posted on September 3, 2005 10:00:06 AM new
Corps officials: Funding levels not to blame for flooding
By Andrew Martin and Andrew Zajac
Washington Bureau
Published September 1, 2005, 8:39 PM CDT
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Thursday that a lack of funding for hurricane-protection projects around New Orleans did not contribute to the disastrous flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina.
In a telephone interview with reporters, corps officials said that although portions of the flood-protection levees remain incomplete, the levees near Lake Pontchartrain that gave way--inundating much of the city--were completed and in good condition before the hurricane.
However, they noted that the levees were designed for a Category 3 hurricane and couldn't handle the ferocious winds and raging waters from Hurricane Katrina, which was a Category 4 storm when it hit the coastline. The decision to build levees for a Category 3 hurricane was made decades ago based on a cost-benefit analysis.
"I don't see that the level of funding was really a contributing factor in this case," said Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, chief of engineers for the corps. "Had this project been fully complete, it is my opinion that based on the intensity of this storm that the flooding of the business district and the French Quarter would have still taken place."
Strock also [v]denied that escalating costs from the war in Iraq contributed to reductions in funding for hurricane projects in Louisiana, as some critics have suggested[/b]. Records show that corps funding for the Louisiana projects has generally decreased in recent years.
Several critics, including a former head of the Corps of Engineers, suggested in a Tribune story Thursday that the flooding in New Orleans could have been less severe had the federal government fully funded projects to improve the levees and drainage in the city.
Congress in 1999 authorized the corps to conduct a $12 million study to determine how much it would cost to protect New Orleans from a Category 5 hurricane, but the study isn't scheduled to get under way until 2006. It was not clear why the study has taken so long to begin, though Congress has only provided in the range of $100,000 or $200,000 a year so far.
Al Naomi, senior project manager in the corps' New Orleans District, said it would cost as much as $2.5 billion to build such a system, which would likely include gates to block the Gulf of Mexico from Lake Pontchartrain and additional levees. If the project were fully funded and started immediately, Naomi said it could be completed in three to five years.
A project to build up the levees to withstand a Category 3 hurricane was launched in 1965 after Hurricane Betsy and was supposed to be completed in 10 years, but it remains incomplete because of a lack of funding.
In recent years, funding has dropped precipitously, which some officials attributed in part to the escalating costs of the Iraq war. Funding for a drainage project in New Orleans went from $69 million in 2001 to $36.5 million in the current fiscal year, while funding for such hurricane-protection projects as levees around Lake Pontchartrain declined from $10 million in 2001 to $5.7 million this year, according to figures provided by the office of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.).
Funding for these projects has generally trended downward since at least the last years of the Clinton administration. Congressional records show that the levee work on Lake Pontchartrain received $23 million in 1998 and $16 million in 1999. It was not clear how much the drainage project received in 1998, but records show it received $75 million in 1999.
Neither the White House nor the Corps of Engineers would confirm the numbers, nor would they provide funding levels dating to previous administrations.
posted on September 4, 2005 08:40:24 PM new
I believe 60 minutes said no levee failed.
What failed was the 2ft thick shield wall of the channel to which the levees direct water. The water rose above the shield and then the force of the water undermined the wall in sections.
[ edited by desquirrel on Sep 4, 2005 11:36 PM ]
posted on September 4, 2005 09:52:18 PM new
New Orleans floods during a heavy rain. They have been dealing with flooding since the inception of New Orleans.
Progress has been the foe to New Orleans as well as the entire Gulf Coast regiion. Commercialisation and residential building on the buffer zones is why there is so much damage and destruction today when a hurricane rips through. Cities and Counties are the ones who approve zoning and grant the construction permits. It boils down to tax base, tourist revenue, etc...the almighty dollar.
Sure its nice to go from your home, condo or hotel across the road to the beach for the day. Mother Nature doesn't take our civilization and convenience into consideration.
