Posted on 09/23/2005 1:28:20 PM PDT by T.Smith
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Hurricane Rita's wind and rain breached one of New Orleans' battered levees Friday and sent water gushing into the already-devastated Ninth Ward just days after the impoverished neighborhood was pumped dry.
The water streamed through gaps at least 100 feet wide and was soon waist-deep on a nearby street. It began covering buckled homes, piles of rubble and mud-caked cars that Katrina had swamped with up to 20 feet of water nearly a month ago.
There was no immediate indication that the rest of New Orleans was in danger from the new flooding in the Ninth Ward, a particularly low-lying part of the city that has been largely abandoned. Officials with the Army Corps of Engineers said other levees appeared secure, including those breached during Katrina.
The flooding was the first blow to fall on the ravaged city from Rita.
"Our worst fears came true," said Maj. Barry Guidry, a National Guardsman on duty at the broken levee. "We have three significant breaches in the levee and the water is rising rapidly."
Refugees from the misery-stricken neighborhood learned of the crisis with despair.
"It's like looking at a murder," Quentrell Jefferson said as he watched the news at a church in Lafayette, 125 miles west of New Orleans. "The first time is bad. After that, you numb up."
The water poured over and through sandbags, gravel and soil that had been used to temporarily patch breaks in the Industrial Canal levee, said Dan Hitchings, a spokesman with the Corps of Engineers. Around midafternoon, he said the water did not appear to be rising anymore.
He said that the Corps could not immediately reach the spot to repair it, but that pumps would be turned on to help remove the water.
Col. Richard Wagenaar, Corps of Engineers district chief in New Orleans, said the overtopping of the levees would set back repairs at least three weeks. He said, nevertheless, June is still the target for getting the levees back to pre-Katrina levels.
The breach came as Rita began lashing the Gulf Coast with rain and wind and up to 500,000 people in southwestern Louisiana headed north on jammed roads. State police said flooding in coastal Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes forced street closings by midday.
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Just to the east, St. Bernard Parish _ heavily flooded by Katrina _ water from the new breach was threatening from one side and a storm surge along a bayou was lapping at the top of a levee on the other.
Mark Madary, a St. Bernard Parish councilman, said houses that were under 12 feet of water after Katrina would probably get an additional 3 feet. He accused the Army Corps of Engineers of not rebuilding the levee properly.
"Everybody's home's been crushed, and let's hope their dreams aren't," he said.
Who is the president trying to kill this time?
Pass it on.
Bush's fault
The levee has not been rebuilt. That takes time. This councilman, is an idiot.
Good thing Naggin got that house in Dallas.
"Everybody's home's been crushed, and let's hope their dreams aren't," he said.
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As if this round of flooding had not occurred, the houses could have been given a fresh coat of paint and people could have just moved in. Ridiculous.
"He accused the Army Corps of Engineers of not rebuilding the levee properly."
And who's the Army's Commander and Chief???
THIS COUNCILMAN IS AN IMBECILE!........
Wonder who Calypso Louie and the 'Motha Ship' crew will blame this time.
Its all the Army Corps. of Engineers fault , they didnt rebuild the Levee properly. these people are sure good at the blame game.
They patched the levee , a patch is naver a permanent fix..Mayor Dumbo was gonna let them come back in. Maybe now the idiot will see that the Levee has to be fixed right before people come back. If I lived there I wouldnt come back, I would take what I could get for my property and move to higher ground. But thats just me I kinda like living above sea level.
Finger-pointing in every direction has been the game since August 29.
The problem is the flimsy walls of the "canals." None of the original large soil levees on the lake and the river broke. The bigger concern was overtopping.
The artificial canals are thin - the industrial canal for transport river to lake, and the canals like the 17th Street to make drainage of rainwater from the city easier. All should be shut down and plugged at the river and the lake. Another system for drainage of rainwater needs to be devised. The drainage canals operate to project artificial arms of Lake Ponchartrain into the center of New Orleans - these canal walls under no less water pressure than the out large earth shoreline levee.
Ward Nine and Chalmette might have to be written off.
Where's the mayor? Why is the mayor not doing something?
When is Mayor Noggin' going to come out and thank Gen. Allen for saving the 100k+ people that Noggin' asked to come back into the city. Instead of Noggin' calling Allen "Fed Mayor King" or whatever, he should be kissing the dudes ring!
i told g.w. to put that cane' in reverse.....
The enviralists must be digging this... expanding America's wetlands.
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