Robace252
09-03-2005, 08:50 PM
While on the ground here in Mississippi and helping those in need, I find a lot of those devestated are concerned about those in New Orleans and are starved for information. Most of what they see they can not believe. Using valuable air-time and resources playing the blame-game and not-me game.
Three gentlemen around me, including someone who worked for the US Army Corps of engineers starting looking for information not available to anyone by our wonderful sensationist media in the US and I want you all to know just a small snipit of what we found today. I will post the articles so you all can read for yourselves. I also have access here to several press reporters and as soon as our research is complete I intend to email my article to EVERY TV, radio and Newspaper in the world. I could use the help of those members overseas to let me know where I could email or send such info. Here are the snipits:
I found an old General Accounting Office report online (the link opens a PDF) about the Lake Pontchartrain Hurricane Protection project, dated August 17, 1982.
That report notes that construction of the project received congressional authorization in 1965, was first funded in 1967, and, as far as the Army Corps of Engineers
knew in 1982, would be completed in 2008. The report notes that the project had been delayed and cites the causes, which range from environmental lawsuits
to funding problems to engineering difficulties to a lack of local cooperation, but regrettably doesn't address the question of why authorization was limited
to a category 3 hurricane. It does contain this interesting tidbit though:
Orleans Levee District officials believed that the Corps'standards may be too high for what is really needed for adequate protection and for what is affordable
by local sponsors. For example, they said that Corps standards required widening the levee base by 200 feet to raise the levee height by 1.5 feet.
They recommended that the Corps lower its design standards to provide more realistic hurricane protection to withstand a hurricane whose intensity might occur
once every 100 years rather than building a project to withstand a once in 200- to 300-year occurrence. This, they believe would make the project more affordable,
provide adequate protection, and speed project completion.
You can find the above information by looking for PDF files from the GAO website online.
http://archive.gao.gov/d42t14/119206.pdf
Next one:
Corps of Engineers-New Orleans District
Sept/Oct 2004
Old plans revived for Category 5 hurricane protection north shore to the Mississippi River, by Eric Lincoln.
Engineering and Project Management are determining costs for a hurricane protection feasibility study that could lead to a project to protect southeast Louisiana from Category 5 hurricane storm surges.
One of four alternatives to be investigated will include blocking tidal surges at the Rigolets and Chef Menteur Pass. The concept was part of the original Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Protection project.
In 1977, plans for hurricane protection structures at the Rigolets and Chef Menteur Pass were sunk when environmental groups sued the district. They believed that the environmental impact statement did not adequately address several potential problems, including impacts on Lake Pontchartrain’s ecosystem and damage to wetlands.
With federal funding, a cost sharing agreement could be arranged with DOTD, and the feasibility study could proceed, taking about five years to complete, with another 10 to 20 years for construction.
This information can be found on the Corps of engineers website for the Orleans district.
Next:
Environmental Impact Statements and Regulations; Availabilit
[Federal Register: November 25, 1994]
EPA
ERP No. FS-COE-A36364-LA
Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Protection Project, Fish and Wildlife Mitigation Plan, St. John the Baptist, St. Charles, Orleans and St. Bernard Parishes, LA.
Summary
Review of the final EIS was not deemed necessary. No comment letter was sent to preparing Agency.
Dated: November 21, 1994.
William D. Dickerson,
Director, Federal Agency Liaison Division, Office of Federal Activities.
