SwiftVets.com

[sdmoel]

http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood/archives/002331.html

When the levee breaks

It appears that the money has been moved in the president’s budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that’s the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can’t be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us.

-- Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 8, 2004.

This picture is an aerial view of New Orleans today, more than 14 months later. Even though Hurricane Katrina has moved well north of the city and the sun is out, the waters continue to rise in New Orleans as we write this. That's because Lake Pontchartrain continues to pour through a two-block-long break in the main levee, near the city's 17th Street Canal. With much of the Crescent City some 10 feet below sea level, the rising tide may not stop until until it's level with the massive lake.

There have been numerous reports of bodies floating in the poorest neighborhoods of this poverty-plagued city, but the truth is that the death toll may not be known for days, because the conditions continue to frustrate rescue efforts.

New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In fact, the federal government has been working with state and local officials in the region since the late 1960s on major hurricane and flood relief efforts. When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA.

Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside.

Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars. (Much of the research here is from Nexis, which is why some articles aren't linked.)

In early 2004, as the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President Bush proposed spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was needed for Lake Pontchartrain, according to this Feb. 16, 2004, article, in New Orleans CityBusiness:

The $750 million Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Protection project is another major Corps project, which remains about 20% incomplete due to lack of funds, said Al Naomi, project manager. That project consists of building up levees and protection for pumping stations on the east bank of the Mississippi River in Orleans, St. Bernard, St. Charles and Jefferson parishes.

The Lake Pontchartrain project is slated to receive $3.9 million in the president's 2005 budget. Naomi said about $20 million is needed.

"The longer we wait without funding, the more we sink," he said. "I've got at least six levee construction contracts that need to be done to raise the levee protection back to where it should be (because of settling). Right now I owe my contractors about $5 million. And we're going to have to pay them interest."

That June, with the 2004 hurricane seasion starting, the Corps' Naomi went before a local agency, the East Jefferson Levee Authority, and essentially begged for $2 million for urgent work that Washington was now unable to pay for. From the June 18, 2004 Times-Picayune:

"The system is in great shape, but the levees are sinking. Everything is sinking, and if we don’t get the money fast enough to raise them, then we can’t stay ahead of the settlement," he said. "The problem that we have isn’t that the levee is low, but that the federal funds have dried up so that we can’t raise them."

The panel authorized that money, and on July 1, 2004, it had to pony up another $250,000 when it learned that stretches of the levee in Metairie had sunk by four feet. The agency had to pay for the work with higher property taxes. The levee board noted in October 2004 that the feds were also now not paying for a hoped-for $15 million project to better shore up the banks of Lake Pontchartrain.

The 2004 hurricane season, as you probably recall, was the worst in decades. In spite of that, the federal government came back this spring with the steepest reduction in hurricane- and flood-control funding for New Orleans in history. Because of the proposed cuts, the Corps office there imposed a hiring freeze. Officials said that money targeted for the SELA project -- $10.4 million, down from $36.5 million -- was not enough to start any new jobs. According to New Orleans CityBusiness this June 5:

The district has identified $35 million in projects to build and improve levees, floodwalls and pumping stations in St. Bernard, Orleans, Jefferson and St. Charles parishes. Those projects are included in a Corps line item called Lake Pontchartrain, where funding is scheduled to be cut from $5.7 million this year to $2.9 million in 2006. Naomi said it's enough to pay salaries but little else.

"We'll do some design work. We'll design the contracts and get them ready to go if we get the money. But we don't have the money to put the work in the field, and that's the problem," Naomi said.

There was, at the same time, a growing recognition that more research was needed to see what New Orleans must do to protect itself from a Category 4 or 5 hurricane. But once again, the money was not there. As the Times-Picayune reported last Sept. 22:

That second study would take about four years to complete and would cost about $4 million, said Army Corps of Engineers project manager Al Naomi. About $300,000 in federal money was proposed for the 2005 fiscal-year budget, and the state had agreed to match that amount.

But the cost of the Iraq war forced the Bush administration to order the New Orleans district office not to begin any new studies, and the 2005 budget no longer includes the needed money, he said.

