Let’s see, it was almost 3 years ago that Joe Average American learned about the plight of American levees in the Great Flood of New Orleans in the wake of Katrina.
Have we learned anything about the importance of planning for catastrophic situations when it comes to American levee systems?
Seen at the Wall Street Journal (subscriber link):
The federal government predicts that 27 levees could potentially overflow along the river if the weather forecast is on the mark and a massive sandbagging effort fails to raise the level of the levees, according to a map obtained Monday by the Associated Press.
True, this year’s flooding is unprecedented in the afflicted areas. However, you begin to wonder if some more thought needs to be given to flood modeling in disaster planning.
Buried in the news about the ongoing Midwest flooding, however, is also this gem from ABC:
Despite a massive effort to repair and upgrade flood defenses since Hurricane Katrina, storm surge could pour over levees in New Orleans if a strong Category 2 or higher hurricane strikes the city, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday.
While the forecast uses what officials say is the most accurate and complete picture yet of the region’s levee heights, they said they weren’t surprised by findings that reaffirm the area surrounding New Orleans is among the nation’s most hurricane-vulnerable. The forecast released Monday represents the first time the yearly storm surge predictions have used levee heights based on global positioning system technology.
So, how much has been spent to bring the New Orleans levees back to what was thought to be the barely-adequate standard of withstanding a Cat 3 storm?
