Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Louisiana Sees Faded Urgency in Relief Effort

NYT reported Less than three months after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, relief legislation remains dormant in Washington and despair is growing among officials here who fear that Congress and the Bush administration are losing interest in their plight. As evidence, the state and local officials cite an array of stalled bills and policy changes they say are crucial to rebuilding the city and persuading some of its hundreds of thousands of evacuated residents to return, including measures to finance long-term hurricane protection, revive small businesses and compensate the uninsured.

I am not surprised. The extreme incompetence of the local and state governments, the obscene greed shown by the demand for an additional $200 Billion in money for many things besides fixing things damaged by the flood, and the insistence on building up the levees to protect land 7 to 15 feet below sea level even with a Cat 5 storm, when the rainfall from such a storm would fill up the "bowl" and flood it out anyway makes the US wonder why the other 49 states should pay for Louisiana's stupidity. Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida were hit by hurricanes as well, and their state and local governments worked much better with FEMA, and they did not make obscene requests for huge amounts of money, or ask for protection of land 7 to 15 feet below sea level.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can see by your outfit that you are a cowboy -- and that you don't have any family down in New Orleans. You should stick with what you know firsthand.

Don Singleton said...

You are right I dont have any family in New Orleans, but that is not the reason I oppose spending Federal Funds trying to protect houses built on land that is 7 to 15 feet below sea level.

Anonymous said...

I just returned from a trip to N.O. were I visited a flood adjuster friend of mine for a couple of days. The extent of the devastation is boggling. It is not just blocks and blocks and blocks of destroyed communities, but miles and miles and miles of them. It will take a lifetime of rebuilding in order to restore N.O. I just don't think that will be likely...maybe a smaller, scaled down version of N.O. will be rebuilt. Regardless to the best efforts of rebuilding, Mother Nature will win another round...it's just a matter of time. I have heard that even Tulane is considering moving to another city...not a bad idea.

Don Singleton said...

A smaller New Orleans is exactly what they need. Dont rebuild all of the levees trying to protect land that is 7 to 15 feet below sea level to a Cat 5 level, when if a Cat 5 (or even weaker storm) went over New Orleans, the rain would fill up the bowl and flood it, even if all of the levees held. Provide some protection for the French Quarter and the other land that is above sea level, but dont enclose it in a bowl with levees all around; provide a way for rain to drain away from the land that is above sea level. If you must rebuild (many of the residents have already moved to other parts of the country), then rebuild 30 to 40 miles away on land that is above sea level.