This is Important
This blog is just my personal log of post-Katrina experiences with no political axe to grind. It is intended to keep my friends up-to-date with how we're doing. But I've got to step out of character to call attention to the apparent failure of will shown by the federal government to protect our city from the next storm.
The top two pictures at the right were taken at the breach in the
17th Street Canal levee. Review of the levee shows that the Corps of Engineers did not do their job. The levee was not build according to their own plans, and th
e plans themselves were flawed. Among other things, where the sheet piles were specified to be 17 ft deep, they were only 10.
The third picture shows the storm surge coming up the Intracoastal waterway and breeching the levee
in New Orleans East. The flooding in the 9th Ward of New Orleans and in Chalmette was largely caused by levees failing due to the storm surge accelerating up the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO), a pending disaster that people have been trying to close for years.
This disaster should not have happened.
This editorial appeared in the Washington Post last week. It is written by the editor of the Times Picayune. After reading it, please write to your representatives & senators and tell them the country cannot write off New Orleans. And if you'd be kind enough to add a comment to this post, I'd appreciate it. (You don't have to sign in to comment, though there is a system to prevent automated spam.)
The top two pictures at the right were taken at the breach in the
17th Street Canal levee. Review of the levee shows that the Corps of Engineers did not do their job. The levee was not build according to their own plans, and th
e plans themselves were flawed. Among other things, where the sheet piles were specified to be 17 ft deep, they were only 10.The third picture shows the storm surge coming up the Intracoastal waterway and breeching the levee
in New Orleans East. The flooding in the 9th Ward of New Orleans and in Chalmette was largely caused by levees failing due to the storm surge accelerating up the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO), a pending disaster that people have been trying to close for years.This disaster should not have happened.
This editorial appeared in the Washington Post last week. It is written by the editor of the Times Picayune. After reading it, please write to your representatives & senators and tell them the country cannot write off New Orleans. And if you'd be kind enough to add a comment to this post, I'd appreciate it. (You don't have to sign in to comment, though there is a system to prevent automated spam.)
posted by Carl at 9:33 AM
3 Comments:
Did you pick up that storm surge photo somewhere else, or were you actually there?
BTW, be careful to assign blame where it belongs. I know the Corps screwed up (as reported by the Louisiana group in today's paper), but there's lots of blame to go around -- i.e., Orleans Levee Board, Sewerage and Water Board. I just think it's important to "give credit where credit is due" so the problems are *really* fixed.
In particular, the Times-Picayune has been inferring Corps' blame for things that they report were caused by other agencies, namely, the short sheetpiling, which it looks like the SWB touched last.
I agree that there is blame enough for all but I'm really past the blame game.
As T-P said in that article, "...the great flood was a man-made disaster". I recognize that the Corps was not the only culpable agency, but my concern, like you I think, is that we make sure it doesn't happen again. And allowing most of New Orleans to turn into swamp land because the federal government refuses to pay for the flood protection system we need is not acceptable.
BTW, the storm surge photo was part of a video taken by an Entergy employee stationed at the Michoud Generating Station during the storm.
I was told the video was shown on WDSU-TV, and someone sent me the still, so I don't know where to find it on the web.
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