Katrina fall-out

White Foragers Report Threat Of Black Looters

NEW ORLEANS-Throughout the Gulf Coast, Caucasian suburbanites
attempting to gather food and drink in the shattered wreckage of
shopping districts have reported seeing African=ADAmericans "looting
snacks and beer from damaged businesses." "I was in the abandoned
Wal-Mart gathering an air mattress so I could float out the potato
chips, beef jerky, and Budweiser I'd managed to find," said white
survivor Lars Wrightson, who had carefully selected foodstuffs whose
salt and alcohol content provide protection against contamination.
"Then I look up, and I see a whole family of [African-Americans] going
straight for the booze. Hell, you could see they had already looted a
fortune in diapers." Radio stations still in operation are advising
store owners and white people in the affected areas to locate firearms
in sporting-goods stores in order to protect themselves against
marauding blacks looting gun shops.

"Jay Honeck" wrote:

When the budget for improving the levees was cut by the Feds, New
Orleans tried over and over again to get the money reinstated as a
basic safety measure for the city. Bringing the issue to a vote in
the city would have done nothing to free up the federal funds, which
is where the money had to come from.

What would have happened if the citizens of N.O. had raised funds to
reinforce their levees themselves?

*Gasp!* Imagine!

Unheard of, I know, but couldn't the locals have actually taken action
for themselves?

Well, as I understand the situation, it's far more complicated than
that, and simply "fixing" the levees is insufficient.

The problems N.O. has are a result of many of the Corps programs to
contain the Mississippi, which have resulted in drying of large areas of
former swamp, and subsidence in the entire delta through soil
contraction. The lack of flooding has also cut off the supply of silt
that historically built up the delta. These changes, along with the
pumping of domestic water from wells, has exposed the city to storm
surges, which would previously have not been a problem. Specifically,
many barrier islands that provided protection have simply disappeared
below the gulf; Large areas of swampland between the city and gulf have
flooded, effectively moving the gulf closer to the city; The city itself
has subsided, which further exposed many areas that were previously
above water; The subsidence has lowered the effective level of the
dikes, and the protection they previously afforded.

The $15 billion program the Corps proposed involved a number of actions
that were intended to protect many more communities than just New
Orleans from storm surges. One was to allow the river to again flood
areas of the delta to rebuild the barrier islands, reduce subsidence,
and redeposit silt to build up the land. Another was the construction
of a gate at the entrance to Lake Pontchartrain to control the storm
surge. The gate would be closed as a surge approached, and would
significantly reduce the amount of water entering the lake, reducing the
risk to all communities around the lake. Finally, there were
improvements to the dikes and barrier walls on the north side of the
city to protect against whatever storm surge remained with the
protection of the lake entrance gate.

As you can see, many of the problems New Orleans had were as a result of
water management policies that benefitted everyone on the river, to the
detriment of N.O. Some of the problems were self-induced. Full
protection of the city requires a systemic approach on the part of the
Corps, and simply shoring up the dikes is only part of an overall
package necessary to reestablish adequate protection.

Flyingmonk wrote:

White Foragers Report Threat Of Black Looters

I smell an Onion...

You smell correctly.

The items you list are a problem but they are NOT the problem NO is facing
this time around. NO is below the level of the surrounding water. They build
levees to hold the water back and to create canals to pump what water does
make it in, out.

Two of those levees failed. Neither of the levees that failed were on the
river they both were on canals that fed the lake.

"James Robinson" wrote in message
. 97.142...
"Jay Honeck" wrote:

When the budget for improving the levees was cut by the Feds, New
Orleans tried over and over again to get the money reinstated as a
basic safety measure for the city. Bringing the issue to a vote in
the city would have done nothing to free up the federal funds, which
is where the money had to come from.

What would have happened if the citizens of N.O. had raised funds to
reinforce their levees themselves?

*Gasp!* Imagine!

Unheard of, I know, but couldn't the locals have actually taken action
for themselves?

Well, as I understand the situation, it's far more complicated than
that, and simply "fixing" the levees is insufficient.