The Senate was seeking to restore some of the SELA funding cuts for 2006. But now it's too late. One project that a contractor had been racing to finish this summer was a bridge and levee job right at the 17th Street Canal, site of the main breach. The levee failure appears to be causing a human tragedy of epic proportions:

"We probably have 80 percent of our city under water; with some sections of our city the water is as deep as 20 feet. Both airports are underwater," Mayor Ray Nagin told a radio interviewer.

Washington knew that this day could come at any time, and it knew the things that needed to be done to protect the citizens of New Orleans. But in the tradition of the riverboat gambler, the Bush administration decided to roll the dice on its fool's errand in Iraq, and on a tax cut that mainly benefitted the rich.

And now Bush has lost that gamble, big time. We hope that Congress will investigate what went wrong here.

The president told us that we needed to fight in Iraq to save lives here at home, and yet -- after moving billions of domestic dollars to the Persian Gulf -- there are bodies floating through the streets of Louisiana. What does George W. Bush have to say for himself now?

[dusty]

Boy oh boy. They just don't get it do they.
I was born and raised in S. Louisiana below I-10 and I know from a lifetime of watching the politics there that the state and local public officials are some of the most corrupt in the nation.
The richest folks I know are Louisiana State Highway Inspectors. The politicians at every level are stuffing their pockets full of 'under the table', 'behing the back' payoffs and extortion and then have the unmitigated gall to blame Bush for a shortfall when if they would quit stuffing their pockets they would have plenty of money to fund their own projects.
Ask why a state that should be one of the richest in the country with all the oil and gas revenue pouring into state coffers has the poorest highways in the country. Ask where all that money goes.
The straight answers to those questions would interest me greatly.

Me and Walter need to to alligator hunting one night.

Dusty
_________________
Left and Wrong are the opposite of Right!

[Navy_Navy_Navy]

Oh, for heaven's sake! What a ridiculously cheap shot.

We've gone down a really slippery road in this country. Insurance companies won't offer flood insurance? Let the federal government do it.

I had a friend in the Pensacola area who had had her $300,000 house rebuilt THREE TIMES in ten years for damages from rising storm-waters. She built her house ON A FREAKIN' RIVER! (I'm talking "on" as in, "on pilings stuck into the beach and water!") And not just any river, but one that is known to rise 15-20 feet during any nearby tropical storm hits. Every tributary drains to that river and if a big storm hits within a 20-mile radius, that river is going to flood.

I have no idea how many times taxpayers funded the construction of her house after we left the area - that was 14 years ago, so it could be 3-5 MORE times!

Where does it stop?

The federal government was not intended to be responsible for recovery from natural disasters.

Where is personal responsibility in all of this?

It used to be that you took risks that you were comfortable in taking and if you lost, you started all over.

FEMA has become a huge and expensive albatross. Local municipalities need to stop relying on Uncle Sugar for every blasted thing that comes along and prepare themselves for the disasters and emergency events that are peculiar to their area.

The whining is already started about "they" aren't doing anything to help us.

How in the world could ANY authorities deal with destruction of this magnitude in a few days or even a few weeks?

Generations of people have been living on borrowed time in those areas. They keep building up on the beaches, people keep flooding in to those cities, they pay no attention to the fact that those areas have been utterly destroyed, before and are likely to be destroyed again and again. How smart is that?

Then, when disaster strikes, they look to someone else to bail them out of the results of their poor judgement. People are so unrealistic about what they expect their government to do.

Of course we have to spend whatever is necessary to help those who need it in this terrible situation. But, when it's resolved, we need to start looking at this type of thing as a country and make some better decisions about where we live, what we expect of the feds, what is funded and what isn't.

This probably sounds like I'm cold-hearted about this, but, I've been sobbing for days. I'm worn out. My rosary is worn out. I've sent a donation to the Catholic Charities Katrina fund and I will do so, again over the next months.

35 emergency workers swam out of their control center in Mississippi - they haven't been heard from, yet! The grief is overwhelming and we haven't even begun to get the bad news about casualties, yet.

I'm NOT heartless - I'm heart-broken - and angry. Because this did NOT have to happen!
_________________
~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother

[LewWaters]

And here I thought the Federal Government was supposed to stay out of State matters?

having grown up in South Florida myself and having gone through a few hurricanes, although not as severe as this one, I am shocked at how few people actually had prepared for this one, with all the notice they had. That doesn't take away my sympathy for the people there, but when I was growing up, we did for ourselves and got through several smaller hurricanes without any government assistance at all.

