Award-Winning Report "Major Hurricane Will Hit New Orleans" Was Ignored

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This report was written 3 Years ago and largely ignored.

INSIDE
Special Report: Washing Away
» Part 1 - In Harm's Way
» Part 2 - The Big One
» Part 3 - Exposure's Cost
» Part 4 - Tempting Fate
» Part 5 - Cost of Survival
» Hurricane Center




 

It's only a matter of time before South Louisiana takes a direct hit from a major hurricane. Billions have been spent to protect us, but we grow more vulnerable every day.

Five-Part Series

It's a matter of when, not if. Eventually a major hurricane will hit New Orleans head on, instead of being just a close call. It's happened before and it'll happen again.

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"A catastrophic hurricane represents 10 or 15 atomic bombs in terms of the energy it releases," said Joseph Suhayda, a Louisiana State University engineer who is studying ways to limit hurricane damage in the New Orleans area. "Think about it. New York lost two big buildings. Multiply that by 10 or 20 or 30 in the area impacted and the people lost, and we know what could happen."

Hundreds of thousands would be left homeless, and it would take months to dry out the area and begin to make it livable. But there wouldn't be much for residents to come home to. The local economy would be in ruins.

The scene has been played out for years in computer models and emergency-operations simulations. Officials at the local, state and national level are convinced the risk is genuine and are devising plans for alleviating the aftermath of a disaster that could leave the city uninhabitable for six months or more. The Army Corps of Engineers has begun a study to see whether the levees should be raised to counter the threat. But officials say that right now, nothing can stop "the big one."

Like coastal Bangladesh, where typhoons killed 100,000 and 300,000 villagers, respectively, in two horrific storms in 1970 and 1991, the New Orleans area lies in a low, flat coastal area. Unlike Bangladesh, New Orleans has hurricane levees that create a bowl with the bottom dipping lower than the bottom of Lake Pontchartrain. Though providing protection from weaker storms, the levees also would trap any water that gets inside -- by breach, overtopping or torrential downpour -- in a catastrophic storm.


http://www.nola.com/hurricane/?/washingaway/

[goclark]

1. kick

[KyndCulture]

2. heh heh the smirking chimp says...

no one could have predicted this..

:sarcasm:

[Tommy_J]

3. Interesting... Kick

[malaise]

4. From TomPaine

http://alternet.org/story/24871/

Washington knew exactly what needed to be done to protect the citizens of New Orleans from disasters like Katrina. Yet federal funding for Louisiana flood control projects was diverted to pay for the war in Iraq.

[malaise]

5. Anyone have this link?

from the AlertNet article and comments

Oh and by the way, Go to today's Yahoo News and read Bobby Kennedy's article - It's great. And while you're at it, go to Amazon.com and order his recent book that exposes, chapter and verse, Bush's war on the environment.
Happy reading, kids!

[Roland99]

6. Kick

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7. Part 1-In Harms Way- Who gets the Levees?

It's only a matter of time before south Louisiana takes a direct hit from a major hurricane. Billions have been spent to protect us, but we grow more vulnerable every day.




Click thumbnail for full-sized map.
But some places would be left outside the levee because corps engineers have determined it would cost too much to build the barrier around them. Cocodrie is out of luck, as are half of the homes and businesses along Bayou du Large. So is Isle de Jean Charles.

"The politicians all know about this, but it hasn't done us much good. Not much money comes from this place," said lifelong resident Lonney Dardar, 78. "But just leaving it open for a hurricane, it's not what God would do for his people. This island would be drowned."

As coastal erosion, subsidence and sea-level rise bring higher waters farther inland each year, all of south Louisiana will become ever more dependent on the federal government for more spending for protection that is less and less effective. At some point, local officials fear, the cost-benefit analysis can turn against anyone.

The corps could theoretically build a 30-foot-high wall that encloses all of south Louisiana, shielding it from the highest imaginable hurricane storm surges. But levee building is not just an engineering feat, it's a political process. Congress would never approve such a gigantic project: It would cost tens of billions of dollars, cause ecological problems and drive maintenance costs into the stratosphere. So the agency has to choose how much levee protection to offer and whom it can protect.

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf?/washingaway/writtenoff_2.html

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8. Part Two:The Big One-Flooding Could Kill Thousands

THE BIG ONE

A major hurricane could decimate the region, but flooding from even a moderate storm could kill thousands. It's just a matter of time.

By Mark Schleifstein and John McQuaid


Stranded survivors will have a dangerous wait even after the storm passes. Emergency officials worry that energized electrical wires could pose a threat of electrocution and that the floodwater could become contaminated with sewage and with toxic chemicals from industrial plants and backyard sheds. Gasoline, diesel fuel and oil leaking from underground storage tanks at service stations may also become a problem, corps officials say.

A variety of creatures -- rats, mice and nutria, poisonous snakes and alligators, fire ants, mosquitoes and abandoned cats and dogs -- will be searching for the same dry accommodations that people are using.

Contaminated food or water used for bathing, drinking and cooking could cause illnesses including salmonella, botulism, typhoid and hepatitis. Outbreaks of mosquito-borne dengue fever and encephalitis are likely, said Dr. James Diaz, director of the department of public health and preventive medicine at LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans.

"History will repeat itself," Diaz said. "My office overlooks one of the St. Louis cemeteries, where there are many graves of victims of yellow fever. Standing water in the subtropics is the breeding ground for mosquitoes."

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf?/washingaway/thebigone_1.html

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9. Part Three- Exposures Cost

EXPOSURE'S COST

Insurance companies are pulling out. Oil and gas infrastructure is threatened. Flood-prone homes may be abandoned. Louisiana's economy is feeling the pinch from the risk of hurricane damage.

By John McQuaid and Mark Schleifstein




In Jefferson Parish, most of the buildings and other property owned by the government are not currently insured at all. The parish could not find an insurance company to cover more than a third of the value of the $300 million worth of property, and the cost of doing that was a budget-busting $6 million in a total budget of $318.5 million. Officials are trying to find a cheaper alternative. But if a hurricane strikes first, taxpayers could have to foot the bill.

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, insurance companies took a second look at the risks they were willing to shoulder and how much they charged for taking them on. Because of the annual hurricane threat -- and the possibility of a storm that tops levees and inundates New Orleans and surrounding suburbs -- south Louisiana is one of the riskiest places in the United States.

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf?/washingaway/exposure_1.html

[Ms. Clio]

10. kickin it