US senators Seek Dutch Ideas On Hurricane Threat [Louisiana Boondoggle]

Yahoo News ^ | Wed Jan 11, 1:03 PM ET

[Thrusher]

NEELTJE JANS, The Netherlands (AFP) - US senators braved howling Atlantic winds and rain to get a closer look at Dutch super-dams, as they sought answers to the hurricane threat facing their own Gulf Coast.

With harsh western winds whipping over the artificial island of Neeltje Jans, created to facilitate the building of the Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier, delegates said a massive upgrade of the Gulf Coast's hurricane defences was needed to prevent a repeat of the New Orleans disaster last year.

They visited the Dutch Delta works, a network of storm surge barriers built to withstand weather so ferocious the Netherlands, a quarter of which lies below sea level, would only see it once in 10,000 years.

"Here are the Delta works -- we'll be proposing a Gulf works," Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu told journalists.

[Thrusher]

This is my favorite passage of the article:

A guide to the dam stressed that although it was excellent flood protection for the Netherlands, it would not be able to withstand a hurricane or a tsunami because they did not occur here.

[MARKUSPRIME]

We all need wooden shoes!

[Cagey]

Maybe they'll get the "Put your finger in the Dyke" routine.

[Ostlandr]

Although in defense the Dutch are the world's foremost experts at living below sea level. And while they aren't exactly hurricanes, the North Sea does spawn some impressive storms.

[Thrusher]

I just love it. The week after Katrina hits, the Governor is remodeling her offices with Swedish granite and flat-screen TVs.

Now, she and a bunch of do-nothing politicians take a tax-payer funded vacation to the Netherlands for photo-ops.

I mean, seriesly. If you really thought we could learn anything about flood control from Dutch dams, wouldn't you send the engineers who build the stupid levees over there to check it out, not the crooks who pissed away the money that was supposed to go to improving the levees in the first place?

[Strategerist]

Unlike the Dutch the US is not desperate for dry land, though....the extraordinarly expensive systems they have built aren't necessary for the survival of the US.

[Ninian Dryhope]

In Holland, a very small country, much of the country is below sea level, so they have no choice but to build to protect their country. In Louisiana, there is lots of room to rebuild above sea level. What makes sense in Holland does not make sense in Louisiana. Besides, even though it does get bad storms, Holland is never going to get hit by a Category Five hurricane, unlike Louisiana.

[Darteaus94025]

The loser LA politicians just want to visit Amsterdam on the taxpayer dollar for the next 20 years.

[appeal2]

I'm sure they personally inspected the dykes in the red light district to see first hand how they were holding up.

[I Drive Too Fast]

I heard that Senator Clinton wanted to go too when she heard that they were going to be visiting many dikes. She cancelled out when she learned it was spelled dike and not dyke.

[Thrusher]

I heard that Senator Clinton wanted to go too when she heard that they were going to be visiting many dikes. She cancelled out when she learned it was spelled dike and not dyke.

At the risk of hijacking my own thread, my understanding is that they don't like to be called "dykes," they prefer to be known as "women who wear comfortable shoes."

[twin2]

They could have just stayed home and watched the show on the Discovery channel about it.

[I Drive Too Fast]

I just love it. The week after Katrina hits, the Governor is remodeling her offices with Swedish granite and flat-screen TVs.

Maybe she "needed" a high-def tv to get a "clearer" picture of the next hurricane that will threaten the state, or then again,she probably just wanted to waste "more" taxpayer money.

[taxcontrol]

Hey, how about this idea.

RAISE THE LAND ABOVE SEE LEVEL!

[goresalooza]

I like the fact that some in LA are now in the active process of collecting signatures to recall Blank-o.

Can't wait.

[Enchante]

Yeah, politicians gazing wide-eyed at big dams and flood barriers 3,000 miles away is worth exactly spit to the effort to protect NOLA in the future. If they want to send engineers who actually know something and can learn something, fine, but to send the likes of know-nothings Landrieu and Blank-head on this junket is ridiculous.

[Garvin]

They need to look at the Hurricane barrier in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The fishing fleet and other coastal businesses sustained heavy damage during the hurricanes of 1938 and 1954. In 1965, the Army Corps of Engineers finished building a barrier across the harbor entrance to protect businesses and homes from storm damage. A 150-foot gateway allows boats to pass and water to flow between the inner and outer harbors. Gates close the barrier when storms surges are predicted.

http://www.epa.gov/nbh/gif/BAR2.jpg

[Garvin]

Also here.

http://www.epa.gov/nbh/gif/BAR1.jpg