Rebuilding the New Orleans Levees
LAKE BORGNE, La. — The great wall of Lake Borgne is a monster. Nearly 2 miles long and 26 feet high, it spans a corner of the lake, 12 miles east of New Orleans. On Aug. 29, 2005, that corner funneled Hurricane Katrina’s surge into New Orleans, causing some of the city’s most violent flooding. Now, the corner is being blocked.
Nearly five years after Katrina and the devastating failures of the levee system, New Orleans is well on its way to getting the protection system Congress ordered: a ring of 350 miles of linked levees, floodwalls, gates and pumps that surrounds the city and should defend it against the kind of flooding that, in any given year, has a 1 percent chance of occurring.
The project will cost about $15 billion dollars.
This expenditure is criminally stupid. Why are we fighting mother nature by encouraging people to live below sea level in a hurricane zone? For less money, we could just give every displaced family several hundred thousand dollars to start over somewhere sensible.
Oh wait, I forgot; all this expenditure is stimulating the economy! Maybe what we need to really get the recovery going is a few more Katrina-like hurriances and a couple of earthquakes for good measure.
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dfvazan
The new economic model: “creative destruction” via natural disaster. Brilliant.
Cliff Nelson
Given that the ice caps are melting it may be very wise to begin learning how to live under sea level.
Just think what it would cost to move NYC to the high lands.
Also, since no one is moving New Orleans (as a practical matter) the proper analysis is cost vs benefit. The total damage from Katrina is estimated at $81.2 billion (2005 U.S. dollars), so it seems to me like a smart move.
csconradesq
The parts of New orleans that flooded the worst were above sea level. Obviously, you do not have a clue what you are talking about. The Lower 9 is above sea level — it’s the “Lower” 9 because it is SOUTH of the Upper 9.
New Orleans did not flood due to a natural catastrophe. It was, to quote the mythical Creighton Bernette, “A federal fuck up of epic proportions.” The levees didn’t have to fail.
Since when do great nations not rebuild their great (greatest)cities ?
CSConrad
For some REAL economic analysis, consider that more than HALF of all Americans live in counties protected by levees, and that those counties are significantly more productive overall with higher personal incomes and lower poverty rates. Miron ignores the value that New Orleans offers the country, due to its position and access to the Gulf of Mexico and its highly productive ecosystems.
In short, his flippant, off the cuff, unconsidered remarks are so obviously ignorant that they would merely be embarrassing to read, if it were not for the fact that others may make the mistake of thinking he knows what he’s talking about. He doesn’t.
bob
“…consider that more than HALF of all Americans live in counties protected by levees…”
Firstly, we’d need a source for that.
Secondly, Dr. Miron’s point is not that we should shuttle every single person in America out of their below-sea-level-abodes. He’s saying that there is no point in rebuilding below sea-level now that we know what can happen when a hurricane strikes.
C’mon CSConrad, are you trying to be dense?
CSConrad
No, Bob, you are.
Here is one research paper on the topic: http://levees.org/2/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/UsCountiesWithLeveesPaper_Boyd2.pdf
Furthermore, we’ve seen nothing of the sort. All we’ve seen is what happens when a hurricane strikes an area with no REAL levee protection, because the levees surrounding New Orleans prior to 8/29 provided, as even the ACOE admitted, a protection system in name only.
Furthermore, the ACOE is responsible for the destruction of the wetlands which provide New Orleans’ natural protection against hurricanes. The wetlands can, and must, be restored and New Orleans can, and must, be protected.
Don Mynack
Wasn’t the flooding in N.O. largely due to channels built by ACOE, particularly the infamous, largely unused Mississippi River Gulf Outlet?
See here: http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1646611_1646683_1648904-3,00.html
PPurna
“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; one Corps project actually intensified Katrina’s surge. After Katrina, a series of investigations ripped the Corps for building flimsy floodwalls in soggy soils, based on wildly flawed analyses—and shoddy engineering was only one way the Corps betrayed New Orleans. But while fema director Michael Brown’s resignation made front-page news, Corps commander Carl Strock’s resignation hardly made the papers. By the time Strock admitted his agency’s “catastrophic failure” eight months after the storm, the U.S. had moved on.”
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1646611_1646683_1648904-1,00.html#ixzz0z8dO5xN0
CSConrad
Interesting that Miron hasn’t come here and admitted his mistake yet. The flooding of New Orleans was not a natural disaster; it was an engineering catastrophe and those responsible have not been held accountable.
Perhaps Jeff’s taking a page from Karl Rove’s playbook — never admit your mistakes!
dfvazan
A little balance from Karl Rove’s shill, Popular Mechanics… http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/natural-disasters/2315076
CSConrad
The PM article does not refer to a single bit of research; it quotes Ray Seed, calls his statements a myth, without any reference to his research papers on the topic at all.
It was basically an editorial from the group that put out the ACOE’s propaganda reviews.
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