Panel: New Orleans Levees Still Need Work

(AP)  New Orleans should increase the strength of new levees being built to protect against catastrophic hurricanes, elevate more houses and abandon neighborhoods that rest below sea level, an independent research panel said Friday.

Levees under construction by the Army Corps of Engineers aren't being built to a high-enough flood protection standard, said the report by the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council.

The independent panel of experts was asked by the federal government to review the corps' investigation of levee failures during Hurricane Katrina and its work to avoid such a catastrophe again. The corps is spending about $14 billion to raise levees and build floodgates able to withstand a "100-year" storm, or a moderately dangerous hurricane with a 1-in-100 chance of hitting any given year. The corps plans to finish by 2011.

"For heavily-populated urban areas, where the failure of protective structures would be catastrophic - such as New Orleans - this standard is inadequate," the report said.

Instead, New Orleans should be protected by a "500-year or maybe 1,000-year protection," the type of engineering standards used in earthquake zones or along major rivers, said Richard Luettich Jr., the director of the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of North Carolina and a member of the committee.

Friday's report was the final review of work done by a team of engineers hired by the corps to investigate levee failures and develop solutions. The leader of that team, which is called the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force, said the levee system being built by the corps was a good starting point.

"The current system being built is a very good baseline," said Ed Link, a civil engineer with the University of Maryland who led IPET. "It has a lot of resilience built into it, so the potential for catastrophic loss is much less."

The corps is considering construction of a system that would offer protection against a 500-year storm, but its studies are still in their early phases.

Friday's report also said the city should discourage people from moving into areas vulnerable to storm-surge flooding, in particular those that are below sea-level.

"If there is one thing we've all learned from this, living in New Orleans entails risk," Luettich said. "Smart decisions have to be made about where people live."

The issue of whether to abandon certain areas has come up several times as the city's continued rebuilding and has drawn sharp responses, particularly from those who believe they should be allowed to rebuild where they'd lived before the storm. Mayor Ray Nagin has said the government shouldn't dictate where people can live.

"We don't have a policy of holding back our investment in any of the areas," Nagin's director of policy, Maggie Merrill, said. City officials meet with the corps regularly to make sure the agency is on track with its rebuilding, and the city itself is trying to rebuild its facilities higher and stronger, she said.

LaToya Cantrell, president of the Broadmoor Improvement Association, said she generally agrees with the report but rejects any suggestion that areas below sea level should be avoided.

[NancyLou9]

Mayor Ray Nagin has said the government shouldn't dictate where people can live.
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Fair enough.

Then they should not expect tax-payer money when their stupidity is confirmed by the next hurricane.
Posted by formrusmcsgt at 7:41 PM : Apr 24, 2009
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From your lips to God's ear, USMCSgt... Maybe I'm in the minority but I wouldn't live in a house where I couldn't get it fully insured because it was, um, in a major flood plain.

Just last weekend, my husband and I were watching a "Cities of the Underworld" about New Orleans and they were talking about the levees. The host was standing atop one of these levees and guess what was right behind him? Two- and three-story houses, not even on piers, less than a hundred yards from these levees. They all looked brand-spanking new, too.

Nice to see our tax dollars hard at work rebuilding the next homes to go down in a hurricane.

[NancyLou9]

I wonder how much work would have needed to be done had Louisiana actually spent the millions in federal monies received over the years prior to Katrina instead of diverting it to other programs?

[airboatboy]

New Orleans should increase the strength of new levees being built to protect against catastrophic hurricanes, elevate more houses and abandon neighborhoods that rest below sea level, an independent research panel said Friday.

Well, no kidding. I wonder how long it took for them to come up with this conclusion. They must of had a real bunch of geniuses to figure it out.

[djberson]

I am so saddened by the fact that MIT, and the biggest brain trust in the world is in Boston one mile from one of the biggest engineering failures in the world... the Big Dig. We have MIT, juxtaposed by the Big Dig and the NO levees. Why?

[keithle1]

You don't say. What else is new. One more Katrina & the city is toast. Finito for good.
Why don't we just move Bourbon Street & the French Quarter to Vegas where it will be safe?

Can't imagine wanting to live in New Orleans. Visit for a week? Sure.

[bradkt1]

formrusmcsgt : I would agree with you except for the fact that EVERYBODY does this...people continue to rebuild on flood plains after they have lost their homes...people continue to rebuild their homes in the forests and on mountains after they have been destroyed by forest fires. If you are speaking generally, fine...but let's not single out New Orleans.

The real problem with the rebuilding of these levees in New Orleans is why in the world is the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers rebuilding levees that are inadequate...leading to the same result a few years down the road....a city under water. These people act like they have learned nothing from Hurricane Katrina. If they are to be rebuilt, the levees should be rebuilt to withstand a Category 5 hurricane. If you aren't going to do that, then don't rebuild them at all. To me, that's common sense.

[formrusmcsgt]

Mayor Ray Nagin has said the government shouldn't dictate where people can live.
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Fair enough.

Then they should not expect tax-payer money when their stupidity is confirmed by the next hurricane.