[FR Doc. 94-29093 Filed 11-23-94; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
This one is available on the EPA website look up the ERP #'s
Next: is a snipit from the enviromental groups that lobbied AGAINST the Hurricane Protection Projects in Louisianna. Read the entire posting at
http://www.saveourwetlands.org/edenislehistory.htm
History of the Eden Isles, Oak Harbor & North Shore Estate subdivisions in Slidell Louisiana This is a history of how 5,200 acres of wetlands in Louisiana were destroyed for development by politicians and land developers with the aid and assistance of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. This tract of land is located on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, in Slidell Louisiana, St. Tammany Parish. How did 5,200 acres of wetlands get developed, diked, and dammed, without even an Environmental Impact Study (EIS), under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)? Why was such an ecologically important tract of land destroyed for the short-term economic benefit of a few, when it should have been preserved for future generations under the National Environmental Policy Act, and Louisiana state laws prohibiting private ownership of public owned water bottoms? Why was a low-lying area which is extremely susceptible to flooding during hurricane tidal surges marked for housing development? The government subsidized this development and ignored the laws passed to protect and preserve wetlands. Today thousands of homes are situated on this low-lying tract of land and are subsidized by federal flood insurance which is paid for by our tax dollars. This area will inevitably flood and when it does your tax dollars will go to compensate the homeowners in this area for millions of dollars in property damage. None of this would be necessary if the Army Corps of Engineers had not illegally assisted and promoted the development of this flood prone area. The history of development in this area is best summarized in a letter written by Arthur Lemann IV <let-aalemann1.htm>.
Judge Charles Schwartz orders the Army Corps of Engineers to do a new Environmental Impact Study on the Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Barrier Project. During the trial one of the key arguments of Save Our Wetlands was that alternative hurricane protection measures should be considered including building up preexisting levees. The new EIS conducted by the Corps concludes that building up the existing levees is in fact a better alternative to the Hurricane Barrier Project. The end result of this litigation is that the wetlands of New Orleans East were saved and the Bayou Savauge National Wildlife Refuge was created.
Next:
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of Army
Corps of Engineers
Intent To Prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)
for the West Shore--Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, Hurricane Protection
Feasibility Study
AGENCY: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, DoD.
ACTION: Notice of intent.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 34152]]
SUMMARY: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District
proposes to determine the feasibility of providing protection against
hurricane-induced flooding for residents located in portions of St.
Charles, St. John the Baptist, and St. James Parishes, Louisiana. The
study area, with a population in excess of 25,000 residents, is bounded
by the Bonnet Carre Spillway to the east, the Mississippi River to the
south, Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas to the north, and the St.
James/Ascension Parish line to the west. There are no Federal hurricane
protection projects protecting the study area from a tidal surge coming
from Lake Pontchartrain and Maurepas. The vulnerability of the study
area to a hurricane tidal surge is demonstrated by the fact that there
are an estimated 1,000 residential structures subject to flooding from
the 25-year storm, 3,990 residential structures subject to flooding
from the 100-year storm, and 4,020 residential structures subject to
flooding from the 500-year storm. The equivalent annual flood damages
for the without-project conditions are estimated at $9.4 million. A
reconnaissance study completed in June 1997, evaluated two alternative
alignments for providing hurricane protection to the study area at the
100-year and the standard project hurricane (SPH) levels of protection.
Both alternative alignments were determined to be economically
justified at both levels of protection. Hence, the reconnaissance
report recommended that the study proceed to the feasibility phase,
contingent upon the execution of a Feasibility Cost Sharing Agreement
(FCSA) with a non-Federal Sponsor. An FCSA was executed with the
Pontchartrain Levee District on March 16, 1998.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions regarding the proposed
action should be directed to the study manager, Mr. Brett H. Herr,
CEMVN-PD-FG, P.O. Box 60267, New Orleans, Louisiana 70160-0267,
telephone (504) 862-2495. Questions regarding the DEIS may be directed
to Dr. William P. Klein, Jr., CEMVN-PD-RS, P.O. Box 60267, New Orleans,
Louisiana 70160-0267, telephone (504) 862-2450.
Read the full report at
wais.access.gpo.gov
look up using this info--DOCID:fr23jn98-32
(personal commentary by me: so in 1998 they were STILL studing the project, and knew it would take a long time to build this..interesting)
Next:
By MIKE DUNNE
mdunne@theadvocate.com <mailto:mdunne@theadvocate.com>
Advocate staff writer
<http://theadvocate.com/stories/042102/sci_21science001.shtml> <http://theadvocate.com/stories/042102/sci_21science001.shtml> Advocate staff photo by Travis Spradling New Orleans residents Jude Hamilton and Catherine Bastian walk down the hurricane protection levee on the lakefront in New Orleans. The levee is designed to protect the city from a Category III hurricane, with winds of 111-130 miles per hour. If a larger hurricane hit the city from the right direction, it could push Lake Pontchartrain over the levee and into the city, most of which is below sea level. The LSU Hurricane Center is leading a $3.5 million, five-year study to look at how the city and other areas could recover from such a catastrophic flood. Hurricane season begins June 1. Imagine what a disaster it would be if a hurricane-driven storm surge up to 20 feet high swept into New Orleans or another Louisiana coastal city.
