Support for Category 5 Storm Protection in New Orleans Ebbs in D.C. (Hillary still confused)

Newhouse News ^ | 11/11/05 | BILL WALSH, BRUCE ALPERT

[Libloather]

Support for Category 5 Storm Protection in New Orleans Ebbs in D.C.
BY BILL WALSH And BRUCE ALPERT
Newhouse News Service

Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco speaks at a Rebuilding and Recovery Conference in New Orleans, La., Thursday, Nov. 10, 2005. Blanco talked about the effects of Hurricane Katrina and how the state would have to rebuild. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

WASHINGTON -- In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the tattered Gulf Coast received an outpouring of sympathy -- and money -- from Washington. Congress appropriated $62 billion for relief and recovery, and President Bush vowed to rebuild New Orleans "higher and better."

But 21/2 months after the storm, such unequivocal support is hard to come by in the nation's capital.

When, for example, Louisiana's political leaders show rare unity in asking Washington for assurances that a rebuilt New Orleans will be protected from Category 5 hurricanes, they often are met with skepticism, ignorance and outright hostility.

Protection from the strongest hurricanes, state and local officials say, is essential to giving residents and businesses the confidence they need to return and rebuild.

But Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee overseeing federal spending, said he wasn't aware until Wednesday that Louisiana officials saw Category 5 protection as the key to redevelopment. The top-ranking Democrat on the panel, Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin, said he wants proof that it will work. Senate Appropriations Committee member Conrad Burns, R-Mont., said that in his view, New Orleans could get by just fine with Category 3 protection for the time being.

"I think over time we should keep reinforcing it and eventually get to a Category 5," Burns said. "That way we can spread the cost out over time."

And in contrast to the clear commitment Bush gave in a speech in New Orleans' Jackson Square on Sept. 15 to "do what it takes ... stay as long as it takes" to restore the city, he now appears reluctant to signal his support for protection from hurricanes stronger than Katrina and Rita.

At a brief photo opportunity at the White House on Thursday, Bush repeated his commitment to rebuilding the Gulf Coast. But when asked if he supported Category 5 hurricane protection, he declined to answer.

The ambiguous wording is beginning to worry members of Louisiana's congressional delegation who have been struggling to keep Washington's focus on rebuilding the state even as other news -- a Supreme Court nomination, the White House leak scandal and congressional criminal investigations -- compete for attention.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., is preparing a letter that she hopes Senate colleagues will sign that expresses their commitment to rebuilding the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., said colleagues think he is looking for a blank check rather than merely a show of support.

"I think they are confusing, quite frankly, some sort of full authorization with that initial statement," Vitter said. "I'm trying to educate them that I'm not avoiding the normal stages of the process and just want a general, solid statement that leaves plenty of room for questions to be answered."

The 200-mile levee system snaking through metropolitan New Orleans was supposed to be able to withstand a direct hit from a Category 3 hurricane, which can pack winds of up to 130 mph and a 12-foot storm surge. But breaches in the levees that flooded much of the city during Katrina, a Category 3 storm, have raised questions about design and construction flaws.

The Army Corps of Engineers, which designed the levee system, has estimated that reinforcing them to withstand a Category 5 hurricane, with winds greater than 155 mph and an 18-foot storm surge, could cost about $3.5 billion. Extending that level of protection 72 miles south to the Gulf of Mexico would send the price up to $18 billion, according to the Louisiana governor's office.

But cost is not the only thing generating questions on Capitol Hill, according to interviews with more than two dozen lawmakers this week. Some members of Congress want assurances that the Corps is capable of building hurricane protection that can withstand a Category 5 storm.

"I want the science to be there," Obey said. "I don't want to approve something without knowing it will work. Otherwise we're just throwing (money) down a rat hole."

Others want some sign from state and local officials that enhanced levees will be part of a well-thought-out reconstruction plan.

"I think there needs to be a redevelopment plan that we can look to and understand what the scope and extent is," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. "That's when you will get buy-in from Congress."

Numerous commissions and planning authorities have cropped up in the wake of the storm, but there has been little consensus on how to proceed. There are disagreements about what areas should be rebuilt and how, what new building and zoning standards will say, what kind of hurricane protection is most appropriate, what should be protected and what shouldn't.

Even an enthusiastic supporter of rebuilding, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., said she was confused about who is calling the shots.

