The storm is still miles out and the lower 9th ward of New Orleans is already flooding. As I predicted, the water is just flowing over the repairs like they aren’t even there.
It is was crime against the citizens of New Orleans and against reason and logic for the idiots at the Corps of Morons to say they were ready for Rita.
Update Are CNN and the Coprs of Idiots insane? These morons are reporting that the levees are in tact just that they are “JUST being ‘over topped’ on the previous repairs.” Well I’m sure to the people who are being flooded AGAIN and the people who managed to get thru Katrina only to get floded today will feel so much better that the levees are in tact…
NEWS FLASH: The Levees are holding in tact… The “repairs” are 3 feet underwater but by golly the levees are in tact! I’m absolutly in disbelief that they are this stupid.
Update 2: Note to the idiots at CNN and Fox news. — The Corps had 3 weeks to work on this and all thier combined efforts lasted about 12 minutes against Rita. Quit freaking asking if they are going to patch the levee now. If they couldn’t do it in 3 weeks when it was dry, how the HELL do you expect them to do it when the water is flowing over it???
THIS AIN’T FREAKING HOLLYWOOD. WILL SMITH ISN’T GOING TO COME IN WITH HIS SUPER GALATIC MONDO 3000 LEVEE FIXING MACHINE TO THE BACKGROUND MUSIC OF “RIDE OF THE VALKYRIES”
Continually asking if the Corps is going to patch the levee makes you look plain stupid. (er)
Okay, Paul…I’m sorry you’re in the situation you’re in…but now that you’ve dismissed the entire US Army Corps of Engineers as “morons” and “idiots” who are “stupid”, I must assume you possess sufficient expertise in the field of hydro engineering to make that assessment. So, I ask you; what exactly, and with detailed specificity, is your solution for keeping an area that is below sea level from flooding, both now, after a catastrophic Category 4 hurricane, and in the future?
Paul,
I think what the corps is trying to say is that, while some water is coming through the areas where the levee repairs are occurring, that the levee system as a whole is doing its job (even though that means localized flooding will occur.)
That is important for several reasons. It is much easier to manage the water that is flowing over the repaired areas, primarily because the electricity needed to pump it back out using the city’s vast pumping system.
If other parts of the levee system were NOT intact, it is doubtful that the pumping capacity could keep up with the deluge and the entire city would be again under 9 feet of water.
That hasn’t happened so far, but may.
CNN, as another example, is INCORRECTLY headlining their stories this way:
“Water flows over New Orleans levee”
Suggesting that the levees are being overtopped, which is simply NOT the case (yet).
And so the Corps seems to be to be doing its best to put accurate information into the system.
Don’t panic yet.
Meantime,
Take a look at the post immediately BELOW this one.
It certainly took my mind off Rita for a few minutes.
“THIS AIN’T FREAKING HOLLYWOOD. WILL SMITH ISN’T GOING TO COME IN WITH HIS SUPER GALATIC MONDO 3000 LEVEE FIXING MACHINE TO THE BACKGROUND MUSIC OF RIDE OF THE VALKYRIES”
Yeah, but if he did, wouldn’t it look cool?
Paul,
Update #2 is spot on. There will be no attempt to fix a levee while:
a) it is raining
b) the storm surge from a Category 4 hurricane is barrelling toward the city
No human effort, no matter how coordinated, can stop the TRILLIONS of tons of pressure that Hurricane Rita is about to visit upon Lake Ponchatrain.
The best thing that can happen to Rita is for it to make landfall directly over New Orleans, where there are only THINGS that have already been destroyed and where there are, thankfully, very few PEOPLE.
rightnumberone are you just stupid?
SURE the levees are in tact and the flooding will be localized in New Orleans- Heck last time it was localized to only 85% of the city… I’m taking great comfort in that localized flooding.
Don’t panic? Have you watched the fucking news?
The water is PORING into the city for blocks. Hundreds of thousands of gallons per minute. And you want to say argue about how to phrase it?
I have mostly quit paying much attention to comments but I thought you were one of the smarter ones. Either I was wrong or you seriously need to think this thru.
Hey idiots that don’t agree with Paul, go to the Fox News website. They have a huge picture there right now that shows a BROKEN levee. I understand that there was major work to be done on the levees after Katrina and they were vulnerable, but this one did not hold up.
More From The Times-Picayune
Friday, September 23, 2005
Water tops both banks of Industrical Canal
Water was pouring over both banks of the Industrial Canal Friday morning, reflooding areas recently drained of floodwaters left by Hurricane Katrina.
