You won’t like, or agree with, every conclusion — especially not if you work for the mayor of New Orleans. But Popular Mechanics’ ridiculously comprehensive cover package on the “Lessons of Katrina” is really worth a read.
Especially nice is how Pop Mech leverages its DIY home-builder know-how to offer up fixes for future hurricane-fighting. Here’s an example:
In 1965, the same year Hurricane Betsy swamped large sections of New Orleans (including the Lower Ninth Ward), the Army Corps of Engineers presented Congress with an audacious blueprint for protecting the city from a fast-moving Category 3 storm. The $85 million Barrier Plan proposed sealing off Lake Pontchartrain from the gulf with massive, retractable flood barriers. The goal: Stop storm surges 25 miles east of the levees that encircle New Orleans. After Betsy, the plan was expanded to include gates on two of the four drainage canals that slice into the city from Pontchartrain (two of which breached their floodwalls after Katrina). But, environmental groups objected to the impact that the Pontchartrain floodgates might have on wildlife and wetlands. The Sewer and Water Board of New Orleans vetoed gates on the canals. So the Corps instead built higher levees and floodwalls.
Now, 40 years later, the Corps is again studying how to design gates for Pontchartrain and the New Orleans canals that will have minimal impact on the environment and navigation, but will still be able to block Katrina-strength storm surges. The report’s due date: January 2008. Meanwhile, engineers are also studying how to strengthen the existing levees. One idea is to replace fragile I-wall barriers with more robust T-walls, which use three rows of foundation pilings that can withstand pressure generated by hurricane-force floodwaters. A wide concrete slab, or “skirt,” on the protected side deflects overflowing water that could otherwise wash away supporting soil. T-walls held throughout Katrina without a leak.
Next month’s cover story might not be half-bad, either. I hear they got some defense technology dork to look at the Pentagon’s big weapons programs, and try to figure out who things are meant to fight.
The levees will be made stronger, but they will still sink. They’ve been sinking ever since the first one was built. The city is sinking. The delta around the city is rising because of sediments coming downriver. No matter what they do, the levees will require constant reconstruction. New Orleans is simply built in an awkward place.
The big problem here is that the levees will never be as important to Congress as they are to the city. By that logic, the whole process for planning and building the levees is fundamentally flawed because the city’s survival is essentially dependent on the parliamentary skill of its representatives and the goodwill of the rest of the country. What is needed is for New Orleans to take charge of the levees themselves, from both an engineering and financial standpoint.
This isn’t going to happen, for the same reason Alaska can’t build its own bridges and cities are lining up for Homeland Security money. Money is power and Congress dispenses money to increase patronage and get reelected. This leads to every municipality becoming a dependency of the Federal government, disastrously in this instance.
it is also the reason for most (almost all?) corruption is this nation
We are $8 trillion in the hole and we really think Congress can help us? Still? The petro-euro has a good chance too be teaching us differently, and very soon. It shall be forced upon us, when the greenback breaks, to stop going to Congress for solving local problems and grow the manual community once more — the collapse of Federalism.
I know building a levy without Congress’ help will require some inventive ideas, such as katsesama mentioned, but our inherent laziness, we call quality of life, proves it will take more iterations, more “Lessons of Katrina” moments, before we grow up and face the pain it takes to rebuild our nation.
So much poisonous seepage to clean up, unstoppable mass extinction of many untold species, and toil humans have cause and produced in the last 100 years — us playing god, we have failed, especially with the US river system. Lets just hope we haven’t push too much irreversible pain onto the world in the process and survive another 100 years.
Charles: sadly, a house built on a concrete foundation, no matter how high, will eventually sink into the mud. There is no bedrock to build on down there because of tens of thousands of years of sediment buildup. Venice is sinking, too.
Does anyone know how the Aztecs managed to build their city in the middle of a lake? Were they building on floating “islands?“
You’re quite right that maintaining a city there is expensive and can only be done with constant maintainance of the levees. Having a port there would seem to be worth it, but if that is the case, the port should generate enough revenue to maintain the system. Of course, you can also argue that California cities ought to be able to pay for their own water supply without Federal funding if it’s really worth it to live there. Good luck with that.
If you think this would be enough, then your creativeness is not enough. There are still features that may be added on to disaster preparedness system. Due to sensitivity of the subject, I’ll zip my mouth to go further on the subject.
The incredible stupidity of rebuilding a city that is sinking in the mud daily is just mind boggling.
Move the historic areas/sites inland and let the thing sink. The smell of delta mud has to be better than the aged urine on Bouron St.
What does this sinking money-pit have to offer?
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