Katrina fall-out

"Jay Honeck" wrote:

When the budget for improving the levees was cut by the Feds, New
Orleans tried over and over again to get the money reinstated as a
basic safety measure for the city. Bringing the issue to a vote in
the city would have done nothing to free up the federal funds, which
is where the money had to come from.

What would have happened if the citizens of N.O. had raised funds to
reinforce their levees themselves?

*Gasp!* Imagine!

Unheard of, I know, but couldn't the locals have actually taken action
for themselves?

Well, as I understand the situation, it's far more complicated than
that, and simply "fixing" the levees is insufficient.

The problems N.O. has are a result of many of the Corps programs to
contain the Mississippi, which have resulted in drying of large areas of
former swamp, and subsidence in the entire delta through soil
contraction. The lack of flooding has also cut off the supply of silt
that historically built up the delta. These changes, along with the
pumping of domestic water from wells, has exposed the city to storm
surges, which would previously have not been a problem. Specifically,
many barrier islands that provided protection have simply disappeared
below the gulf; Large areas of swampland between the city and gulf have
flooded, effectively moving the gulf closer to the city; The city itself
has subsided, which further exposed many areas that were previously
above water; The subsidence has lowered the effective level of the
dikes, and the protection they previously afforded.

The $15 billion program the Corps proposed involved a number of actions
that were intended to protect many more communities than just New
Orleans from storm surges. One was to allow the river to again flood
areas of the delta to rebuild the barrier islands, reduce subsidence,
and redeposit silt to build up the land. Another was the construction
of a gate at the entrance to Lake Pontchartrain to control the storm
surge. The gate would be closed as a surge approached, and would
significantly reduce the amount of water entering the lake, reducing the
risk to all communities around the lake. Finally, there were
improvements to the dikes and barrier walls on the north side of the
city to protect against whatever storm surge remained with the
protection of the lake entrance gate.

As you can see, many of the problems New Orleans had were as a result of
water management policies that benefitted everyone on the river, to the
detriment of N.O. Some of the problems were self-induced. Full
protection of the city requires a systemic approach on the part of the
Corps, and simply shoring up the dikes is only part of an overall
package necessary to reestablish adequate protection.