"Someone has to be in charge, and I don't know who that is," she said at a hearing on hurricane protection Wednesday. "At what point does the rubber hit the road and someone says, `This is what we are going to do?"'

Montana's Burns said he doesn't agree that a congressional promise to build a hurricane-proof city is the key to repopulating the New Orleans region, as Mayor Ray Nagin and Gov. Kathleen Blanco have said.

"That's their opinion," he said.

Lewis, the House Appropriations Committee chairman, said he first learned at a hearing this week that Louisiana officials have made Category 5 levees their top priority. In an interview, he declined to embrace the plan, although he said Congress has a long-term financial commitment to the hurricane-battered region.

Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., has a warm place in his heart for New Orleans. It's where he proposed to his wife and where he sent his son to college. But he said the onus isn't on Congress alone to send signals to evacuees that it is safe to return.

"People coming back to New Orleans will depend as much on actions of local governments and how they plan for their return as what the federal government does with the levees," Isakson said.

There are a few hopeful signs on Capitol Hill. The Senate last week approved as part of a budget bill the dedication of $1.2 billion to work on Louisiana's coast and levees by 2010; the money comes from the sale of rights to television airwaves as the country moves to digital broadcasting. The House is preparing to take up its own version of a budget with $323 million annually for hurricane protection. But it is unclear whether the House and Senate will even agree to a final budget deal, putting all the financing in jeopardy.

House and Senate negotiators this week agreed to spend $8 million for the Corps of Engineers to develop Category 5 hurricane protection plans for all of south Louisiana. But the bill doesn't promise a dime for actually building it.

Nov. 11, 2005

[sgtbono2002]

Either that or swap them a decent lot on State property where it is higher. Its nuts to think you can build anything that Mother Nature cant beat.

[Dan Zachary]

I don't take issue with all of your statement but "N.O. is 12 ft below sea level"?????

Well, it is close to that. According to Wikipedia:

...The city of New Orleans actually contains the lowest point in the state of Louisiana, and one of the lowest points in the United States, after Death Valley and the Salton Sea. Much of the city is actually located between 1 and 10 feet (0.3 to 3 m) below sea level, and as such, is very prone to flooding. Rainwater is continually pumped out of the city and into Lake Pontchartrain across a series of levees and dikes. However, if it rains more than 1 inch, or if there is a major storm surge, such as that caused by a hurricane, greater flooding can occur...

link

[Ditter]

I have read that engineers suggested flood gates for the narrow opening to Lake Pontchartrain, to be closed during extremely high tides and storms. In hindsight that is what should have been done but the enviros objected. My grandfather survived the Galveston storm of 1900. Galveston Island was 8 feet high on the highest part. Grandfather said the storm surge was 2 feet deep in the second story of the house he rode out the storm in. The storm surge went across the island from the Gulf side into Galveston Bay and then the water came back across the island from the bay side, the returning water was just as destructive as the first time.

[goldstategop]

A Category 5 hurricane is once in a lifetime event. My personal opinion is its cheaper to just raze New Orleans and let its inhabitants start new lives elsewhere. And many already have. It makes no sense to rebuild a city in a vulnerable location only to be destroyed by another hurricane. The federal dollars going to New Orleans could have spent much more effectively after razing the place, on helping the city's people start new. Yeah, its puts Ray Nagin and a corrupt city bureaucracy out of business. But that's a blessing in disguise and Mother Nature helped to lay bare the greatest of failings: that of man.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[WasDougsLamb]

Nagin will be reelected. The Democrats will demand that Nagin's evacuated constituents be allowed to vote by absentee ballot and a sufficient amount of ballots will magically appear to ensure his reelection.


---Then IMHO they get what they deserve. The ones I will feel sorry for are the honest ones that DO NOT vote for him and are forced to endure it.

[Bogey78O]

The parts that comprise the city center never flooded.

[Bogey78O]

"However, if it rains more than 1 inch..."

Another reason why Wiki can't be trusted.

[sgtbono2002]

Yes: I know. I only advised that those portions that go under water be moved to higher ground.

[Bogey78O]

But this is the first time they ever flooded. With the levees it was as safe as living in any lakeside community.

[nuclady]

Agree w/you. Check my tagline.

[H. Paul Pressler IV]

The 62 Billion is for Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama all devastated by Katrina.

