[StBernard] Protection, New Orleans Levees & St. Bernard?

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Tue Mar 21 19:27:12 EST 2006



Considering the committee and Army Corps of Engineers realizes there is no
guarantee that a Katrina or worse can not do similar/worse damage to New
Orleans and St. Bernard levees repaired/designed, that insurances will
likely be hard to get/increasingly high in premiums, things are going to
quite uncertain for times to come. Some believe levees should be built in
the nature of dams' standards. Below are excerps from Tuesdays' TP article.
NOLA, CNN.

Nagin:

AP Interview: Nagin says New Orleans has better levees, plans for upcoming
hurricane season
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - This still-battered city is better prepared for the
upcoming hurricane season because of stronger flood walls and better
evacuation plans after Hurricane Katrina, Mayor Ray Nagin said in an
interview Tuesday.

"If a Category 5 hits us, probably the city will be gone and the levees will
still be standing. The work they're doing is just incredible," Nagin said of
ongoing work by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.(NOLA)

"However, the mayor warned residents that even with repairs now being made
to the city's levee system, some neighborhoods in the eastern part of the
city will remain vulnerable to storm flooding for as long as two years,
until more improvements can be made.

He urged residents to consider taking advantage of a buy-out program that
would pay them up to $150,000 for property in those areas." (CNN)

New Orleans City Councilman, Oliver Thomas has responded to the BNOB
saying that $150,000 is quite short of the very high cost to citizens in
Anxiety and depression which cannot be measured.

Nagin accepts BNOB blueprint (Bring NEw Orleans Back Committee) (NOLA)

"...Nagin said he appreciated the committee's desire to protect residents
from spending money on houses or stores that could be vulnerable to flooding
again and might not be eligible for flood insurance. But, he said, "I have
confidence that our citizens can decide intelligently for themselves where
they want to rebuild, once presented with the facts." (NOLA)

"The Army Corps of Engineers has warned me that some of our lowest-lying
areas of New Orleans East and the Lower Ninth Ward (Editor: And St.
Bernard?) will have some flooding from levees overtopping if another
hurricane travels along the same path of Katrina," Nagin said.(CNN).
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/21/new.orleans/index.html

Follow the citizens (NOLA)

He also rejected the committee's suggestion that hard-hit neighborhoods
should have to prove themselves viable, probably by showing that at least 50
percent of residents intend to return, before the city would agree to
provide services to them.

"I believe government investment should follow our citizens' investment,"
Nagin said, without setting up what critics considered arbitrary criteria.

But even as he refused to deny any neighborhood the right to rebuild, Nagin
warned residents of the Lower 9th Ward and "the lowest-lying areas of New
Orleans East" that the Army Corps of Engineers has told him those areas are
likely to flood again if a Katrina-style hurricane hits New Orleans this
year or in 2007.

"That's why it's important that you as citizens have the option of
rebuilding on your own, or taking advantage of the buyout option in the
Failed Levee Homeowners Recovery Program I pioneered," Nagin said. That
option, if it wins state and federal approval and financing, would offer
homeowners up to $150,000.

Nagin said he supported the proposal that each neighborhood in the city
participate in a planning process to spell out how residents would like to
see their neighborhood redeveloped. Such a process "puts the decisions in
the hands of the residents," he said, to applause. He said he was extending
the deadline for completing the process by one month, to June 30.

In response to suggestions that some particularly flood-prone neighborhoods
should be turned into green space, Nagin said that "creating new parks and
open spaces . . . is vital to future flood protection." But he said he does
not support expropriating property for that purpose, only for removing
blighted buildings."

Full Story:
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-5/11429248809078
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