Posted on 03/30/2006 3:15:37 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - A full recovery in New Orleans could take 25 years as homeowners, businesses and tourists are coaxed back to the city devastated by Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration's Gulf Coast recovery coordinator said Thursday.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Don Powell said that much of the city's rebirth will hinge on factors he said were "out of our control," including restoring housing, ensuring safety and encouraging robust investment by the private sector.
"We kind of want it to happen overnight, or I do, but it's going to take some time," Powell said. "This could be five to 25 years for it all to fit into place."
Powell also said the Army Corps of Engineers now estimates it will cost an additional $5.9 billion to repair levees enough to fully protect and insure nearly 1.1 million residents of the greater New Orleans area.
That is in addition to the $3.5 billion the Bush administration has so far sought to bring the levees back to at least their pre-Katrina levels by June 1, the start of the 2006 hurricane season.
Powell said the Corps recently told him the administration must commit to spending as much as $5.9 billion more before it could fully certify the levees, as needed to issue flood maps that determine insurance rates and allow rebuilding to begin.
Powell said he does not know how many more federal dollars Washington will commit to the region, or whether some of the money will come from state and local governments. "We haven't decided what to ask for," Powell said.
But he said that decision and the release of new flood maps would likely happen in a "relatively short period of time — in a matter of days."
Over the next 60 days, Powell said, the Corps will be strengthening levees and building storm-proof pumping stations and flood gates to close certain parts of New Orleans' canals in the event of a major storm.
"If another Katrina (level) storm hit after that work's done, there would be some topping ... but the flooding would be all manageable," Powell said. "I think New Orleans is always subject to some kind of flooding, but it would not be catastrophic-type flooding."
In Baton Rouge, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco called the nearly tripling of the estimated cost of levee repairs "an outrage." She demanded that Congress come up with the money. She said the $3.5 billion investment so far has focused primarily on rebuilding the flood protection on the east bank of New Orleans.
Without the additional cash, Blanco said, the Lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes likely wouldn't receive the levee repairs needed to give them the protection they had before Katrina.
"Obviously all sections will not be secure," she said.
The White House so far has asked for $108 billion in Gulf Coast relief and recovery aid, all but $19 billion of which has been approved by Congress. The remainder is under consideration by lawmakers. The new levee costs are not included in that spending pot, Powell said.
In a conference call with reporters later, Army Corps of Engineers Maj. Gen. Don Riley said the new costs are the result of ongoing repairs and studies of the levees.
"As we learn, we will adjust our methodology and our estimate," Riley said. "To do it properly, it takes time. Our main interest is in getting this right for the people of New Orleans."
What the storm-ravaged region will look like in upcoming years is largely up to state and local officials, Powell said, though the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will have authority to "tweak" some of the housing plans.
The four parishes that make up New Orleans and its immediate suburbs have been waiting for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to issue the flood maps for months.
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Associated Press Writers Brett Martel in New Orleans and Melinda Deslatte in Baton Rouge contributed to this story.
could flood again and never get done.....
bad location.
But, but ... we want it resolved by the end of the broadcast day.
It surprises me that people are surprised that it is going to take that long. I thought the media and the Mayor of NO were crazy when they were talking about people returning to the city in months. When I was in high school in Germany back in the early 70s they were still making repairs to their cities from WWII.
99% of the problem right there.
Daddy BigBucks Bush just won't stop tryin' to make us BELIEVE that the Feds and plenty of tax dollars can fix anything.
And it is emphatically unviable to put welfare housing in a place where it's expensive to ensure the housing isn't flooded. The welfare types can be warehoused elsewhere
In 25 years it will only be called a recovery if there is a Republician in the Whitehouse. LOL
The real kicker is a few years down the road, if they salvage what they can and rebuild NO, the New Madrid fault is likely to rip and shift the course of the Mississippi and the ports will be of little value anymore.
Call it karma. Ya never know anymore these days. Lots of things are overdue seismically across this nation.
Below-sealevel parasites on the Gulf Coast aren't a priority for anybody I know.
There's a solution to speed the process up, don't allow any rebuilding. NO is below sea level so it's just bewildering why it should be rebuilt just to allow it to happen again.
In Baton Rouge, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco called the nearly tripling of the estimated cost of levee repairs "an outrage." She demanded that Congress come up with the money.
LOL. Think of all the money the crooks are going to steal.
Would it be possible to let some parts of it return to nature and thereby both shorten the length of the levies and restrict reconstruction to higher (less low) ground?
In Baton Rouge, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco called the nearly tripling of the estimated cost of levee repairs "an outrage." She demanded that Congress come up with the money. She said the $3.5 billion investment so far has focused primarily on rebuilding the flood protection on the east bank of New Orleans.
Without the additional cash, Blanco said, the Lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes likely wouldn't receive the levee repairs needed to give them the protection they had before Katrina.
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Um, the Lower Ninth Ward (as most of the city) is on the East Bank.
Possible indeed, but far too sensible.
I think your remark indicates misunderstanding of the process.
Pilots say there old pilots and bold pilots but there are no old bold pilots.
That is the way with the recovery. There can be carefully managed recovery and there can be very quick, alll stops pulled out recovery.
The public demanded the latter. Waste is implicit in that desire. The answer is never. It is only money and it was used as the public demanded.
I was in eastern Ukraine last November and they still haven't finished!
"New Madrid fault is likely to rip "
Potentially creating massive disaster in the Midwest.
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