intended so they will begin to rebuild our natural storm buffers - the swamps and cypress trees.

[AtomicKitten]

6. thanks for the update

A lifetime of apologies couldn't come close to squaring the neglect NOLA has endured - before, during, and after Katrina.

Best regards. :)