But, I knew somehow, this would be blamed on Bush. RFK jr. also is blaming Bush and Haley Barber because of their refusal to sign on the Kyoto Protocol. These people are shameless and will stoop as low as possible to regain control of the country.

Next, I expect to hear Cindy Sheehan blame Bush and the war in Iraq for the hurricane.
_________________
Clark County Conservative

[Army_(Ret)]

[Navy_Navy_Navy]

[Arty Guy]

At least Katrina pushed Cindy Sheehan off of the front pages and out of the evening news.

[canman]

So, some of you think that it is Bush's fault that the levee's broke because money was cut in the 2005 budget. I think that is ridiculous.

New Orleans has not been able to survivie a direct hit from anything above a category 2 hurricane for DECADES.

Who's responsibility is it? New Orleans and Louisianna. If cities and states can pony up 500 million dollars - $1 Billion dollars to build sports stadiums, they can pay money to build a proper dike / levee system to protect their citizens from a lake they have known was a danger for their entire lifetime.

If you want the federal government to control and pay for all local projects, you live in the wrong country. China would then be your utopia.

[dusty]

All of these politicians pointing fingers up the ladder need to look in the mirror.
While you've been taking the people's money Senator/Representative at the state and federal level, where are your bills to fix the problems you are now railling about? Where are your efforts and crusades to fix these things? You are the ones in the responsible positions.
The President is not the only one in the crosshairs. You are the ones who have and have had the power to make change more than he does, especially at the state levels. So how come you haven't made them?
b****ing now at higher ups when you have had the power in your very hands for years and have squandered your time feeding at the trough is falling on deaf ears with me.
I don't want to know why the president isn't doing more now, I want to know why you haven't done more already.

Dusty
_________________
Left and Wrong are the opposite of Right!

[Tanya]

From a 2003 Civil Engineer Magazine

THE CREEPING STORM

http://www.pubs.asce.org/ceonline/ceonline03/0603feat.html

[dusty]

Great find Tanya. Everyone can get a grip of the on the enormity of the problems the whole country is facing with keeping the nations largest port operating and the Mississippi River navigable. The whole country depends on this port for so much that we use everyday all over the country. It truly is a national problem and the solution needs to be undertaken. ASAP now.
Remember there is only one Mississippi River that can do what it does.
Maybe now the long term answer will be started on.
This patchwork quilt thing is not ever going to get the job done and only make things worse in the long run.
Good report.

Dusty
_________________
Left and Wrong are the opposite of Right!

[kman]

I'm not in a mood to be lectured by New Orlean's Mayor.



...not even moved to high ground. DOH!

Kurt

PS Pretty cool that the first busses to arrive at the Astro Dome were not from some gobbment this or that agency. They were from Churches!

[homesteader]

While church busses started the evacuation post-flood, hundreds of the mayor's own school busses sit submerged in parking lots in New Orleans. I thought he had ordered a manditory evacuation before the hurricane. Why were those busses not used for those who had no other way to leave.

The words "national disgrace" and "global embarrassment" are being thrown around. I agree. How long are we going to apologize for and excuse, for political correctness reasons, such lawlessness, incompetence, corruption, selfishness and lack of initiative? Scrounging for food and water is one thing, but when uniformed cops join in the looting of other property and then turn in their badges because the situation is getting tough..............we've got a much bigger problem than a flooded city and flattened coast line.

[LewWaters]

All those buses are most likely Diesels, which won't drown out in water like a gas engine will. Even if Gas, why didn't the Democrat Mayor take control and send those buses, buses under his control, to evacuate people Sunday and Tuesday?

It's easy to point fingers at Bush, but the Mayor and Governor, both Democrats, are the first line of defense for their people there. Bush is the furtherest away.

I don't remember Guliani blaminig any part of government on 9-11, he took charge and directed matters before any assistance from anywhere came.
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Clark County Conservative

[SBD]

After seeing Heraldo on O'Reilly, I almost started a riot in my living room.

HEY GERALDO, DON'T DO ANY MORE OF THAT CRACK FROM THE CONVENTION CENTER!!

He is the one starting the riot and he recruited the Los Angeles Police Chief to help him. If someone shoots him tonight, it will be for good reason, because he incited them too.

SBD