The problems N.O. has are a result of many of the Corps programs to
contain the Mississippi, which have resulted in drying of large areas of
former swamp, and subsidence in the entire delta through soil
contraction. The lack of flooding has also cut off the supply of silt
that historically built up the delta. These changes, along with the
pumping of domestic water from wells, has exposed the city to storm
surges, which would previously have not been a problem. Specifically,
many barrier islands that provided protection have simply disappeared
below the gulf; Large areas of swampland between the city and gulf have
flooded, effectively moving the gulf closer to the city; The city itself
has subsided, which further exposed many areas that were previously
above water; The subsidence has lowered the effective level of the
dikes, and the protection they previously afforded.

The $15 billion program the Corps proposed involved a number of actions
that were intended to protect many more communities than just New
Orleans from storm surges. One was to allow the river to again flood
areas of the delta to rebuild the barrier islands, reduce subsidence,
and redeposit silt to build up the land. Another was the construction
of a gate at the entrance to Lake Pontchartrain to control the storm
surge. The gate would be closed as a surge approached, and would
significantly reduce the amount of water entering the lake, reducing the
risk to all communities around the lake. Finally, there were
improvements to the dikes and barrier walls on the north side of the
city to protect against whatever storm surge remained with the
protection of the lake entrance gate.

As you can see, many of the problems New Orleans had were as a result of
water management policies that benefitted everyone on the river, to the
detriment of N.O. Some of the problems were self-induced. Full
protection of the city requires a systemic approach on the part of the
Corps, and simply shoring up the dikes is only part of an overall
package necessary to reestablish adequate protection.

Most, if not all the fault, with failing to upgrade Levees lies with
the Louisiana Congressional Delegation. There a report in today's WSJ
that they were able to get a $400,000 for the Mississippi River Trail
and Bikepath and $3,200,000 for bike and pedestrian crossings of the
Washington-Palmetto Canal in this year's highway bill. Obviously, the
locals have a problem setting priorities and would resent any attempt by
the Bush administration to force them to rethink where Federal monies
are best spent.

"James Robinson" wrote in message

When the budget for improving the levees was cut by the Feds, New
Orleans tried over and over again to get the money reinstated as a
basic
safety measure for the city. Bringing the issue to a vote in the city
would have done nothing to free up the federal funds, which is where
the
money had to come from.

The Industrial Canal levee failure is believed to be caused by a very
large barge that broke loose.

"Gig 601XL Builder" wr.giacona@coxDOTnet wrote in message
news:8A%Te.27418$7f5.18975@okepread01...
The items you list are a problem but they are NOT the problem NO is
facing this time around. NO is below the level of the surrounding
water. They build levees to hold the water back and to create canals
to pump what water does make it in, out.

Two of those levees failed. Neither of the levees that failed were on
the river they both were on canals that fed the lake.

sfb wrote:

The Industrial Canal levee failure is believed to be caused by a very
large barge that broke loose.

Its actually been draining the city...

"sfb" wrote:

Most, if not all the fault, with failing to upgrade Levees lies with
the Louisiana Congressional Delegation. There a report in today's WSJ
that they were able to get a $400,000 for the Mississippi River Trail
and Bikepath and $3,200,000 for bike and pedestrian crossings of the
Washington-Palmetto Canal in this year's highway bill. Obviously, the
locals have a problem setting priorities and would resent any attempt by
the Bush administration to force them to rethink where Federal monies
are best spent.

They don't get a choice about where to spend that money; It has to be
spent where the bill designates. It's also a far cry from the estimated
$15 billion required for mitigation according to the Army Corps of
Engineers proposals.

"James Robinson" wrote in message
. 97.142...
"sfb" wrote:

Most, if not all the fault, with failing to upgrade Levees lies with
the Louisiana Congressional Delegation. There a report in today's WSJ
that they were able to get a $400,000 for the Mississippi River Trail
and Bikepath and $3,200,000 for bike and pedestrian crossings of the
Washington-Palmetto Canal in this year's highway bill. Obviously, the
locals have a problem setting priorities and would resent any attempt by
the Bush administration to force them to rethink where Federal monies
are best spent.

They don't get a choice about where to spend that money; It has to be
spent where the bill designates. It's also a far cry from the estimated
$15 billion required for mitigation according to the Army Corps of
Engineers proposals.

But it is the states congressional delegation that should take part in
writing the bill. If they could only get $3.6 million they should have
gotten it assigned to levee upgrades not bike paths.