New Orleans Unprepared Despite Bush Pledge to ‘do what it takes’

[Left Coast Lynn]

New Orleans Dangerously Unprepared for Hurricane Season
Report: lack of federal help has left city's storm defenses "dangerously weak"

DURHAM, North Carolina - May 31 - With June 1 marking the arrival of the 2006 hurricane season, Washington has failed to help the devastated city of New Orleans adequately prepare its defenses for another storm, leaving thousands of residents at risk.
That’s the conclusion of a new report from the non-profit Institute for Southern Studies, "Storm Cloud over New Orleans" (pdf).

“Last September, President Bush pledged to ‘do what it takes’ to bring back New Orleans” says Sue Sturgis of the Institute, the report’s author. “Yet nine months later, lack of federal leadership and resources have left the city’s people dangerously vulnerable if another storm strikes.”

The study, part of the Institute’s Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch project, looks at four key elements of New Orleans’ hurricane defense system, all of which hinge on federal policy-making: the city’s levees and floodwalls, pump systems for removing floodwater, wetlands that buffer storms, and the controversial Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet.

In each area, the report finds that lack of federal leadership has left the crippled city with a patchwork system of storm protection that leaves New Orleans at serious risk:


Due to delays in funding and construction, nearly 20% of New Orleans levees and floodwalls destroyed by Katrina have not been repaired. What’s more, the Army Corps of Engineers has no mandate to protect the city from a Category 4 or 5 hurricane, even though climate trends show storms are growing in intensity.


The city’s pump system, designed to prevent flooding in low-lying areas, has not been tested and repaired after being corroded after Katrina. Three pumps failed during a light rain in April, and doubts about oversight and evacuation plans have added to the chaos.


Federal leaders have done little to restore Louisiana’s fast-disappearing coastal wetlands. Despite being an excellent natural “buffer” against storm surges, Congress rejected a $2 billion proposal to restore the wetlands this spring.


Over the concerns of community leaders, officials have failed to take action to close the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet -- 40-year-old relic which during Katrina breached its levees in 20 places, and is responsible for destroying over 20,000 acres of key wetlands.
“With a consensus of experts predicting storms to grow in both the likelihood and strength, Washington’s inaction is a recipe for disaster,” says Chris Kromm, director of the Institute. “Thousands of lives are at risk – this is a national security issue.”

The Institute, a non-profit research and education center founded in 1970, launched Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch in November 2005 to document and investigate the rebuilding of the Southern Gulf in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Earlier this year, Reconstruction Watch published “The Mardi Gras Index,” which used 130 indicators to measure the progress of New Orleans six months after Katrina.

For more information:

"Storm Cloud over New Orleans" full report (pdf):
www.reconstructionwatch.org/images/HurricaneReportFinal.pdf

http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0531-10.htm

[funkybutt]

1. Y'all pray for us

They haven't kept their promise. We need more pumps at the gates. We need our current pumps rewired. We need support. Keep your fingers crossed.

We move back to our house in 2 weeks 2 days.

[merh]

2. You can bet you are in my prayers, funkybutt

:hug:

You all are over there. :grouphug:

[987654321]

5. All of the people in your region are in my prayers.

Regardless of how much I dislike Bush and want to watch him crash and burn, still I wouldn't want his failures as president to damage anymore lives than they already have. I hope y'all stay safe, and that people of your area reach some semblance of normalcy soon.

[Selatius]

3. We don't invest competently in infrastructure in the US

We waste it on privatization and embezzlement and kickbacks instead. If it's not that, then we do piss-poor jobs by cutting corners...like with the building of those levees.

[AndyA]

4. Bush's pledges aren't worth the hot air they ride out of his mouth on.

We're supposed to trust him, yet he lies to us. Constantly and continually.

About WMDs in Iraq.
About who was really behind 9/11.
About Saddam's connection to Osama.
About the economy.
About unemployment.
About being a Christian.
About punishing those who outed Valerie Plame.
About spying requires warrants to be issued.
About caring for the people in New Orleans.
About supporting our troops.
About the alleged US military killings of innocent citizens.

The words he speaks are worthless, they have no value, no validity, no meaning. He's a liar. Period.