Disturbing Report Raises Concerns About New Orleans Levees
When you hear the words "high risk" and "minimally acceptable" you're not likely going to be filled with confidence. That's got to be how many New Orleans residents are feeling after hearing those words used in a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers review of the city's levee system.
I guess the lessons of Katrina were for somebody else.
Let's face it, New Orleans has trouble dispersing the water from an afternoon thundershower there is no telling what kind of catastrophic damage a serious tropical system could bring to the city. I don't necessarily mean a wind event either. Think back to last year in Houston when Harvey just sat over the city for several days dumping record rainfall.
As the tropics have already begun to heat up with a potential trouble spot headed for the northern Gulf Coast this weekend the New Orleans levee system is a concern for all of us in Louisiana. As goes the Big Easy so goes the rest of the state. Like it or not if New Orleans is sunk, then so are the rest of us at least for a little while.
Perhaps city officials could stop placing friends and family on the municipal gravy train known as a levee board. Maybe if there were actually engineers and city planners and mistresses and cousins on the boards the city and state could sleep a little better between June 1st and November 30th, or any time it rains for that matter.