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A reminder

 
 


Posted by Drew458    United States   on 08/29/2007 at 12:51 PM   
 
  1. Perhaps it was Man-made, but I wouldn’t point the finger at the US Corps of Engineers entirely.. I would point most of the finger at the people who decide to live in a city Below Sea Level In the first place that requires the Levees..also part of it is due to messing with the natural Drainage system of the surrounding area..New orleans has also basically been turned more into a bowl then it was previously.. If you choose to live below Sea level you should know the consequences.. also seems like this lack of personal responsibility/Blame Government first attitude is prevalent in the N.O area..

    Posted by Infinity    United States   08/29/2007  at  12:44 PM  

  2. I can’t disagree with Infinity on those points. I’ll also throw in the massive amount of corruption down there, with builders, suppliers, and inspectors all being paid off and major amounts of the levee funding disappearing.

    But having gone and read Whizbang’s post, and thought about the comments made by those who disagree (especially “dave"/"dan" the ALL CAPS commenter), I’d have to agree with the Whiz: the amount of water flowing through that crack in the wall wouldn’t make the slighest dent in the level of water coming down the canal.

    New Orleans was doomed with or without Katrina, we just didn’t know it.

    Posted by Drew458    United States   08/29/2007  at  02:52 PM  

  3. You know really Katrina/NO exposed everything that is wrong with our current domestic system

    Entitlement people who 1) are not the least bit grateful for what they have, 2) expect anyone/everyone to deal with the problem/issue that they want dealt with now, but don’t you ever tell them where or how to live, and 3) no personal responsibility at all - for instance all those elderly and sick - surely most of them had family - where were they to help/pay for evacuation?

    Money grubbing politicos who figure the disaster/results will be on the next guys watch and so just take the money and run without regard to the fact that the money was meant for a purpose and then refuse to take any blame when the s*** hits the fan.

    No one, absolutely no one taking responsibility for living below sea level (bad enough), on the ocean front (getting worse) but come on, on a delta which changes and shifts and parts of were man made anyway (utter stupidity).

    None of these people deserve even what they got as far as assistance and certainly not all of those who insist on moving back.

    And I bet 70% of them are Glowball Warning wackos fearing the next 24 foot wave coming along, but damn you (those of us who are sane and use our brain) don’t tell me where I can or can not live (and I will sue, sue I tell you because it’s Bush’s fault). . .

    Give me a break.

    Posted by wardmama4    United States   08/29/2007  at  04:53 PM  

  4. I guess I shouldn’t tell Wardmama that the displaced NO people have been given additional housing funding through 2009. She might get a little wound up.

    And I’m positive that I won’t mention that the violent crime rate in NO is up 50% this year alone. Even though only a small part of the former residents have moved back, they still managed to have 11 murders there just last week.

    Maybe the way to rebuild the place is to pour a 100 foot thick layer of concrete over the whole place and start over on top of that. Might be best to do it without any warning though!

    Posted by Drew458    United States   08/29/2007  at  06:39 PM  

  5. In the entire New Orleans/Katrina debacle, it seems that there were massive failures at every level of government and administration from the lowest to the highest.  From the streets of New Orleans to the White House, you can point to the actions of almost anyone involved and find gross errors in the handling of the situation.  I will not deny any of the points that have been made so far, they all ring true.

    What this article points up are the errors committed by by the Army Corps of Engineers.  Some time ago, I read an article about the specifications of the levys.  The calculated margin of safety was supposed to be 1.4:1.  Now, anyone with an engineering background will tell you that even when working with metals and plastics that have been made under rigorously controlled conditions and that possess known strength characteristics, you never want to work with less than a 2:1 safety margin.  When you are dealing with a critical component, especially where health and safety are concerned, you will usually use safety margins of 4:1 and sometimes even higher. 

    Considering that a levy is nothing but a pile of dirt, with all the variance that that implies, I consider a 1.4:1 safety margin criminal.  Now it develops that the ACE didn’t even build to their own specification!  The ACE is an institution, but it is also made up of men and women.  Somewhere are the people responsible for this specific part of this gross screw up and they should be brought to justice. 
    in_jail

    Posted by Dr. Jeff    United States   08/30/2007  at  03:13 PM  

  6. Wardmama, I agree with you.
    There were failures all the way around.
    New Orleans is a prime example of man’s folly.
    Living below sea level. DUH!
    I used to live on the Gulf Coast and after several hurricane seasons, I decided I would rather live inland and visit the coast when I wanted to!

    Posted by Melissa in Texas    United States   09/02/2007  at  02:09 PM  

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