That's exactly the type of thing a team of Louisiana scientists will be thinking about over the next few years. Their task is to come up with such scenarios and try to figure out both what would happen and how best to recover.
The Louisiana Board of Regents recently approved a $3.7 million grant for the five-year study. The money comes from the state's share of the national tobacco lawsuit settlement.
Ivor van Heeden, deputy director of the LSU Hurricane Center, will head the effort.
The coastal wetlands that protect New Orleans and other coastal cities in Louisiana are shrinking, making people more vulnerable to hurricanes.
Even a slow-moving category 3 hurricane, which has sustained winds of 111-130 miles per hour, could flood New Orleans, van Heerden said.
"If you flood it completely, you are going to have 13 to 17 feet of water in the city. That forces people to get up on their roofs," van Heerden said. "There would be upwards of 400,000 people trapped because a large number will not evacuate, a large number don't own motor vehicles, some are disabled or street people."
One idea on how to rescue those people is what van Heerden and his associates call "Operation Dunkirk." Private boats from the North Shore would be used to reach people in New Orleans, van Heerden said.
The name comes from the World World II evacuation of Dunkirk, where a flotilla of private boats shuttled across the English Channel to rescue Allied troops who were trapped by the Germans in France.
Van Heerden said authorities would obviously use helicopters too, but noted that an inundated New Orleans "would stress every resource we've got."
The health of people stranded on their roofs would also be a concern.
"Typically, they don't take clothing, food, water and, particularly, medicines," he said.
Getting the stranded people out of the city would be just one of many difficult aspects of post-storm recovery. Pumping all the water out of New Orleans, most of which lies below sea level, could take up to nine weeks, he said.
"The flood waters are going to contain a myriad of chemicals, in additional to animal corpses -- be they wild animals or pets -- or even human," he said.
"We could have fairly large and widespread disease outbreaks, and not just one disease," he said.
Dengue fever, West Nile or some other type of encephalitis and cholera are just a few of the potential illnesses, van Heerden said.
Houston's experience with Tropical Storm Allison last year showed buildings would have to be decontaminated, a time-consuming task, he said.
"Maybe we will have 700,000 people homeless," he said. "We will have to build tent cities. Where are we going to build them? When you concentrate people like that, the disease potential goes up enormously. ... This would be a catastrophe, a national catastrophe, and the economic impact would probably exceed $50 billion."
To answer such questions, scientists will create computer programs that help them sharpen planning. The grant will pull together engineers, computer experts, public health workers, veterinarians and other scientists.
The goal is to recommend what steps should be taken to recover from a major flood. While some results should be available within two years, the project will run for five.
In the fourth year, the LSU Hurricane Center plans to host an international conference on the public health impact of big floods.
"This whole concept has generated enormous interest outside the state of Louisiana," van Heerden said. "The value of this is beyond flooding. You can look not only at natural disasters, but also man-made disasters and terrorism. We are basically developing models on how to deal with a large disaster."
And with hurricane season starting June 1, such a disaster could happen in several months.
New Orleans has already had one close call.
In 1998, Hurricane Georges was on what forecasters call the "critical path," pushing water into the Lake Pontchartrain basin and eventually over the tops of the hurricane protection levees.
Evacuees endured trips of 10 or more hours to get from New Orleans to Baton Rouge.
Luckily, Georges didn't wreak the havoc forecasters feared. It weakened on the approach to land and veered into the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
But the near miss wasn't dismissed by disaster planners, who realized there were few blueprints on how to best react to such a storm. Georges was the inspiration behind the grant, van Heerden said.
(weblinks are at the top)
Lastly:
"It's possible to protect New Orleans from a Category 5 hurricane," said Al Naomi, senior project manager for the Corps of Engineers. "But we've got to start. To do nothing is tantamount to negligence."
