Sifting through the damage in Isaac's wake

(CBS News) BRAITHWAITE, La. - The storm clouds cleared over the Gulf Coast Friday and the full impact of Hurricane Isaac is becoming clear. The first hurricane to hit the U.S. this season left at least five people dead. More than 20 inches of rain combined with the storm surge to leave whole neighborhoods under water.

The power is still out for more than half a million homes and businesses. And the storm damage could top $2 billion. We spoke with some people who may have lost nearly everything.

For the first time Friday, we were able to look from the air at the abandoned neighborhoods in Plaquemines Parish, swamped by five feet of Isaac's storm surge. Crews have begun cutting as many as 10 holes in its levees east and west banks to help drain the water.

And in Braithwaite, nine miles south of New Orleans, residents are frustrated just as they were after Hurricane Katrina.

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A flood wall as high as 35 feet built after Katrina protects New Orleans. And it worked -- for the city. But the new flood wall stopped short of Braithwaite and its 500 residents.

"The communities that suffered the flooding are outside of the federal protection system," said Timothy Doody, president of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority. "Those communities oftentimes build their own levee systems."

Isaac's storm surge hit the new flood wall around St. Bernard Parish and had no place to go but over the 12-foot levee that protects Braithwaite.

"Yeah, we were the expendables," said Larry Bartron, who fled his Braithwaite home as Isaac stormed ashore Tuesday night .

He agreed that the new engineering to protect New Orleans may have saved folks there, but it also cost him.

"There's no doubt," he said."The storm, the way it worked, the way it stalled out, nobody could predict that. But you just sit there counterclockwise throwing water up against a wall, it won't let it pass. it's got to build up. An engineer will tell you that.

Bartron's like many people in Braithwaite, driven from their homes when water rushed over a levee on Wednesday. He lost one home to Katrina and suspects he has lost another one to Isaac.

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Hurricane Isaac and its aftermath

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[maiingan]

From what I've heard, Braithwaite seems like a town which should be given up. There should be no rebuilding permitted. Owners should get help to relocate well out of harm's way, up somewhere out of the flood risk zones, and with construction able to take hurricanes, and with a "safe room" for tornadoes. The problem this far down toward the tip of the Delta isn't so much the levee heights, but the fact that due to a combination of factors, Delta land is being lost to the ocean at a very rapid rate. It won't be that many years until the construction for their levees will more closely resemble the construction of an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico. If Braithwaite residents really want to end up living on an artificial island, those who are able should get jobs on the oil rigs and get paid a whole lot; then they could have houses on safe land well inland. The rest of the country can't afford the taxes OR the natural resources wasted in this Sisyphean rebuilding cycle.

[zion1king]

It is sad that some humans always blame everyone else but themselves for damage caused to their lives and property due to living in geographical areas that are prone to natural disasters.

Like it or not, the simple truth is "Foolish is as foolish does".
Or put another way, if you build your house on quicksand, don't be surprised if it sinks.

[everywhereisadisasterzone]

I too am sick of all the morons who live in areas prone to disasters. I'm sick of paying for the all the hurricanes that hit the Southeastern US; and the floods that hit that part of the country every few years. I don't want to pay for all the winter weather that hits the Northeastern US;those morons should have picked somewhere else to live. What about all the idiots who live in the Midwest? So sick of paying for tornado damage and flooding so they can grow most of our corn and wheat. All the fires in the Western US and Texas, those jacka**es should live in a wetter climate like the guys in the Southeast. Don't get me started on the total idiots in California. Who would live in a place that has earthquakes once a decade, produces most of the produce for the US, most of the worlds rice, and is the worlds fifth largest economy? All those jerks should live somewhere less disaster prone, like...um...well...um...just somewhere else!

[Solarrays247]

by everywhereisadisasterzone August 31, 2012 11:44 PM EDT
I too am sick of all the morons who live in areas prone to disasters. I'm sick of paying for the all the hurricanes that hit the Southeastern US; and the floods that hit that part of the country every few years. I don't want to pay for all the winter weather that hits the Northeastern US;those morons should have picked somewhere else to live. What about all the idiots who live in the Midwest? So sick of paying for tornado damage and flooding so they can grow most of our corn and wheat. All the fires in the Western US and Texas, those jacka**es should live in a wetter climate like the guys in the Southeast. Don't get me started on the total idiots in California. Who would live in a place that has earthquakes once a decade, produces most of the produce for the US, most of the worlds rice, and is the worlds fifth largest economy? All those jerks should live somewhere less disaster prone, like...um...well...um...just somewhere else!
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Bravo! Great satire! Thank you!

[Solarrays247]

Rush Limbaugh must be very unhappy at the news that only five died as a result of Hurricane Isaac. He stated on his show this week that he hoped many poor people died because then there would be less Democrats left to vote in November. He must have been hoping for a repeat of the 1800 victims of Hurricane Katrina.

I kid you not. Don't know about you all, but I'm sick and tired of all the hate being shown to our fellow Americans by miscreant pundits like Limbaugh, Palin, and Fox News! :-(