'No choice but to abandon' flooded New Orleans

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International


'No choice but to abandon' flooded New Orleans

Brett Martel | New Orleans, United States



31 August 2005 06:53

Army engineers trying to plug New Orleans's breached levees struggled to move giant sandbags and concrete barriers into place, and the state governor said on Wednesday the situation is growing more desperate and there is no choice but to abandon the flooded city.

"The challenge is an engineering nightmare," Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said on ABC's Good Morning America.

As the waters continue to rise in New Orleans, the Pentagon has begun mounting one of the biggest search-and-rescue operations in United States history, sending four navy ships to the Gulf Coast with drinking water and other emergency supplies, along with the hospital ship USNS Comfort, search helicopters and eight swift-water rescue teams. Red Cross workers from across the country are converging on the devastated region.

Officials are making plans to move at least 25 000 refugees from Lousiana to Texas, where they will be housed in the Houston Astrodome, a domed stadium that no longer hosts professional sporting events.


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http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/&articleid=249647

[barbaraann]

1. Stay the course in Iraq but give up in New Orleans?

Bastards.

[TheFarseer]

2. What

like, don't rebuild it? That might be for the best. It's just not a good idea to have a major city below sea level as harsh as that sounds.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. Sad, but true

The flood waters have weakened the remaining retaining walls and levees on the inside. If by some miracle, they could empty the city today, those levees are all weakened from the inside and must be strengthened. That is not some little task, but a HUGE, EXPENSIVE and TIME-CONSUMING undertaking. At the same time, the pumps are inoperable, and any drop of rain will add to the problem. (there is a storm approach from the west in the gulf at this moment)

The flood waters are destroying the foundations of every residence, disrupting the power, gas, water and sewer lines underground, attacking even highrise foundations. The fiberoptic switching stations will be totally destroyed, as will all phone service.

Even if the water can be pumped out (harder now that the levees are broken in 5, not 3, places, and the breaches are close to 600 feet, the pumps themselves are too low and won't work. Another little problem, there is no power to energize those pumps that are still working.

This morning on NPR, I heard a Army Corpse engineer claim that the Lake level is actually below the water in the city, and they they plan to pump back the water into the lake relatively quickly. Bull. According to NO engineers not connected with the US Army, this is a crock.
We are talking weeks, even months, before any serious impact is made on water levels in the city proper. With every day that passes, the damage to infrastructure, foundations and even city streets gets compounded.

If you don't believe the above (based on friendly engineers who studied NO) just consider this. Hospitals in NO planned on this happening. They waterproofed their emergency power sources with big storm damage in mind. Guess what happened? They, too, no longer have power.

A painful truth - New Orleans has died. Biloxi was destroyed. (but can be rebuilt) Other towns and cities suffered greatly. We are talking about 1.2 million homeless, unemployed, hungry, thirsty men, women and children.
The only thing worse would be another severe storm. Our hurricane season just started. All experts are predicting this to be extremely active. Even a small hurricane, or even a strong rainstorm will make it even worse.

[Lindacooks]

5. I'm afraid you're right.

And remember, too, that flood waters aren't composed of just water. There are chemicals from plants, oil and gas, toxins from old buildings, asbestos, not to mention snakes, alligators, and crocodiles in that water. And if things ever do dry out, the mold that will grow will take over the buildings left standing will be almost impossible to remove without razing the buildings to their foundations and starting over.

[WhiteTara]

4. I hope all forward thinking engineers are gearing

up to build Nuevo NO further upriver in the best way of the future. Oh right, monkey boy is in charge.