The Threatening Storm

Time ^ | August 2, 2007 | Michael Grunwald

[Lorianne]

The most important thing to remember about the drowning of New Orleans is that it wasn't a natural disaster. It was a man-made disaster, created by lousy engineering, misplaced priorities and pork-barrel politics. Katrina was not the Category 5 killer the Big Easy had always feared; it was a Category 3 storm that missed New Orleans, where it was at worst a weak 2. The city's defenses should have withstood its surges, and if they had we never would have seen the squalor in the Superdome, the desperation on the rooftops, the shocking tableau of the Mardi Gras city underwater for weeks. We never would have heard the comment "Heckuva job, Brownie." The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was the scapegoat, but the real culprit was the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which bungled the levees that formed the city's man-made defenses and ravaged the wetlands that once formed its natural defenses. Americans were outraged by the government's response, but they still haven't come to grips with the government's responsibility for the catastrophe.

[Lorianne]

Can't even begin to comment on the ways this article willfully omits the obvious. Don't fool with Mother Nature.

[bannie]

Don’t plant houses under sea level—unless you’re in Death Valley.

[Darkwolf377]

Someone break out the ‘Not this S*** again” pic, please.

[goldstategop]

It would be cheaper to raze New Orleans and let Nature reclaim the Valley. But that wouldn't provide photo ops to power hungry politicians. What a wasted opportunity.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[Candor7]

Keep a canoe in the attic, with a side window for launching it.

That way you can loot the bars and bistros in the French Quarter and be back into your new bayou digs before dawn.

[2ndDivisionVet]

I survived Katrina where it really hit; in Biloxi, Mississippi. Had the democrats (that have run New Orleans since the War Between the States) spent the money on the levees and other protection that was allocated this never would’ve been a problem. Corps of Engineers my Aunt Fanny!! The graft and corruption in Louisiana (run by democrats) is reminiscent of a third-world dictatorship.

[LexBaird]

The real culprits were the generations of Louisiana politicians who didn’t see to their levees. Many were named Landreu.

[Kirkwood]

While msybe not a Cat 5 (which btw only refers to wind velocity), Katrina was physically a huge storm in area and consequently moved a massive amount of water ahead of it. Surges were 30 feet with up to 65 foot waves on top of that. It had one of the largest ever recorded storm surges in the gulf. While a portion of the destruction was certainly due to bad engineering, the bulk of the destruction was simply due to an extremely horrific storm.

[mukraker]

Since it's OUR MONEY they're using to rebuild, couldn't we get SOME sort of zoning or something to only allow construction ABOVE sea level? Yes, it would be SO much cheaper to raze the entire city and rebuild it on dry land, even going so far as to dredge a shipping canal to wherever the new city is build, ala Galveston TX.

What a waste of OUR MONEY!

[SuziQ]

Before Katrina, the Corps was spending more in Louisiana than in any other state, but much of it was going to wasteful and destructive pork instead of protection for New Orleans;

It is my understanding that the money for levees, allocated by the Federal Govt., is controlled by the State Levee Board, and the Corps can only do the jobs for which the Levee Board has approved funds. I also believe that for years, the Levee Board has spent the money INTENDED for the levees in New Orleans, on their own pet projects elsewhere in the state; just part of the corruption that permeates Louisiana politics.

So if the Corp only has the money for the jobs that the Louisiana politicians want done, just who's fault is it that the levees in New Orleans were not kept in good repair?

I believe some of this will come out in the race for Governor, with Bobby Jindal bearing the standard for the Republican Party. I sure hope they can find another strong Republican somewhere in the state who can run against Mary Landrieu when she comes up for re-election!

[Mo1]

What doomed Louisiana .. was the corrupt Louisiana Government

Audit their books on where all the money went

[gonzo]

Well ...

As you requested ...................... FRegards

[cpdiii]

As a Geologist educated in Louisiana with special emphasis on the Louisiana Gulf Coast and Mississippi River, I find this article (to my great surprise) very accurate and fair with only a few minor errors. However, they failed to give the solution to the problem, and it is quite simple.

Do not issue any new government backed insurance to any place in this nation for flood damage. This insurance has made it economical to build in places that should have never been used for homes and business and cities. In the case of New Orleans we must not issue new insurance to those that lost their homes and business properties. Economics will solve the problem.

Lastly we must cut the levees below New Orleans to restore the flow of river sediments to the marsh land that protects New Orleans.

Lastly you must always remember that you can not control the Mississippi River. You can put levees on it, and build dikes and install great pumps, but in the end it will take the shortest route to Gulf of Mexico. New Orleans is doomed and Morgan City will eventually be at the bottom of the New Mississippi River when it finally breaks through the levees of the Morganza Spillway where the Red River once emptied into the Mississippi. It will happen!

[Brad from Tennessee]

I was in the New Orleans area about six days after Katrina hit. I was with a volunteer church group which included a FEMA credentialed paramedic. We ended up on the Nichol State University campus in Thibbeduaux where we helped set up housing and emergency medical facilities in two gymnasiums. Many of the FEMA people—who came from as far away as California and New England—told me that they had all been staged at the stadium when the storm hit. Within hours the water began to rise, because the levees were breached, and the drivers of emergency vehicles of all types were forced to drive them up onto the highway ramps to escape water damage. When the water didn’t subside they were ordered to Thibbedaux and Houma and other centers to set up emergency shelters. New Orleans residents were bused to these camps where they were given food, shelter, clolthes and medical care. The operation was extraordinarily smooth and efficient. I meet hundreds of evacuees and they weren’t comlaining. Many were still in shock but all seemed grateful their needs were being satisfied though in a rudementary way. Most seemed just glad to be alive.

[BlueDragon]

"...and Morgan City will eventually be at the bottom of the New Mississippi River when it finally breaks through the levees of the Morganza Spillway..."

I mean no offense to any that live there (or at least some of them), but Morgan City could use a good rinsing, INMHO.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Corps of Engineers my Aunt Fanny!! The graft and corruption in Louisiana (run by democrats) is reminiscent of a third-world dictatorship."

As a Louisiana native, I say you are correct. The interference of politics with the engineering projects at both state and local levels was THE cause.

But then again, who expects TIME magazine to EVER get a story right???

[Wonder Warthog]

"While a portion of the destruction was certainly due to bad engineering, the bulk of the destruction was simply due to an extremely horrific storm."

True of the Biloxi area. Not true of New Orleans.

[Wonder Warthog]

"New Orleans is doomed and Morgan City will eventually be at the bottom of the New Mississippi River when it finally breaks through the levees of the Morganza Spillway where the Red River once emptied into the Mississippi. It will happen!"

You were doing pretty good until you made this statement. It won't be at the Morganza Spillway. If it happens, it'll be at the Old River Control Structure (it "almost" happened there once before).

[Malsua]

I thought it was a fair assessment as well, at least until I got to this:

The straitjacketed river now carries less than half its original sediment load down to Louisiana. So there's little new land-building material to offset the natural erosion of the coast, much less the unnatural rising of the sea fueled by global warming.

Yeah, that half a millimeter a year is really the issue *boggle*.

[Jabba the Nutt]

Gee, how many years after Katrina does Time take to tell the truth? Typical.