Corps Says NOLA Levees Will Never Fail

[MGC]

I just can't see strong TS or Cat-1 winds removing part of the superdome roof even though the roof is higher than the standard elevation of wind measurment.....MGC

[jinftl]

My grandmother lives alone in Metairie, right off of West Esplanade near the Lakeside Mall...if a storm threatens the area again, I am not going to suggest she stay put based on the assessment by the Corps on levee safety....bottom line.

[TSmith274]

My grandmother lives alone in Metairie, right off of West Esplanade near the Lakeside Mall...if a storm threatens the area again, I am not going to suggest she stay put based on the assessment by the Corps on levee safety....bottom line.

Good decision

[stormcrow]

And if they are wrong sue em, oops that's right they cann't be sued.

[Innotech]

they need to make those levees double thick. I dont see why (other than cost) those levees have to be so thin and designed the way they are. If water overtops them at their current design, it begins to cut away the footing underneath, and even though there is concrete under there to try to prevent this, eventually even that will fail in a heavy surge. They need to design it thick enough, that even a break in the wall will not open a crack wide enough to allow damaging floodwaters to blast houses off their foundations like down in Arabi. Instead the wall could shift a little, and the thickness of it could seal off the crack somewhat and prevent the entire wall from failing. as it is it will just topple over like a domino right now.
COme to think of it, there are dozens of better solutions to levee design than what they have now. The city is worth saving and previous disaster has shown that it is very much worth the cost.

[NC George]

We should do like the Dutch did after their big flood in the 50's. It is the only way. Spend a few billion now or risk another Katrina and hundreds of billions in damages.....MGC

Well, one big difference I can think of is if the Dutch levees fail, about 50% of their entire country will flood. Whereas if NO floods, there are plenty of other areas above sea level in the US where the people can go. Another difference, the Netherlands have no national debt. Whereas the US is trillions of dollars in the hole. Not meaning to sound harsh, but it is the truth.

[NewOrleansMom]

Levees are not the PRIMARY protection barriers for New Orleans and other coastal towns/communities.

The wetlands are the FIRST line of defense and the levees are the SECOND line of defense.

I don't understand WHY this information has not gotten out to people outside of N.O. and in other areas of the country.

Look at a map of Louisiana and the La. coastlands from 10 years ago.
Now look at a map of the Louisiana of today. The La. coastline looks like a piece of lace cloth.

Louisiana is losing ONE football field of wetlands EVERY 30 minutes. There are several reasons for this devestating loss of land. One of the reasons for this loss is because of the thousands of canals that were cut through the fresh water marshlands for oilfield production, pipelines, etc. These canals allow salt water to seep in to the fresh water marshlands and are destroying them faster than you can ever imagine. Think about it ...one football field of fresh marshland is lost every 30 minutes!

Years ago, as a hurricane approached the La. coastlines, the barrier islands and the marshlands absorbed the initial punch of a storm and surge and the marshlands absorbed a great deal of water as well.

Without restoration of these wetlands, LEVEES WON'T MATTER. Levees alone are simply not enough protection. New Olreans and all other cities and towns close to the coastlines are moving closer and closer to the Gulf of Mexico. We are losing our land at an alarming rate and people need to WAKE UP. La officials have been warned by NUMEROUS experts for 30 YEARS and have done nothing to even try and resolve this situation. Some experts say it may be too late, while others say the time remaining to do something about the wetlands is very very short.

It's time, it's past time to do something and Louisianians need to speak out before all is lost.

Don't take my word for this, google search the subject. Many books and articles have been written about the important of saving the wetlands. Garland Robinette with WWL radio has talked about this for many years, yet it seems no one is listening.

[Shawee]

The plan is to just build a closure at the end. Over many years, it might silt in a bit, but I think it will always be there in one form or another. But a closure would prevent it from funneling storm surges.

The Rigolets flood wall was proposed in the 60's... you are correct MGC. But the environmental interests blocked the idea. They were concerned with upsetting the natural hydrology of Lake Ponchartrain. But this should not be a concern as the thing would remain open until a storm approaches, allowing tidal flow to remain as it is now. But the environmental groups have admitted that this may be necessary and they have vowed not to fight it. In fact, the Lake Ponchartrain Basin Foundation now supports the idea. They realize that it may be necessary to ensure the city's survival. But it concerns me that the proposal has not come up again. I hope it is still an option.

As for the flood walls... the sheet piling only averages about 15 feet below surface. The repaired areas go as deep as 60 feet. 15 feet is not enough, and I think the Corps realizes this. But one encouraging thing is that they are slated to replace the vast majority of I-walls with T-walls. It's going to take several years, but I do believe they are doing the right things to address it.

TSmith, You are correct on what killed the gate idea in the 60's.... lawsuit fron "Save Our Wetlands" group. Then a subsequent re-analysis that showed the interior levees would be cheaper. As you stated, we can have gates and a healthy Lake Pontchartrain basin.

I would love to see that in writing from the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation. Surge prevention gates @ the Chef Pass and Rigolets are NOT in their "multiple lines of defense" plan.

Absolutely, we need to-rebuild the barrier islands, wetlands. As NewOrleansMom stated, they re our first, best line of defence. Especially all those in St. Bernard parish decimated by the MRGO and other channels. Because of the desecration of our shorelines, we need both. It is insane that more folks are not talking about full protection (gates) and the USACE dragging their feet on the congressionally mandated "cat 5" plan that was to lay out the costs for such a plan.

As Mark Davis said a few days back, we are "penny wise and dollar foolish" when it comes to flood protection (and coastal restoration).

The Federal Government should trat LA like every other state and share mineral revenues from Federal Lands, in this caseethe existing offshore oil and gas revenues. We have aconstitutional amendment in place now that directs ALL such monies to coastal protection and restoration. We could not get support for coastal estoration when the country was running a surplus. There is always money for what is important.