A few minutes ago, I heard...

[CoffeeCat]

...a reporter talking about the levies in New Orleans.

I have been wondering for some time, if those levies had been repaired. I was hoping that the
work had been done, after hearing about Gustav and the impending disaster that will likely
fall in New Orleans this week.

I'm sorry I don't remember the name of the reporter, but I heard him say that, three years post-Katrina,
"the levies have not been repaired."

I can't frickin believe this. Bush supposedly cares so much, and is willing to cancel his RNC speech, due
to this disaster. However, he didn't get the levies repaired? Those levies and the repairs would have
been an Army Corp of Engineers project, which falls under Federal jurisdiction, correct?

They had three years to get this done. It was not done. The failure of those levies during Katrina--was
due to the Federal government and the Bush Administration failing to do work that needed to be done. It
appears that those levies are once again, extremely vulnerable.

If Gustav hits as hard as Katrina--can we assume that we'll see flooding similar to what we saw during
Katrina?

I hope I'm somehow misunderstanding this situation, because it's really hard to fathom.

[cliffordu]

1. McCain did a big speech down there not too long ago, too.....

Standing on a levee, as I recall....

[Mind_your_head]

2. You're not misunderstanding. eom

[Breeze54]

17. Yes she is and playing dumb is annoying!

:grr:

[liberalmuse]

3. How many billions did the contractors make off of Katrina?

I'm getting angrier by the minute. I guess I should hold off and see what happens. Hopefully Gustav will lose most of its steam by the time it hits land and NO will be left intact.

[thunder rising]

7. Gustav is Gasolina ... its rocken. Most you can hope for is a miss.

[thunder rising]

4. The deal is Bush gambled away NOLA before and he did it again by again not maintaining levees

He does not give a shit for average Americans. He does not care.

[MichiganVote]

5. The ownership society.

[Booster]

6. Well, if you had a trillion dollars and had to spend it.....

would you spend it on Iraq or New Orleans? Bush made his choice - let them eat cake like he did during Katrina. A real global asshole.

[kestrel91316]

8. Why would Bush want the levees repaired? I mean, really?

That would mean he gave a rat's ass about people in the low-lying (POOR) areas.........

[lonestarnot]

9. And all the blood sweat and tears that went into the repairs post Katrina

will all have been sqandered that fucker!

[PA Democrat]

10. I heard the same thing a few days ago on CNN.

They said the levees would not withstand a storm even weaker than Katrina. In some places the levees were still 10 FEET below where they were supposed to be. I never did hear what the reason was for such inexcusable failure.

All that money to Iraq and the levees are still not completed.

[csziggy]

11. I think I heard that the plan was for the levees to be completely repaired and upgraded by 2011

There was a lot of work that had to be done to really fix them correctly.

New Orleans levee update still not done

The levees that ring New Orleans have been substantially fortified since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but the Crescent City is far from protected...

By Chris Adams, McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — The levees that ring New Orleans have been substantially fortified since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but the Crescent City is far from protected if Gustav or another large storm were to hit before 2011.

Since Katrina, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been reinforcing and repairing the 325 miles of levees and floodwalls that protect New Orleans and neighboring parishes from the storm surges and flooding that accompany hurricanes.

A $15 billion upgrade to the hurricane-protection system designed to protect the area, scheduled for completion in 2011, is only 20 percent complete, and there are significant gaps that make New Orleans residents nervous as they contemplate Gustav's possible arrival.

Levee experts and the Army Corps insisted New Orleans is safer than before Katrina flooded more than 80 percent starting Aug. 29, 2005.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008145814_levee29.html

[SoCalDem]

12. They need to fill in MrGo, and restore the wetlands

and bring in the Dutch engineers to build some REAL levees..

[tannybogus]

13. The levees are repaired to withstand a Cat 3.

I doubt if they can handle that. I saw a news report where one

repair had been done with old newspaper as fill. The reporter

actually pulled out a front page.

[Subdivisions]

14. HAARP and martial law jumped to mind, but now

I have my tinfoil hat on. :tinfoilhat:

[ancient_nomad]

15. A post here recently was about ....

a whistleblower who said the pumps do NOT work. I'll see if I can find it..

edit to add link to the post:
http://tinyurl.com/6xaav5

[Breeze54]

16. You don't know how to google? - 'AP New Orleans asks: Will the rebuilt levees hold?'

AP - New Orleans asks: Will the rebuilt levees hold?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080828/ap_on_re_us/gustav_is_new_orleans_ready

[CoffeeCat]

20. Yes, I know how to Google...

...and I also read the article you posted.

I just thanked you for that article and posted it in this thread.

The article answered all of my questions. The headline is a little misleading, "Will the rebuilt levees hold?" because the
first paragraph of that article states that he levees are only "partially rebuilt."

The article clearly demonstrates that not all of the work has been completed--that is needed to protect New Orleans from a major hurricane.

As I mentioned in another post to you, I imagine that this is what the reporter was discussing, when he
mentioned that the levees had not been repaired. Work has been done, but they have not been fully
repaired enough to endure a strong storm.

[CoffeeCat]

18. IMPORTANT ARTICLE ON THIS SUBJECT!

Thanks to Breeze54 for posting this article earlier.

Important points in this article:
---The article refers to the levies as "partially rebuilt."
---A man who lives close to flood walls says that the levies are "not up to code."
---The article points out levy "severe shortcomings" which include: "Flood barriers meant only to withstand medium-strength storms, hidden layers of weak soil and navigation channels that inadvertently funnel storm surge into the city, to name a few."

The entire article is worth the read. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080828/ap_on_re_us/gustav_is_new_orleans_ready

[Barack_America]

19. Gustav is projected to hit LA just to the west of NO as a Cat 4...

Thus NO will experience the full force of the storm surge.

It is very unlikely that the levees will hold under these circumstances.

This is likely to be THE storm, worse than Katrina both in intensity at landfall and storm surge.