It could take 20 years and at least $1 billion to raise the levees high enough and to build floodgates at the mouth of Lake Pontchartrain, Naomi said.
The corps hoped to begin a study this year of the steps necessary and the costs. Just the study would take four years and cost $4 million, Naomi said, but the money is not in the federal budget for 2005, though the Senate has yet to act.
This above is from the Phildelphia Inquier website I believe the address is
www.phillynews.com Youll have to search to find the whole article by
Paul Nussbaum, Ill try to get the specifics later.
(personal again: so in 2004 they were still looking at studies, and knew it would take 20 years to complete. And Senate did not act..interesting)
Again I had help from a former Civil Engineer on finding where some of these websites are, they are not reported or shown much of anywhere.
My conclusion is that since 1965 no administration in City, State or Federal Levels have done 1 damn thing. 40 Years people. 40 YEARS!!! Its not just Bush's fault, the fault lies with all of goverment since 1965, the enviromentalist lobby and the media...yes the media. Why?
WWUS74 KLIX 282139
NPWLIX
URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
413 PM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005
...EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE
MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA...
...DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED...
MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT
LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL
FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY
DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.
THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL.
PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD
FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE
BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME
WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.
HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A
FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.
AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH
AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY
VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE
ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE
WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.
POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN
AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING
INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.
THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY
THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW
CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE
KILLED.
AN INLAND HURRICANE WIND WATCH IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS NEAR
HURRICANE FORCE...OR FREQUENT GUSTS AT OR ABOVE HURRICANE FORCE...ARE
POSSIBLE WITHIN THE NEXT 24 TO 36 HOURS.
From the national weather service on 28 Aug.
You all will remember the next day how everyone was "relieved" that Katrina was going to pass to the east of New Orleans and declaired a "sigh of relief for New Orleans"
Also the Mayor who announced "Evacuate the whole city" told in widely available press releases for citizens "bring your own food, there will not be any at the Superdome"..looks like he in no way had a plan to bring food in from anyone.
I will not put any personal opinions into my piece, just the facts I can find. Although Im having suprizing diffculty accessing certain articles and dates on many major websites...Im hoping it was just a glitch, but Ill find out.
What do you all think now? Id like your opinions on this.
Three gentlemen around me, including someone who worked for the US Army Corps of engineers starting looking for information not available to anyone by our wonderful sensationist media in the US and I want you all to know just a small snipit of what we found today. I will post the articles so you all can read for yourselves. I also have access here to several press reporters and as soon as our research is complete I intend to email my article to EVERY TV, radio and Newspaper in the world. I could use the help of those members overseas to let me know where I could email or send such info. Here are the snipits:
I found an old General Accounting Office report online (the link opens a PDF) about the Lake Pontchartrain Hurricane Protection project, dated August 17, 1982.
That report notes that construction of the project received congressional authorization in 1965, was first funded in 1967, and, as far as the Army Corps of Engineers
knew in 1982, would be completed in 2008. The report notes that the project had been delayed and cites the causes, which range from environmental lawsuits
to funding problems to engineering difficulties to a lack of local cooperation, but regrettably doesn't address the question of why authorization was limited
to a category 3 hurricane. It does contain this interesting tidbit though:
Orleans Levee District officials believed that the Corps'standards may be too high for what is really needed for adequate protection and for what is affordable
by local sponsors. For example, they said that Corps standards required widening the levee base by 200 feet to raise the levee height by 1.5 feet.
They recommended that the Corps lower its design standards to provide more realistic hurricane protection to withstand a hurricane whose intensity might occur
once every 100 years rather than building a project to withstand a once in 200- to 300-year occurrence. This, they believe would make the project more affordable,
provide adequate protection, and speed project completion.
You can find the above information by looking for PDF files from the GAO website online.
http://archive.gao.gov/d42t14/119206.pdf
Next one:
Corps of Engineers-New Orleans District
Sept/Oct 2004
Old plans revived for Category 5 hurricane protection north shore to the Mississippi River, by Eric Lincoln.
Engineering and Project Management are determining costs for a hurricane protection feasibility study that could lead to a project to protect southeast Louisiana from Category 5 hurricane storm surges.