Observers said water was spilling over the repaired levee breach in the east side of the canal causing major flooding through the Lower 9th Ward and into St. Bernard Parish.
Alan Abadi, legal counsel, referring to the east bank levee break, said “It’s crumbling as the water goes through it. You can bet on that.”
Armored vehicles from the Oregon National Guard were headed into that area this morning, but their purpose was not apparent.
On the west bank of the canal, water was pouring over a long stretch of the levee north of the Claiborne Street Bridge, ponding in the areas along the levee but not causing any significant flooding as of midday Friday. There was no apparent break in the levee.
Rightnumberone – Exactly. From everything I’ve read the Corps’ plan is, and always has been, a series of levees that hold the water back long enough for the storm to pass, allowing the pumps sufficient time to move the rainfall/surge out. “Topping” is going to occur, in fact, it’s built into the system. Had the Corps built just one levee, and it had been topped or breached, there would be nothing to impede the water from doing the two things water does; moving to the lowest point under force of gravity and seeking its own level. By building a series of levees the time required for the water to top each levee and reach the lowest levels of the city of New Orleans is dramatically increased (think of how long it takes for water to get from one end of an ice cube tray to the other as you fill it from one end). In concert the massive pump network moves that water already in the local area relatively quickly and, under normal conditions, of which Katrina was NOT, avoids or at least mitigates catastrophic flood damage.
Point of fact; nowhere, in anything I’ve seen, read or heard does the Corps claim that their design will eliminate all kinds of flooding under all kinds of conditions.
Understandably, now that the whole system has been degraded by Katrina (pumps down, localized breaches) the systems ability to handle moderate rainfall/surges becomes problematic and more flooding will occur. That’s just the way it is.
Paul,
I have to say that I agree with you that there is much more significant flodding occurring (I’m at home for lunch now and did not previously have access to the live CNN feed.)
The flood will be biblical.
However, I disagree with your contention that this represents some sort of problem that was either preventable or unexpected.
The city of New Orleans has been evacuated and abandoned. This flood will do no more to destroy what has already been destroyed than the last flood. Everything that is being flooded again today is already destroyed.
Your point, however, is well-taken on the “localized” aspect of this flooding. The levee system damaged is spreading significantly, and I expect the parts of the city that are below sea level will be underwater again.
Once again we need to revisit the whole concept of a New Orleans. Were it up to the likes of Mayor Nagin, the rehabitation and reconstruction would have been expedited without appropriate levee reinforcement or redesign beforehand. Fortunately, the Feds insisted he reconsider. It was only the immediate threat of Rita that seems to have modified some people’s thinking. In that regard, but tragically nonetheless, Rita’s timing may have forced upon the reticent a bit more clear thinking.
Rushing in to rebuild New Orleans is a bad idea. Ego, pride, and blinding optimism should not be our guides. Sometimes, curmudgeony, boring pragmatism has a style all its own. Unfortunately, it takes a Rita to realize it.
rightnumberone is correct that “The best thing that can happen to Rita is for it to make landfall directly over New Orleans…” for the reason stated and also because it shows the stupidity of trying to rebuild a city in a sink hole.
For whatever reason it looks like we’re in a period of active hurricane seasons. Just rebuilding in areas that are particularly susceptible to hurricane damage is stupid. Taxpayers and property owners in other parts of the country shouldn’t be expected to subsidize such stupidity through higher taxes and higher insurance premiums.
Cardinals Nation,
I don’t blame them for New Orelans flooding. I blame them for not accepting as reality that it would. [specifically in Rita]
For the last 3 days, they’ve been telling people that the levves would hold. They knew -or should have known- it was bullshit.
That is malfeasance. I have a cousin who did not evacuate with her whole family becasue the “officials” were more interested in the poltical spin than getting people OBVISOULY accurate inforamtion.
And yes it was obvious, see my “picture of the day” post from yesterday.
>The city of New Orleans has been evacuated and abandoned. This flood will do no more to destroy what has already been destroyed than the last flood. Everything that is being flooded again today is already destroyed.
You have no clue what you are talking about. None nana zip zich.
YES “New Orleans” is largly abondoned. But that is only one parish. Jefferons Parish has hundreds of thousands of people in it… (I left there at 7pm last night -trust me I know)
The levees are a system not just a bunch of indivdual pieces. The people in Jefferson are in SIGNIFICAT danger and the local officals have lied to them about the danger.
