Levee Breach in New Orleans
September 23, 2005
Posted by Laura Curtis at September 23, 2005 11:22 AM
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The Industrial Canal levee was first overtopped by the storm surge from Hurricane Rita, and now has been breached again. (Picture of the breach below the fold.) The Industrial Canal connects Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River. New Orleans was 90% drained. Utilities restoration, clean up and rebuilding were proceeding rapidly. This is a real setback. Amazingly, even after all that people experienced and saw with Hurricane Katrina flooding in this part of town, people are refusing to evacuate.
Posted by Laura Curtis at September 23, 2005 11:22 AM
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Comments
| # September 23rd, 2005 1:22 PM BrianH |
| Bush is at it again!
But seriously, I hope that you are safe from this new flooding. Word I heard on the radio is that authorities don't think there is anyone currently living in the path of this new flood. |
| # September 23rd, 2005 1:36 PM Laura |
| I believe we're on high enough ground or we'd have left yesterday. :-) Most people in the affected areas left, but the news crews managed to find some people to interview who said they were not ready to leave. ::: sigh ::: I just don't *get* that. |
| # September 23rd, 2005 1:58 PM BrianH |
| I'm glad you're safe, keep an eye on that water level.
You can't force people to not be stupid. You can only push and prod and hope they get the right idea. |
| # September 23rd, 2005 2:12 PM james |
| am i the only one that thinks
da-da-dant... da-da-dant! about 1000 times a day? |
| # September 23rd, 2005 2:29 PM JohnTant |
| Food for thought...
Recently Nagin wanted to "repopulate" the city, and relented after the grownups basically told him he was out of his mind. Of course, had Nagin gone ahead with his plan, New Orleans would have had a significant number of residents who would be flooded out AGAIN. I wonder if the MSM will bother to point that out. |
| # September 23rd, 2005 3:49 PM Laura |
| Oh Lord, I haven't thought of that song in *years* since my boyfriend's garage band mangled it.
John, the MSM is taking a very harsh slant on Nagin and taking the worst possible angles, I think to provide cover for Gov. Blanco, and Sen. Mary Landrieu's brother Mitch, who is Lt. Gov. Democrat politicians have it in for Nagin because he endorsed a Republican instead of Blanco for Governor. However, the local news is providing a more balanced view, and in my opinion, more accurate. Discussing bringing people back into Orleans was not ridiculous, given that it was mostly drained, sewage was being restored, and Entergy was getting the power back on. Obviously Rita changed the situation, but prior to Rita, what's the problem? |
| # September 23rd, 2005 8:40 PM LemonTetra |
| Laura, I hope and pray you remain dry. You sure have your share of bonehead politicians.
Hopefully, someone investigates who designed these levees and floodwalls. I'll bet it'll be some Affirmative Action Engineer. Look at the photo. It looks like the flood wall/levee consisted of concrete on top of a steel beam stuck in top an earthen berm. I can't think of a worse design. That concrete lolipop structure is quite unstable. The underlying and unsecured earthwork most likely blows out/erodes first because of the water pressure, then the lolipop collapses from its own weight. In addition, the weight of the concrete weakens the berm. .... but it sure looks pretty on top. |
| # September 23rd, 2005 9:31 PM Laura |
| Lemon, we do have our share - and it's even more fair to say we have a lot of boneheaded voters who keep voting them in. In our defense, elections are typically picking the best of a bad lot. There is a movement now to impeach Blanco, and if nobody else does it, I'm going to get a website together detailing the activities of the Levee Board over the decades.
As far as I know, all the levees around here are earthen berms. The metal wall in the photo is a patch job recently put up by the Army Corps of Engineers. As for who originally designed the levees and floodwalls, they were designed decades ago to withstand a cat. 3 storm. If by "Affirmative Action Engineer" you mean a minority person who got the job because of their race even though they might be unqualified, those levees were designed decades ago, and built up/reinforced after Betsy around 40 years ago. It is extremely unlikely that anybody other than a (white) good ol' boy with political connections was responsible. |
| # September 26th, 2005 9:35 PM Ambrose |
| Can you say rice paddies .
Which is what a lot of that area needs to be converted to . Lets see combination rice paddies/catfish farms. I just cant see moving poor people back into an area where business will be reluctant locate an possibly be washed away every couple three decades. Scott |
| # September 26th, 2005 10:07 PM Laura |
| Most people agree that where flooding was the worst, it is stupid to rebuild homes. The people who are going apeshit over that concept are politicians and quasi-politicians like politically connected ministers who like to get on the news. Sane people know better, and if we get our way, those areas will be rezoned to prohibit residential building. |