One of four alternatives to be investigated will include blocking tidal surges at the Rigolets and Chef Menteur Pass. The concept was part of the original Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Protection project.
In 1977, plans for hurricane protection structures at the Rigolets and Chef Menteur Pass were sunk when environmental groups sued the district. They believed that the environmental impact statement did not adequately address several potential problems, including impacts on Lake Pontchartrain’s ecosystem and damage to wetlands.
With federal funding, a cost sharing agreement could be arranged with DOTD, and the feasibility study could proceed, taking about five years to complete, with another 10 to 20 years for construction.
This information can be found on the Corps of engineers website for the Orleans district.
Next:
Environmental Impact Statements and Regulations; Availabilit
[Federal Register: November 25, 1994]
EPA
ERP No. FS-COE-A36364-LA
Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Protection Project, Fish and Wildlife Mitigation Plan, St. John the Baptist, St. Charles, Orleans and St. Bernard Parishes, LA.
Summary
Review of the final EIS was not deemed necessary. No comment letter was sent to preparing Agency.
Dated: November 21, 1994.
William D. Dickerson,
Director, Federal Agency Liaison Division, Office of Federal Activities.
[FR Doc. 94-29093 Filed 11-23-94; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
This one is available on the EPA website look up the ERP #'s
Next: is a snipit from the enviromental groups that lobbied AGAINST the Hurricane Protection Projects in Louisianna. Read the entire posting at
http://www.saveourwetlands.org/edenislehistory.htm
History of the Eden Isles, Oak Harbor & North Shore Estate subdivisions in Slidell Louisiana This is a history of how 5,200 acres of wetlands in Louisiana were destroyed for development by politicians and land developers with the aid and assistance of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. This tract of land is located on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, in Slidell Louisiana, St. Tammany Parish. How did 5,200 acres of wetlands get developed, diked, and dammed, without even an Environmental Impact Study (EIS), under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)? Why was such an ecologically important tract of land destroyed for the short-term economic benefit of a few, when it should have been preserved for future generations under the National Environmental Policy Act, and Louisiana state laws prohibiting private ownership of public owned water bottoms? Why was a low-lying area which is extremely susceptible to flooding during hurricane tidal surges marked for housing development? The government subsidized this development and ignored the laws passed to protect and preserve wetlands. Today thousands of homes are situated on this low-lying tract of land and are subsidized by federal flood insurance which is paid for by our tax dollars. This area will inevitably flood and when it does your tax dollars will go to compensate the homeowners in this area for millions of dollars in property damage. None of this would be necessary if the Army Corps of Engineers had not illegally assisted and promoted the development of this flood prone area. The history of development in this area is best summarized in a letter written by Arthur Lemann IV <let-aalemann1.htm>.
Judge Charles Schwartz orders the Army Corps of Engineers to do a new Environmental Impact Study on the Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Barrier Project. During the trial one of the key arguments of Save Our Wetlands was that alternative hurricane protection measures should be considered including building up preexisting levees. The new EIS conducted by the Corps concludes that building up the existing levees is in fact a better alternative to the Hurricane Barrier Project. The end result of this litigation is that the wetlands of New Orleans East were saved and the Bayou Savauge National Wildlife Refuge was created.
Next:
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of Army
Corps of Engineers
Intent To Prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)
for the West Shore--Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, Hurricane Protection
Feasibility Study
AGENCY: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, DoD.
ACTION: Notice of intent.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 34152]]
SUMMARY: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District
proposes to determine the feasibility of providing protection against
hurricane-induced flooding for residents located in portions of St.
Charles, St. John the Baptist, and St. James Parishes, Louisiana. The
study area, with a population in excess of 25,000 residents, is bounded
by the Bonnet Carre Spillway to the east, the Mississippi River to the
south, Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas to the north, and the St.
James/Ascension Parish line to the west. There are no Federal hurricane
protection projects protecting the study area from a tidal surge coming
from Lake Pontchartrain and Maurepas. The vulnerability of the study
area to a hurricane tidal surge is demonstrated by the fact that there
are an estimated 1,000 residential structures subject to flooding from
the 25-year storm, 3,990 residential structures subject to flooding
from the 100-year storm, and 4,020 residential structures subject to
flooding from the 500-year storm. The equivalent annual flood damages
for the without-project conditions are estimated at $9.4 million. A
reconnaissance study completed in June 1997, evaluated two alternative
alignments for providing hurricane protection to the study area at the
100-year and the standard project hurricane (SPH) levels of protection.
