New Orleans

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?

Seen at ABC News:

The Army Corps of Engineers can be held liable for flood damage caused by a “hurricane highway,” a navigation channel that is believed to have funneled Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge into the city, a federal judge ruled Friday.

The Corps of Engineers had argued that it was immune from liability because the channel is part of New Orleans’ flood control system. The law says the federal government cannot be sued if something goes wrong with a flood control project such as a levee, reservoir or dam.

Judge Stanwood Duval dismissed that argument, saying the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, or MRGO, was clearly a ship channel and not a flood control project.

You may recall that plaintiffs are seeking $3,014,170,389,176,410 in damages from the Corps.

A couple of blogs I follow have mentioned that the May issue of Popular Mechanics includes a feature called, “10 Pieces of U.S. Infrastructure We Must Fix Now”. I’ve seen the feature mentioned in the context of Atlanta’s water shortage, but the entire list is actually rather interesting to me (not surprising, given my interests):

• Circle Interchange, Chicago
   
• Brooklyn Bridge Approaches, New York City
   
• Industrial Canal Locks, New Orleans
  (Ships can wait 36 hours for clearance to transit, creating a drag on the efficiency of the Port of New Orleans. PM doesn’t mention that survivors of the Lower Ninth Ward would like to see the canal itself fixed by being filled in….)
   
• Atlanta’s water system
  (PM estimates 18% of the daily water consumption in ATL is the result of leaky water mains)
   
• Alaskan Way viaduct, Seattle
   
• Lake Okeechobee dike, Florida
   
• Dover Bridge, Bonner County, Idaho
  (Northern Idaho bridge for US95, scores 2 out of a possible 100 in sufficiency rating.)
   
• Wolf Creek Dam, Kentucky
  (Kentucky River dam deemed in enough danger of collapse that TVA reduced the water level behind it, to reduce flood risk to downstream towns, including Nashville.)
   
• Sacramento River levees, California
  (Remind me not to write flood cover on the Arco Arena, or on SMF.)
   
• O’Hare

None of those are surprises, and many of them are slated for repairs in the next few years, assuming funding remains available. However, it’s nice to be reminded every once in a while of some neglected priorities.

(How much money have Presidential candidates raised to date for this election cycle?)

Seen at Business Insurance:

The U.S. Supreme Court refused Tuesday to hear a case in which a federal appeals court ruled that property insurance policies did not cover flood damage in New Orleans caused by the failure of levees during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

In its Aug. 2, 2007, decision in the Katrina Canal Breaches Litigation, which it revised on Aug. 30, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that “even if plaintiffs can prove that the levees were negligently designed, constructed or maintained and that the breaches were due to this negligence, the flood exclusions in the plaintiffs’ policies unambiguously preclude their recovery.”

Repeat after me: A flood is a flood is a flood.

It’s nice to see the courts continuing to see sense here, and hopefully this will finally close the book on this unfortunate chapter of the Katrina mess.

Remember the $3,014,170,389,176,410 sought from the Army Corps of Engineers for post-Katrina flood damage in New Orleans?

The judge has thrown out the case, and federal bean-counters are thanking their preferred deities for legislated grants of immunity. From the AP:

U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval ruled that the Corps should be held immune over failures in drainage canals that caused much of the flooding of New Orleans in August 2005.

The ruling relies on the Flood Control Act of 1928, which made the federal government immune when flood control projects like levees break.[...]

In his ruling, Duval said he was forced by law to hold the Corps immune even though the agency “cast a blind eye” in protecting New Orleans and “squandered millions of dollars in building a levee system … which was known to be inadequate by the Corps’ own calculations.”

But, Duval said, “it is not within the Court’s power to address the wrongs committed. It is hopefully within the citizens of the United States’ power to address the failures of our laws and agencies.”

There are times where governmental immunity from lawsuits seems like a good thing.  One of those times is when you’re looking at demands for ridiculously large awards.   Seen at MSNBC:

Hurricane Katrina’s victims have put a price tag on their suffering and it is staggering — including one plaintiff seeking the unlikely sum of $3 quadrillion.

The total number — $3,014,170,389,176,410 — is the dollar figure so far sought from some 489,000 claims filed against the federal government over damage from the failure of levees and flood walls following the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane.

Of the total number of claims, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it has received 247 for at least $1 billion apiece, including the one for $3 quadrillion.[...]

For the sake of perspective: A mere $1 quadrillion would dwarf the U.S. gross domestic product, which Scott said was $13.2 trillion in 2007. A stack of one quadrillion pennies would reach Saturn.

Under the circumstances, I think it’s entirely appropriate for the Army Corps of Engineers to provide indemnification for losses arising from the subpar levees they had responsibility over.   However, a $3,000,000,000,000,000 claim seems just a tad excessive.

Seen in Insurance Journal:

A system of flood gates and pumps built since Hurricane Katrina to help alleviate flooding in several New Orleans neighborhoods may not be as much help as authorities first said.[...]

The maps showed that the improvements made to the city canals’ drainage systems would reduce flooding during a major storm by about 5.5 feet in Lakeview and nearby neighborhoods. The maps were based on a storm that has the likelihood of occurring at least once in 100 years.

But in a report released Nov. 7, Corps scientists estimated that the actual benefit the system would provide would be just 6 inches.

The discrepancy was tucked into the voluminous report’s appendices, and neither the Corps nor the scientists hired to conduct the study brought the changes to the public’s attention when the report was released. It wasn’t until New Orleans television station WWL-TV asked an engineer involved in the assessment about the discrepancy that it became known.

There are, of course, three major lessons to be learned:

1. Always check your math.
2. There’s a significant difference between addition and subtraction (the discrepancy was driven by a “minus” being placed where a “plus” should have been
3. When people’s lives and life savings’ are at stake, it’s probably a pretty good idea for the government agency doing major work to release technical data and permit independent review.

Seen on the AP wire:

The blueprint being released Friday by city Recovery Director Ed Blakely is far more modest than the one he issued in March. But he said it will at least get the rebuilding started and give the public desperately needed signs of progress — which, in turn, will encourage private investment in New Orleans.[...]

The plan — the general outlines of which were approved by the City Council earlier this year — is not the radical remaking of the city urged by some urban planners who wanted to see a New Orleans with a much smaller footprint, and with people moved out of flood-prone areas.

Instead, it largely embraces Mayor Ray Nagin’s settle-where-you-will philosophy, while also endorsing the removal of blight and the creation of parks, affordable apartments and vibrant communities.

I can understand Mayor Nagin’s desire to keep a semi-lassiez-faire element to the reconstruction. However, count me in among those who are a little disappointed to see an opportunity for a more sustainable New Orleans passed up.

Of course, considering the bureaucracy that’s been bogging down the process (it’s been over two years, people)…I don’t see how they could effectively pull that off…but it was a nice idea to contemplate for a while, at least.