[H. Paul Pressler IV]

Only a small part of New Orleans in 12 feet below sea level. Most of the city is at or only a couple feet below sea level. If the entire city were -12 feet it would have all gone under a 12 feet of water.

[H. Paul Pressler IV]

An when S. California in leveled by a major quake do you expect the US Government to walk away?

[dufekin]

New Orleans actually does lie in an enormous pit bisected by the Mississippi River (which flows well overhead). At its deepest point, the City, surrounded by swamps, marshes, and tidal pools, reaches 10 feet BELOW sea level. Without the levees, most of New Orleans would lie beneath the marsh water. Hurricane Katrina actually largely spared New Orleans; the levees broke the day after the storm passed. Only the northern (East Bank) half of the city filled with water, and then only three feet--not twelve feet--above sea level.

Had Hurricane Katrina NOT spared New Orleans, conditions would have been far worse. The surge on the Mississippi coast, which bore the brunt of the hurricane, reached 29 to 38 feet ABOVE sea level with higher waves, obliterating the Gulfport metropolis and killing hundreds there. And many hurricanes very narrowly spared New Orleans in the past, including Camile, a category 5 hurricane that nailed Gulfport, Mississippi.

Yes, Hurricane Katrina killed more than a thousand Louisianians, but if the levees had failed during the storm rather than afterward, the death toll easily could have exceeded 25,000. A small puff of dry air weakened the west side of the inner core while a particularly strong late-nocturnal convective flare on the east side induced a slight wobble to the east on that fateful morning. That minor phenomenon stood between mere obliteration of New Orleans and the annihilation of its non-evacuated population.

Reconstructing New Orleans with its former demographics, present level of political corruption, and current level of hurricane protection is profoundly if not suicidally irresponsible. I prefer solving this problem by relocating the city or using 25 to 50 feet of fill dirt to raise the elevation of the city and allow for more natural drainage.

[4woodenboats]

"Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., is preparing a letter that she hopes Senate colleagues will sign that expresses their commitment to rebuilding the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., said colleagues think he is looking for a blank check rather than merely a show of support."

"I think they are confusing, quite frankly, some sort of full authorization with that initial statement," Vitter said. "I'm trying to educate them that I'm not avoiding the normal stages of the process and just want a general, solid statement that leaves plenty of room for questions to be answered."

Hmmmmmmm, let's take a look at this. President not jumping high enough or fast enough, eh?

Landreiu & Vitter demanded $250,000,000,000.00 of our tax dollars on top of all the millions of dollars of personal donations, thousands are taken in homes across the nation to make a new start, and help literally comes from all over the world. Even Sean Penn of Iraqi Childrens Hospital fame went boating for floaters in search of fans.

The Red Cross, Salvation Army, and yes ,FEMA and dozens of organizations with thousands of volunteers we'll never know all the names of swarmed the area to help, and what did they get for their troubles?

The rescuers were held at bay where they couldn't help anyone when they citizens needed it most, the media, the mayor and governer immediatly go on a smear campaign against Bush, even though they ignored his and every other relevant official's urgent pleas to get the damn city evacuated, and virtually every black civic leader and congressman in the country polish up their racist badges and scream their racist, hate filled messages into the night, our president provides $62,000,000,000.00 to a state that is already being fined for defrauding the government out of millions of dollars that was supposed to be spent on the levy but wasn't, and they're wondering why they're getting the bum's rush?

It's because they're an ungrateful bunch of bums!!!

When are they gonna figure out that the only reason the libs and the media paid any attention to them in the 1st place was because they were useful idiots who helped lower Bush's poll numbers for a short while? (hint: too late)

Now that the players are done with them, they can become heros for a day by blasting Bush for wasting too much money on a bunch of corrupt public officials! It'll be "Bush Funnels Billions To Corporate Insiders", demands for "Accountability", "Commissions", "Grand Juries", and these same smug politicians that slammed FEMA for not having 5 gallons of gas on every doorstep while Katrina was still in diapers will wonder what happened to all their new friends. They really, really ought quit while they're ahead.

[H. Paul Pressler IV]

Portions of the 9th Ward went under 12 feet of Water but Uptown, Quarter and Mid City did not.

[caryatid]

They could then build wherever they wanted...

They cannot exactly build wherever they want ... there is not a lot of vacant, undeveloped land ... most everything is owned by someone already.