Both alternative alignments were determined to be economically
justified at both levels of protection. Hence, the reconnaissance
report recommended that the study proceed to the feasibility phase,
contingent upon the execution of a Feasibility Cost Sharing Agreement
(FCSA) with a non-Federal Sponsor. An FCSA was executed with the
Pontchartrain Levee District on March 16, 1998.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions regarding the proposed
action should be directed to the study manager, Mr. Brett H. Herr,
CEMVN-PD-FG, P.O. Box 60267, New Orleans, Louisiana 70160-0267,
telephone (504) 862-2495. Questions regarding the DEIS may be directed
to Dr. William P. Klein, Jr., CEMVN-PD-RS, P.O. Box 60267, New Orleans,
Louisiana 70160-0267, telephone (504) 862-2450.
Read the full report at
wais.access.gpo.gov
look up using this info--DOCID:fr23jn98-32
(personal commentary by me: so in 1998 they were STILL studing the project, and knew it would take a long time to build this..interesting)
Next:
By MIKE DUNNE
mdunne@theadvocate.com <mailto:mdunne@theadvocate.com>
Advocate staff writer
<http://theadvocate.com/stories/042102/sci_21science001.shtml> <http://theadvocate.com/stories/042102/sci_21science001.shtml> Advocate staff photo by Travis Spradling New Orleans residents Jude Hamilton and Catherine Bastian walk down the hurricane protection levee on the lakefront in New Orleans. The levee is designed to protect the city from a Category III hurricane, with winds of 111-130 miles per hour. If a larger hurricane hit the city from the right direction, it could push Lake Pontchartrain over the levee and into the city, most of which is below sea level. The LSU Hurricane Center is leading a $3.5 million, five-year study to look at how the city and other areas could recover from such a catastrophic flood. Hurricane season begins June 1. Imagine what a disaster it would be if a hurricane-driven storm surge up to 20 feet high swept into New Orleans or another Louisiana coastal city.
That's exactly the type of thing a team of Louisiana scientists will be thinking about over the next few years. Their task is to come up with such scenarios and try to figure out both what would happen and how best to recover.
The Louisiana Board of Regents recently approved a $3.7 million grant for the five-year study. The money comes from the state's share of the national tobacco lawsuit settlement.
Ivor van Heeden, deputy director of the LSU Hurricane Center, will head the effort.
The coastal wetlands that protect New Orleans and other coastal cities in Louisiana are shrinking, making people more vulnerable to hurricanes.
Even a slow-moving category 3 hurricane, which has sustained winds of 111-130 miles per hour, could flood New Orleans, van Heerden said.
"If you flood it completely, you are going to have 13 to 17 feet of water in the city. That forces people to get up on their roofs," van Heerden said. "There would be upwards of 400,000 people trapped because a large number will not evacuate, a large number don't own motor vehicles, some are disabled or street people."
One idea on how to rescue those people is what van Heerden and his associates call "Operation Dunkirk." Private boats from the North Shore would be used to reach people in New Orleans, van Heerden said.
The name comes from the World World II evacuation of Dunkirk, where a flotilla of private boats shuttled across the English Channel to rescue Allied troops who were trapped by the Germans in France.
Van Heerden said authorities would obviously use helicopters too, but noted that an inundated New Orleans "would stress every resource we've got."
The health of people stranded on their roofs would also be a concern.
"Typically, they don't take clothing, food, water and, particularly, medicines," he said.
Getting the stranded people out of the city would be just one of many difficult aspects of post-storm recovery. Pumping all the water out of New Orleans, most of which lies below sea level, could take up to nine weeks, he said.
"The flood waters are going to contain a myriad of chemicals, in additional to animal corpses -- be they wild animals or pets -- or even human," he said.
"We could have fairly large and widespread disease outbreaks, and not just one disease," he said.
