Posted on 10/24/2005 12:18:47 PM PDT by caryatid
In a stunning case of déjà vu, residents of the Ninth Ward were delivered another blow hampering their efforts to clean up their homes and begin the process of rebuilding.
Water was found ponding in some areas of the flood ravaged neighborhoods, leaving many to believe that the levees had once again been topped.
The Army Corps of Engineers said 8 to 12 inches of water were discovered in selected parts of the Ninth Ward; the result of a weak pumping system.
National Guardsmen were blocking all entrances into the neighborhood while the Army Corps of Engineers monitored the situation.
Spokesman Stuart Waits said the pumping station, already weakened by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, was overwhelmed by water, which lead to ground seepage in the Ninth Ward.
Waits said he expects the water will be off the streets in the next four to six hours.
That's what happens when the vandals take the handles.
What a mess! Who on earth would want to live in such uncertainty?
Don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows either.
Or white people deliberately damage the levees.
Flood the place and turn it into a wetlands. Compensate the Republican homeowners (if there are any), but don't bother with the Democrats--they should feel sufficiently repaid to know their properties were put to such good use.
Getting ready to blow the levee's again.
Looks like Rove had a few un-exploded munitions to dispose of.
Whitey been busted again for pumping water out of the rich neigborhoods down to the 'hood.
Nagin's in the basement thinking about the government.
If them vandals keep taking the handles, I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more.
And Bush doesn't care.
Many thoughtful people have suggested this. It would be folly to rebuild on land where subisdence [sinking] is a reallity without doing something to raise the level of the land. It is predicted that the area will sink another 3 feet in the foreseeable future.
Those who are saying to simply flood the Ninth Ward, or bulldoze it and fill it, or use it as a landfill are forgetting one simple fact: This land is private property, and has owners.
If the government decides to disallow any construction in this area, then the landowners must be properly compensated. Insurance may pay for the value of the buildings, but the land has value as well.
When eminent domain was used to take some homes to build commercial development, the cry here was very loud. Yet, I'm not hearing that with regard to the property owners in the Ninth Ward.
Why is that?
Because this "private property" has to be held dry by my tax dollars. Just as I'm not a fan of FEMA stepping in to compensate those who don't pay the premiums for flood insurance (as I do), I don't want my tax dollars going to foolish boondoggles. I consider it foolish to rebuild in an area where we will hear for the next fifty years how vulnerable it is to the next big hurricane as we did for the last.
Sea men?
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