Posted on 09/03/2005 12:34:27 PM PDT by wagglebee
Crack a good link right on up and I will. Until then, common sense rules, you drool.
http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/pao/whoweare/index.asp
New Orleans District
Responsibilities of the New Orleans District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, are almost entirely in civil works. Flood control, navigation and the environment are the big jobs. About 1,000 of our more than 1,300 employees are headquartered along the Mississippi River in the Uptown neighborhood of New Orleans. Our district covers 30,000 square miles (map) of south Louisiana, from Alexandria to the Gulf. Our program for fiscal year 2005 is about $462 million through April, including $57 million of emergency supplemental appropriations.
Geography puts us in the unusual position of facing three distinct flood threats: (1) Mississippi River and other stream floods, (2) rain floods, especially in areas ringed by levees such as metropolitan New Orleans and (3) hurricane storm surges. Corps flood reduction projects address each threat.
In navigation, we keep open the largest port complex on earth, measured by cargo tonnage, from Baton Rouge to the Gulf of Mexico. To maintain navigation channels we use depth-finding boats, dredges and structures. The latter include revetment, jetties and dikes. The district dredged 66 million cubic yards in fiscal year 2003, more than 38 percent of Corps dredging nationwide.
The district role in environmental protection and restoration is expanding. We chair a task force created by the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA); have completed two large freshwater diversion projects; are restoring flows in the Atchafalaya Basin; and are leading a multi-agency study for an ambitious project (LCA) to restore Louisiana's coastal ecosystem. We also regulate wetlands and navigable waters.
9:00 Monday morning?! And you were still there? What time did the hurricane come in? There were warnings as early as Saturday. Katrina was a Cat-5 on Saturday. Go back and read the original article that this thread was about: The Director of the National Hurricane Service warned your mayor on Saturday night. On Monday, the mayor says get out now and he was "serious and somber when making the statement". Why didn't he say that earlier? You just made my point: Your mayor is inept.
Since this evacuation was in your eyes a failure could you please point me to an event where a million people were evacuated from one metropolitan area along two roads in less than 48 hours?
I didn't say the evacuation was a failure. I said your local government dropped the ball waiting for the president to make decisions they should have made--such as ordering an evacuation in the first place--and now they're blaming him for the outcome. Your mayor did not give New Orleans citizens 48 hours of notice. And whether he wants to or not, he must accept responsibility for his hesitation. Not to mention the hundreds of school buses that you maintain would have just "complicated matters" that are now sitting in a flooded lot. And the lack of planning for food and water for the people that went to the Superdome and the Convention Center. As I said before, your local officials complaining 48 hours after the fact that it's taking too long to get food and water into a flooded city when no attempt to get supplies into the city before the flooding occurred is reprehensible. The mayor knew people would go there. So did the governor. Why didn't they take steps to get at least some supplies in place? Because they didn't plan ahead. Or they didn't have the money. Either way they are responsible for that.
But, please answer this for me if you will? Did the City of New Orleans' Evacuation Plan include the use of school buses or not? If not, why not? And if so, why weren't they? Your explanation on why they wern't used makes no sense and I think you know that--having to leave your home under these circumstances I know has to have been terrible so I suspect your statement was not well thought out. However, since you seem to be an apologist for Mayor Nagin, perhaps you can answer these questions on his behalf...
Gimme Shelter
Writing an editorial with a hurricane aimed at your state is a bit like putting a message in a bottle. At presstime, Hurricane Lili was predicted to slam into the Gulf Coast by the time this newspaper is published and distributed. Indications are that Lili, which began its trek in our direction while we were still battening down for Tropical Storm Isidore, is headed to southwest Louisiana. Of course, we have no foolproof way of predicting just where Lili will hit and with what effect.
Yet Isidore and Lili have reminded us of one certainty: there is too much unfinished business on evacuation routes out of South Louisiana.
Isidore quickly flooded major escape routes from Interstate-10 West in New Orleans and state Highway 1 at Port Fouchon, the state's busiest oil and gas port. Hundreds of thousands of people were unable to get out of the way of potential harm. Now, one unfortunate consequence of Isidore is the undermining of public confidence in our government and emergency officials' ability to adequately protect our lives and property.
