SwiftVets.com

[dusty]

Who the hell is supposed to be in charge of plugging the hole in that levy down in New Orleans? How does someone with no common marine construction sense get to be in charge of the Army Corp of Engineers?
They can drop stuff in that breach all day and night and all it'll do is wash away without something to backstop it.
Sitting there in the middle of most of the pile driving rigs on spud barges in the whole damn world and nobody has enough sense to bring em up the canal and drive some pilings to backstop whatever they want to drop into the breach and seal that damn hole?
Give me a break. I can't believe this sh.t! Damnitttttt!
What a cluster.... you know what.
I'm totally PO'ed.
Dusty
_________________
Left and Wrong are the opposite of Right!

[Navy_Navy_Navy]

Dusty, would what you're suggesting make the temporary repairs any more difficult to remove when they get around to making the permanent repairs?

I think that's one of their main concerns in these levee repairs - that whatever they do is easy to undo when it's time to make the real repairs.

It's frustrating to watch this from any angle, isn't it?

They try to alleviate any particular problem and they run into one roadblock after another. The overall situation there right now reminds me of "Waterworld" and the "Wild, Wild West."
_________________
~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother

[dusty]

No Navy, what I'm saying there are probably 1,000 guys in marine construction in S. La. know by instinct.
There is only one way to plug a hole like that with water running through it and that is to drive a line of pilings down the length of the break leaving enough exposure (the part of the piling sticking up above the soil level) to backstop the sandbags or concrete barriers or whatever you want to use to plug the breach.
Drive the pilings, drop the bags in front of them and they will stay there. Without the pilings, 3,000 # bags of sand are like nothing to the force of the water running through there. They will just continue to wash away.
I can't believe this. I or any number of guys could have plugged that breach in a day with two rigs on spud barges operating from the canal.
Hell, I wouldn't even need fancy steam hammers, just a 200 ton crawler on a spud barge with a set of 80' leads and a 3,000# drop hammer and some 15" steel H beams about 50' ft. long. The line don't have to be pretty, just there.
They got that stuff all over that part of the country. I know, I've built seawalls and drove pilings all over down there.
The pilings can stay there forever. They would only make whatever else you want to do in the future stronger.
What really makes me mad is knowing how much money they have spent on levies down there and don't have near what the money should have bought. They should have a 20' high concrete damn all the way around the city for the money they've thrown away and stuffed in pockets down there.
They are pissing in the wind until they do this. There is only one right way to stop water running through a levy like that.
This town didn't have to flood if someone in charge would have known their a.. from a hole in the ground.
I've sat here going nuts screaming at the tv wondering when someone is going to wake the hell up down there.

Dusty
_________________
Left and Wrong are the opposite of Right!

[SBD]

How long before everyone faces reality??

New Orleans should not be rebuilt. They can plug the holes all they want, but the fact remains that it will just happen again. No insurance company will ever insure anything in New Orleans again. The costs associated with this event are enormous and it has only just begun. This is going to effect everyone in this country both emotionally and financially. Does anyone think it is prudent to allow this to happen again and again?

I don't.

SBD

[homesteader]

At this point, with so much damage already done, it would seem to make sense to let the water flow until in is equal on both sides. Then plug the holes. The material used would stay put since there would be no flow. After the holes are plugged, then start pumping. I hear the water is not rising anymore so they must be near that point already.

Any reconstruction plan, if they insist on rebuilding below sea level, has to include compartmentalization levies so that one breech does not flood the whole city.

Best plan, build a New New Orleans somewhere else, on higher ground.

[dusty]

You're right Homesteader. It's too late to stop the damage now. They have sat there wondering what to do til it was too damn late and now they got a flooded city and thousands dead. .
I can't believe the incompetance evident in this disaster. Somebody needs to be fired big time.
They had the Army Corps of Engineer guy on Fox a while ago and he was muttering about building roads to the spot and dropping big rocks into the breach. It was quite obvious he didn't have a clue as to what to do.
Where do they get these guys?