Frankly you have no fucking idea what you are talking about and I really wish that you would shut the fuck up until you do.
>I have to say that I agree with you that there is much more significant flodding occurring (I’m at home for lunch now and did not previously have access to the live CNN feed.)
Read as: I had no fuckign clue what I was talking about but I was more than willing to tell you -a guy who lives there- how it worked.
Sorry I’m so harsh but give me a break. If you don’t know what you are talking about just stop telling me all about it.
Paul,
Exactly what did you expect the Corp of engineers to do? You are acting as though they should not only have had the levee system repaired in 3 weeks, but should have had the system upgraded as well.
Please tell me that is not what you are suggesting, because that would be insane.
I mean, you said it yourself at the end of your post… “This ain’t freaking hollywood.” People’s expectations for the Federal governement to be frelling superheroes – for the Corp to swoop in and hold the waters back with the sheer power of their will, for the Feds to start beaming people out Houston so they don’t have to endure the torture of sitting traffic, magically making fuel trucks appear during a fuel shortage, instantaneously making hundreds of miles of highway a one-way route and miraculously avoiding the bottle neck that ALWAYS results.
Frankly, I am sick and tired of listening to bitchers and moaners who have nothing constructive to add but seem to be in love with the sound of their own damn voice and their obviously superior intellect. (I am not specifically referring to you here – I am just pretty irritated right now with the tone of nearly everyone out their who seems to think that they could do a better job and especially at people who think that sitting in gridlock for 10 hours is tantamount to a civil rights violation)
I’m sorry for everything you have had to endure, but you are just being an ass to people who haven’t been rude to you in the slightest.
You claim that the Corp has said NOLA was safe from flooding. I don’t know where you heard that, but EVERY article I have read has had the Corp stating that even 3 inches of rain would top the levees and flood the city. I never heard a shred of optimism – most said ‘we’ll have to wait and see, but it doesn’t look good’.
If you want to blame the local officials again for their inept response – fine – but I don’t see how you justify your harsh words for the Corp. I also seem to remember Nagin issuing another evacuation order for NOLA – is this not correct?
has it been raining there? how much?
I am wondering why people would be there since they have been saying the city would flood with 3 inches of rain. Surely it was expected that Rita would bring that much rain?
Was it reported differently locally? I am trying to ask a question, not make a point.
Paul,
If you don’t blame the Corps for the flooding, what exactly is causing you to declare them “morons”, etc? That they thought the efforts they had made so far would work? Remember, Rita took a northward jog the day before yesterday and as the National Hurricane Center said in Public Advisory #17, “ERRORS FOR TRACK HAVE AVERAGED NEAR 250 NM
ON DAY 4 AND 325 NM ON DAY 5…AND FOR INTENSITY NEAR 20 KT EACH DAY” Given the size of Rita even the smallest movement of Rita to the north of the predicted path would cause an increase in rain for New Orleans. I don’t know when they made those statements, but accusing them of “malfeasance” is a bit overboard. Did they say in any of their statements for citizens NOT to leave, contravening the (confused and contradictory) statements of local authorities? That would be malfeasance. Simply being wrong about their efforts isn’t anything more then being wrong.
I assume your cousin and her family are in the area that is currently endangered by the breaches you’ve been talking about.
(As an aside: I don’t really care where she is exactly, she and all those down there are in my prayers…really, brother, they are)
If that’s the case, what in the world is she doing there? There were mandatory evacuations from Katrina; didn’t she leave then? Immediately after Katrina struck? Didn’t the Mayor (at near Federal gunpoint) rescind the authorization to return and re-order an evacuation based on Rita’s approach? All that should be in New Orleans’ most susceptible areas is debris.
I’ve been going thru the NWS reports for the NOLA area, and one caught my attention. The Lakefront airport, which is apparently near the site of one the breachs, has had about 6 inches of rain over the past six hours. Armstrong airport, about 10 miles away only got a few hundreths of an inch in the same time. Anyone want to bet dollars to donuts that it is the sheer power of a huge downpour that could cause this situation and not some malfeasance or ineptitude on the part of the ACoE?
OK OK OK OK-
For all of you who don’t understand my point….
For all of you who think I’m giving the local officials a hard time….
For all of you who “just don’t get it”….
Read This post then figure out how to word your apology to me.
They are morons. Each. and. every. one. of. them.