Dengue fever, West Nile or some other type of encephalitis and cholera are just a few of the potential illnesses, van Heerden said.
Houston's experience with Tropical Storm Allison last year showed buildings would have to be decontaminated, a time-consuming task, he said.
"Maybe we will have 700,000 people homeless," he said. "We will have to build tent cities. Where are we going to build them? When you concentrate people like that, the disease potential goes up enormously. ... This would be a catastrophe, a national catastrophe, and the economic impact would probably exceed $50 billion."
To answer such questions, scientists will create computer programs that help them sharpen planning. The grant will pull together engineers, computer experts, public health workers, veterinarians and other scientists.
The goal is to recommend what steps should be taken to recover from a major flood. While some results should be available within two years, the project will run for five.
In the fourth year, the LSU Hurricane Center plans to host an international conference on the public health impact of big floods.
"This whole concept has generated enormous interest outside the state of Louisiana," van Heerden said. "The value of this is beyond flooding. You can look not only at natural disasters, but also man-made disasters and terrorism. We are basically developing models on how to deal with a large disaster."
And with hurricane season starting June 1, such a disaster could happen in several months.
New Orleans has already had one close call.
In 1998, Hurricane Georges was on what forecasters call the "critical path," pushing water into the Lake Pontchartrain basin and eventually over the tops of the hurricane protection levees.
Evacuees endured trips of 10 or more hours to get from New Orleans to Baton Rouge.
Luckily, Georges didn't wreak the havoc forecasters feared. It weakened on the approach to land and veered into the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
But the near miss wasn't dismissed by disaster planners, who realized there were few blueprints on how to best react to such a storm. Georges was the inspiration behind the grant, van Heerden said.
(weblinks are at the top)
Lastly:
"It's possible to protect New Orleans from a Category 5 hurricane," said Al Naomi, senior project manager for the Corps of Engineers. "But we've got to start. To do nothing is tantamount to negligence."
It could take 20 years and at least $1 billion to raise the levees high enough and to build floodgates at the mouth of Lake Pontchartrain, Naomi said.
The corps hoped to begin a study this year of the steps necessary and the costs. Just the study would take four years and cost $4 million, Naomi said, but the money is not in the federal budget for 2005, though the Senate has yet to act.
This above is from the Phildelphia Inquier website I believe the address is
www.phillynews.com Youll have to search to find the whole article by
Paul Nussbaum, Ill try to get the specifics later.
(personal again: so in 2004 they were still looking at studies, and knew it would take 20 years to complete. And Senate did not act..interesting)
Again I had help from a former Civil Engineer on finding where some of these websites are, they are not reported or shown much of anywhere.
My conclusion is that since 1965 no administration in City, State or Federal Levels have done 1 damn thing. 40 Years people. 40 YEARS!!! Its not just Bush's fault, the fault lies with all of goverment since 1965, the enviromentalist lobby and the media...yes the media. Why?
WWUS74 KLIX 282139
NPWLIX
URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
413 PM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005
...EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE
MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA...
...DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED...
MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT
LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL
FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY
DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.
THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL.
PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD
FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE
BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME
WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.
HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A
FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.
AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH
AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY
VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE
ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE
WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.
POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN
AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING
INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.
THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY
THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW
CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE
KILLED.
AN INLAND HURRICANE WIND WATCH IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS NEAR
HURRICANE FORCE...OR FREQUENT GUSTS AT OR ABOVE HURRICANE FORCE...ARE
POSSIBLE WITHIN THE NEXT 24 TO 36 HOURS.
From the national weather service on 28 Aug.
You all will remember the next day how everyone was "relieved" that Katrina was going to pass to the east of New Orleans and declaired a "sigh of relief for New Orleans"
Also the Mayor who announced "Evacuate the whole city" told in widely available press releases for citizens "bring your own food, there will not be any at the Superdome"..looks like he in no way had a plan to bring food in from anyone.
I will not put any personal opinions into my piece, just the facts I can find. Although Im having suprizing diffculty accessing certain articles and dates on many major websites...Im hoping it was just a glitch, but Ill find out.
What do you all think now? Id like your opinions on this.