I agree with you too SBD. But we all know they are going to do it anyway.
Just like all the cities up and down Fla. and the East coast with hotels and million dollar homes sitting on the beaches. Just like L.A. and San Fran. sitting on major fault lines and they just keep building. Is there anyone not waiting for that to happen?
They will have to build a whole new New Orleans for sure though. This one is wet toast.

Dusty
_________________
Left and Wrong are the opposite of Right!

[Navy_Navy_Navy]

They musta been listening to ya, Dusty - listening to the live feed from wwltv and that's exactly what they're preparing to do right now.
_________________
~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother

[BuffaloJack]

I have absolutely no faith in the competence of the Army Corps of Engineers. Several years back a barge broke loose on the Niagara River and crashed into the Peace Bridge going from Buffalo to Canada. It took them literally months and attempt after attempt to drag the barge away from the bridge abutments. They even came close to destroying one of the craft used to pull the barge off with.

This is a whole lot worst.
_________________
Swift Boats - Qui Nhon (12/69-4/70), Cat Lo (4/70-5/70), Vung Tau (5/70-12/71)

[wwIIvetsdaughter]

I recall seeing a Discovery/National Geographic type show years ago about the vulnerability of the United States coastline to hurricanes. Much time was spent on the peculiar geography of New Orleans and the levee/pump system. They even had rather crude special effects shots that showed the Quarter under about 15 feet of water. Although the Quarter and some of Uptown seems to be dry, that nightmare scenario was right on. I picked up the phrase, "Cajun Atlantis" a couple of years ago and mentioned to my friends as Katrina was approaching that it was a possibility. As I see it, the Big Easy has in a matter of 24 hrs regressed from a 21st Century city to a 19th Century one, no running water, no phones, no electricity, no food, no sanitation, no hospitals, rampant disease threatened and a growing lawlessness! Good God!

[I B Squidly]

wwIIvetsdaughter,
Wait til there's typhus, typhoid, malaria and a dash of cholera. This happens everyother year in Bangaladesh where likewise they live below sea level. The just don't have the TV coverage or insurance let alone FEMA and the US government to insure the uninsurable.

Looting? All that merchandise was written off/insured with the original Act of God. Who cares if some numb nuts grabs a flat screen for his water logged apartment without water, electricity or hope. Did you want Jimmy Carter on pedestal saying who gets what?

I just wonder if within a year we find New Orleans refugees preferable to illegals....I'm not sure.
_________________
"KILL ALL THE LAWYERS!"

-Wlm Shakespeare

[dusty]

And the brilliant decisions just keep coming.
Mayor has pulled 1500 cops away from saving lives to save tv sets.
Go figure.

Dusty
_________________
Left and Wrong are the opposite of Right!

[I B Squidly]

Dusty,
You gotta know lawyers will be all over this suing anyone with pockets. Even looters have rights! Huey Long's decendents will make a carreer of transfering cash to a consortium of John Edwards types.
_________________
"KILL ALL THE LAWYERS!"

-Wlm Shakespeare

[dusty]

[wonhyo]

After 911, I would have thought that more people would prepare themselves for disasters and emergencies. Obviously none of these people have been listening. My other questions is where has all the money given to the states for emergencies and disasters? The taxpayers have paid millions so that every state could prepare themselves for this kind of event. New Orleans always seems so prepared for Mardi Gras, yet they have no porta pots, no water, no plan for any disaster. I think we should all contact our governors, mayors and ask what is being done with the Homeland Security money in our state. None of these people seem to have listened to the possibility of threatening weather, the first thing I do is get canned goods, water, batteries, a place to meet family, a plan to get out. Am I wrong?

[I B Squidly]

wonhyo,
batteries, canned food, bottled water are good but you're all wrong. Where did the money go? Funny you should ask! We've a local airport with one scheduled flight per week but keeps 3, union, dem' voters 24/7 patrolling the place. No pol is preparing for disaster; they're buying votes.

The more the politicos can scare ya, the more they can get and it has nothing to do with practicality!
_________________
"KILL ALL THE LAWYERS!"

-Wlm Shakespeare