Posted on 09/03/2005 5:02:00 AM PDT by Our_Man_In_Gough_Island
It may be many weeks until all the water is removed from New Orleans. Before all the vital pumping stations can be reactivated, the city swamped by Hurricane Katrina has to be drained and its floodwalls and levees (embankments) repaired.
Much of it was under 2.4 metres (8 feet) of water this week though the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) said the level seemed to be stabilising on Friday.
The weather will largely dictate the speed of work and the hurricane season is predicted to run into October.
Whether patching up a breached floodwall to keep water out or opening a levee to let water escape, the USACE engineers are working flat out under the clatter of helicopters and the splash of the giant sandbags they deliver.
A member of the team coordinating the drainage spoke to the BBC News website from the USACE regional headquarters in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
With three floodwalls breached, John Grieshaber, ACE assistant chief of engineering for New Orleans District, gave details of the engineers' strategy:
causeways are being built in from dry land to get heavy construction equipment to breach sites GETTING THE WATER OUT repairs to floodwall breaches drainage through breached floodwall and levee pumping stations reactivated after electricity returns
steel sheets are being used to close off the mouths of the 17th Street Canal and the London Avenue Canal where they empty into Lake Pontchartrain
300-lb (136-kg) sandbags are being dropped into the 17th Street Canal while a rock dyke is being erected to close off the breach; work is also due to start on London Avenue
the third breached floodwall, at the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Lock, is being left open for now to let water drain out
a levee in St Bernard Parish is being deliberately dug out with earthmoving machines to allow water to escape before being dug over again. 'Vulnerable to events'
After the water level has fallen and electricity is restored, the engineers will be helping to restore the 22 Drainage Pumping Stations which serve a city which has expanded below sea level over the decades.
We want to make sure that we don't catch ourselves with levees open and another storm front moving on us
Lt Gen Carl Strock USACE commander
Some of the stations are already online but others may need new equipment.
Scientists at the UK's Benfield Hazard Research Centre predicted earlier this year that the hurricane season between July and October would be "very active".
The tactic of deliberately breaching levees, therefore, involves some risk.
"We want to make sure that we don't catch ourselves with levees open and another storm front moving on us," USACE commander Lt Gen Carl Strock told reporters in Washington on Friday.
Given the weather factor, communications problems in the city and the inability to work by night because of lack of electricity, USACE officers have been very cautious about an estimated time for getting the water pumped out.
"We're certainly talking weeks," said Lt Gen Strock.
"There are so many variables, I'd be reluctant to put a number up that I would then have to live with or celebrate if I come in under it. I think we need to just give some time to work it."
Hours after the commander spoke, a USACE officer in Baton Rouge, Brig Gen Robert Crear, put the timescale at "36 to 80 days".
Looters probably stole the pumps.
The NOLA bowl won't be drained before Christmas, and possibly until much later, I predict.
They 'can't use the pumps because the vandals stole the handles'?....;)
And ya don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
Very interesting. Thank you.
I always wondered how they kept the water out in the first place. The whole pump system is clever.
Not far from the truth, actually. They can't use the pumps because some genius decided to place them where they would be submerged and inoperable when the flood waters came in. But of course the city and the state had nothing to do with that ...
LOL!
[Shall we break out the consecutive placards now?]....;))
How many days do they have before all the trees and bushes die from having their roots covered by water?
"But of course the city and the state had nothing to do with that ..."
Indeed?
Then it's obviously Bush's Fault©®.
[patent pending]
:)
It depends on the species, but even in an ordinary flooding, where water drains away naturally, many trees die.
Nothing like building a city six feet below sea level ***twice***
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.