Posted on 09/22/2005 9:13:07 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
NEW ORLEANS - Outer bands of rain from Hurricane Rita began falling in New Orleans on Thursday, and forecasts of between 3 and 5 inches of rainfall in the coming days raised fears the patched levee system could fail and flood the city all over again.
A direct hit from Hurricane Rita was still unlikely, but the Category 5 storm veered on a more northerly course toward a Saturday landfall in Texas that put New Orleans on the eastern edge of tropical storm warning.
The rainfall Rita could bring to New Orleans put it dangerously close to the predictions that the fractured levees can only handle up to 6 inches of rain and a storm surge of 10 to 12 feet.
"Right now, it's a wait and see and hope for the best," said Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Mitch Frazier, adding that the the new forecast brought renewed urgency to efforts to shore up levees with sandbags and bring in more portable pumps.
Thursday's rains were the first in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina's Aug. 29 landfall broke the levees in several places and flooded 80 percent of the city. Only spotty showers were falling at midmorning, but forecasters said there could be brief periods heavy downpours as Rita's squall bands moved through.
Frazier said his biggest concern was the storm surge. If the surge exceeds 10 to 12 feet at the 17th Street or the London canals, more heavy flooding could occur. In neighboring St. Bernard Parish, a surge of 5 to 6 feet was all that was needed to swamp the area again.
While the National Weather Service has not yet made a storm surge prediction for New Orleans from Rita, a tidal surge of up to 20 feet was expected from Corpus Christi, Texas, to south-central Louisiana.
If the levees fail again, the areas of New Orleans that are most likely to flood are the same neighborhoods inundated by Katrina, many of which have been dry for less than a week.
"If it's a quick, fast rain, we'll see localized flooding," Frazier said. "There no doubt about that."
The process of getting the water from Katrina out was nearly complete, with only about 10 percent of the city still flooded, and the Corps is confident it will be able to quickly pump water out again.
Searchers looking for bodies continued smashing into homes that had been locked or submerged under Katrina's highest floodwaters, pushing the overall body count past 1,000. The death toll in Louisiana alone stood at 799 on Wednesday, an increase of 153 since the weekend and nearly 80 percent of the 1,036 deaths attributed to Katrina across the Gulf Coast region.
Officials said the body search could last another four to six weeks and could yield many more dead.
"There still could be quite a few, especially in the deepest flooded areas," said U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Jeffrey Pettitt. "Some of the houses, they haven't been in yet."
Mark Heimann, a FEMA field spokesman, said the searches will continue, but officials were keeping a close eye on the weather. Special reconnaissance teams are looking for solid buildings in search areas in case rescuers need to rush to higher ground.
"It's almost impossible to predict," Heimann said.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin continued to urge residents to get out of the city. A mandatory evacuation order is in effect for the entire east bank of the Mississippi, and some 500 buses were standing by at the convention center, but few seemed to be taking advantage. Only 27 people had been evacuated by the end of Wednesday.
Send in the looters!
Lake New Orleans will be back to full pool again no matter where Rita hits.
They needed a rinse-off anyway. . .
Nope, saw a post yesterday that said Rita's eye was bulging.. Ouch!
When a large object is placed into water, it displaces the water which could cause flooding. (hehehe)
Hey I have a great idea....lets rebuild a city below sea level at taxpayer expense that suffers two category 5 hurricanes in one month??? What you freepers think? Am just crazy like a Sheehan?
I watched an environmental analysis of the New Orleans stagnant flood waters on TV. The expert maintained that there was no oxygen in the water, besides the danger from the other pollutants. He ended up saying, ironically, what you've said, "They need a rinse-off anyway. . ."
I can't believe they want to rebuild it KNOWING it is below sea level and COULD happen again! Guess when it is other people (TAXPAYERS) that has to pay to rebuild it over and over again if it floods, it doesn't matter.
maybe a rita is what's needed to make these pols understand you can't keep throwing good money after bad. below sea level with levees, walls, sandbags is still below sea level. looks like half the people wised up and are not coming back...
I'm sure Mayor Noggin has the situation in hand...in Dallas.
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