In New Orleans, residents found it hard to believe that emergency officials still had not prepared emergency evacuation alternative routes to overcome the notoriously flood-prone road dip underneath the Southern Railroad trestle at I-10. Moreover, four years after 1.5 million people fled southeast Louisiana to escape Hurricane Georges -- the largest evacuation in the history of the Gulf Coast -- construction of a pumping station for the dip is still 20 months from completion. That's two hurricane seasons away.
Authorities seemed to have learned some quick, painful lessons from the public response to Isidore. State Sen. Francis Heitmeier, chair of the House transportation committee, spoke for many public officials and emergency planners last week when he acknowledged, "We got caught with our pants down." With Lili bearing down on the coast, Heitmeier and other state officials stepped up efforts to design alternative escape routes. Meanwhile, while the sun was still shining, municipal authorities from Grand Isle northward openly discussed, and thereby tacitly encouraged, early "voluntary" evacuations.
On Sept. 28, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu called a hurricane preparedness meeting of top officials from Orleans, St. Tammany, Jefferson and St. Bernard parishes. Landrieu's visitor, Sen. Jim Jeffords (Ind-Vt.), who chairs a Senate committee that is working on $280 billion national transportation and public works appropriations bill, heard concerns such as the need for multi-million dollar emergency back-up generators for pumping stations, flood protection for evacuation routes, and a light rail system to evacuate the indigent and disabled. The hastily called summit was certainly a good photo op for Landrieu, who is seeking re-election. But it was also a good idea, and it should serve as a model for future regional cooperation on disasters.
Isidore also provided Mayor Ray Nagin his first experience with the city's Office of Emergency Preparedness atop City Hall. Nagin noted that an estimated 100,000 residents of the city rely on public transportation, and he said he hopes federal support for a future light rail system will enable the city to evacuate these residents to Louis Armstrong International Airport and points beyond.
In addition, Nagin deplored the "patchwork of networks among the parishes in terms of [emergency] communications and technology." We expect police and emergency agencies to be talking to each other on the same radio channel during an emergency. Apparently, they were not, at least not during Isidore. Nagin is correct to worry publicly about such a lack of coordination, and we share his concern.
Following Isidore, Jefferson Parish President Tim Coulon dryly observed: "Here in Louisiana, floods are not an act of God, they are a politician's fault." Thanks to a federally funded flood prevention project, the suburban parish is better protected than when Coulon took office in 1995, he said. Still, Coulon, added, the parish is in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) top 10 for "most flood plain regions."
Coulon noted that, during Isidore, one pump went out of commission with no back-up generator. "Each [back-up] costs $2 million," he said. "Unlike some people would suggest, I can't got to Home Depot or Lowe's to get a replacement."
Landrieu recently won a Senate committee's approval for $9 million in federal funds for two highway upgrades critical for future evacuations: $4.5 million for two-lane Louisiana 1, the only evacuation route for Grand Isle, Port Fourchon and much of Lafourche Parish. An equal amount will fund the construction of the southern extension of Interstate 49, linking the West Bank Expressway to the city of Lafayette. Landrieu's projects come for a vote in the full Senate at a date to be announced, an aide to the senator said. Both measures deserve the bi-partisan support of every Louisianan.
As Coulon said emotionally of hurricane protection requests, "It's not pork barrel; it's real life." With Lili bearing down on the Louisiana coastline, that's the message we need to send out any way we can.
Great link! but the FEMA plan covered more than cleanup.
"We made great progress this week in our preparedness efforts," said Ron Castleman, FEMA Regional Director. "Disaster response teams developed action plans in critical areas such as search and rescue, medical care, sheltering, temporary housing, school restoration and debris management. These plans are essential for quick response to a hurricane but will also help in other emergencies."
Yes, it is interesting...except your post doesn't say that.
Responsibilities of the New Orleans District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, are almost entirely in civil works. Flood control, navigation and the environment are the big jobs.
If the Levee would have held, the flooding would not have occured on this scale.
If the Levee would have held, the flooding would not have occured on this scale.
Mistakes and lies about a *plan* to evacuate the citizenry OUT of the city beforehand. Pathetic.
NOLA Metro is around 1.2 million.
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