A question about New Orleans...

[TSmith274]

OK, I have to ask...What is MRGO??????

Here ya go... in video form... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzaU2fMgN3g

[Stormcenter]

Everytime I hear news reports of more rebuilding there, I just have one question: Why build there again? This will happen again, I'm sure of it.

Why did they rebuild in San Fran after the major earthquake? They are doomed for another one but that didn't stop anyone.
What about L.A. What about the cities who experience wildfires everyone year. Do you stop building there because the threat is still there? I'm sorry but some of the questions on this board just make you scratch your head sometimes
and wonder about some of those who post on this board. The last major hurricane (Betsy) to strike close to N.O. was 40 years before Katrina.

[Stormcenter]

One thing you all seem to forget is that Katrina did very little damage to the city itself. The weak levee system gave way and innundated the city with salt water out of Lake Pontchartrain.

Good response.

[Stormcenter]

I think you are all forgetting one rather major point...

New Orleans is on land that is sinking and also the only protection it has is currently eroding and gotten rid off at quite an alarming rate. As bad as Katrina was given those two factors you have to say next time a large system comes along like that it could be yet worse still...

Also as bad as Katrina was, New Orleans really wasn't hit that hard compared to what could have been, I mean I can't recall too many gusts above cat-1 status there. i know the main story is about flooding but a system that is large and is moving fairly quickly could easily beat what Katrina did in terms of wind damage.

N.O. has been sinking for hundreds and hundreds of years based on many so called "scientific reports" yet she is still there. I guess this is what happens when things are slow in the tropics. I remember several posts concerning the same "EXACT" thing several times after Katrina. No matter what anyone on this board believes on the contrary the city is being rebuilt.
I was there several weeks ago and things are progressing much quicker then my last visit. It is truely amazing considering how extensive the flooding was.

[Stormcenter]

And I suspect the levee system is still weak, no matter what they say. There have even been reports of leaks recently.

This is true. According to a National Geographic story last week, the brand new T-wall at the Industrial Canal is indeed leaking from below. This is the wall that wiped out the 9th Ward and flooded much of St. Bernard. Investigations have shown that the sheet piling below this new wall is STILL only 18-20 feet deep. It needs to be 40-60 feet deep. So, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had a chance to build the new wall from the ground up... taking into account the lessons learned from the numerous failures that occured after Katrina. They still screwed it up.

I guess what I'm getting at is that New Orleans is victim of horrendous engineering flaws at the hands of this federal agency... the U.S. Army Corps. And it continues to this day. Problem is, they are attempting to hide their faults from the U.S. taxpayer. People from coast to coast should be outraged about this. Only then can New Orleans take the first steps to full protection from storms. But a state and city as small and politically powerless as New Orleans and Louisiana are, respectively... cannot force the needed changes within the Corps. It will take taxpayers from all over this country demanding results. That hasn't happened yet. I thought Katrina would do it, but the more time that passes, I'm starting to believe it will have to happen again before New Orleans gets agequate protection. Problem is, it will be too late.

Well, if the class-action suit that a bunch of us have filed is judged in our favor (it has already cleared the hurdle of being allowed to proceed...the government can only be sued if it consents to be sued), it will put enough daylight on the problems and perhaps enough of a penalty on them that they might well re-tool their operations. My family's in for $5M by ourselves. The city filed for another $700M, iIrc.

I'm sorry but the National Georgraphic report was very biased against the levee repairs and Army Corp. Of Engineers in my opinion. The experts they had on there are going to be paid expert witnesses against the Army Corp oF Engineers in the upcoming lawsuit against them. What do you expect them to say, that the levees are in great shape?

[TSmith274]

I'm sorry but the National Georgraphic report was very biased against the levee repairs and Army Corp. Of Engineers in my opinion. The experts they had on there are going to be paid expert witnesses against the Army Corp oF Engineers in the upcoming lawsuit against them. What do you expect them to say, that the levees are in great shape?

You have a good point, Stormcenter. But, these two guys (Dr. Bea and Dr. Van Heerden) are very well respected. Dr. Van Heerden had been warning of these things for years before Katrina. He knew it would happen, and suffered from depression in the months after Katrina because he thought he should have done more. Dr. Bea is from New Orleans. I know less about him, but his house was flooded at the hands of the MRGO back in Betsy in '65. I've heard him interviewed numerous times, and he doesn't strike me as dishonest.

One positive is that the Army Corps openly admits that there are still problems with the system. That is a step in the right direction. And I'm certainly not saying that they aren't trying their best. They are. They are being asked to almost do the impossible... protect the city from a 100 year storm without enough money to do it. But, they are forging ahead. Hopefully from here on out, they'll do better.

But one thing that bothers me about the Corps is the political patronage that they are participating in. When they let the contracts for new pumps out for bid, they put out a request for a very specific type of pump with very specific specs. So specific that it was discovered that they had copy/pasted out of an MWI, Inc. online pump brochure... TYPOS INCLUDED. Guess who "won" the contract? Yep, MWI. Not to mention, those pumps have been wrought with problems. They need to stop playing games like that and focus on their job... keeping the water out.

[Steve]

>>You have a good point, Stormcenter. But, these two guys (Dr. Bea and Dr. Van Heerden) are very well respected. Dr. Van Heerden had been warning of these things for years before Katrina.

Dr. Van Heerden is amazing. There was talk a few months ago about a change in his tenure/status at LSU. I'm thinking it's got to do with the fact that he's telling the truth and it might just be putting some political pressure on the university.

He definitely knows what he's doing in my opinion and hopefully won't be a lost asset for Louisiana.

Steve