I know it's "old news", but I am tired of hearing about "Katrina".

[SoCalDem]

Here's the deal folks..

Even the name "Katrina" has a melodic impish sound to it. It's time now to start calling the CATASTROPHE by its proper name.

What we had in New Orleans was Corps of Engineers Levee Failure.

I know it doesn't roll off the tongue like the capricious Katrina, but we have to start making our politicians address the REAL culprit.

NEW ORLEANS withstood the STORM. The houses were washed away by the FAILED LEVEES..(and they failed because of poor construction, poor maintenance and lousy planning)

This government is very keen on "moving forward" at any cost, with little reflection on blaming those responsible, so WHY is this debacle any different?

We can pour brazillians of dollars down the shithole that is the Iraq war, but "moving forward" in New Orleans somehow must be through "private enterprise".. It makes no sense.

The way New Orleans is being treated is a beacon to the WHOLE world, folks.

This was our chance to shine. But now we only look like LOSERS.

Our structural design is shit
Our city-protection is shit
Our clean up is shit
Our citizen care is shit
Our "emergency" response is shit
Our insurance regulation is shit
Our attention span to disaster is shit

Time to put that "Blame it on Katrina" (act of God) mantra to bed.

It was a catastrophic failure of Corps of Engineers-built levees that did in a city...

[HeeBGBz]

1. Levee failure doesn't cover the rest of the damaged coast

All hundred some miles of it.

[SoCalDem]

4. That is true, and some REAL insurance regulation would be in order

but we will never get it with this gang of thieves.

That's another thing about Katrina that bugs me. It's become synonymous with New Orleans, and totally negates where the hurricane DID hit head on.. (your neck of the woods).

Florida gets all the "hurricane 'glory', and nothing is spared when Florida gets smacked.. at least for the first few days.. and then it's "bootstrap time", and our government just walks away.

A country that walks away from its citizens is not to be admired.

[La_Fourmi_Rouge]

2. Privileged to give this the primary kick.

Damn Straight! Out Of Iraq and Into New Orleans!!!!!!

[Neecy]

3. good post

I read a quote from Governor Blanco the other day and she was careful to note that the damage was caused by the 'failure of federal levees.' That's exactly how it should be phrased at all times. It was NOT some generalized sanitized term like "Katrina", it was the massive failure of the Corps of Engineers.

Remember the day the storm made landfall how the media kept saying NOLA dodged a bullet? Then gee, before you knew it the city was underwater.

Our entire infrastructure is crumbling. In my area, the news covers a major water main break almost nightly. If you live near a dam, watch out. Same with bridges and overpasses and the power grid is always fragile. But hey, nice that we have the money for Bush's endless wars...

[5X]

5. It was so much more than just the failure of the corp of engineers.

That was only the beginning, then there was the racial treatment from
the bush admin, the 5 days to do anything, the guitar strumming while
people were starving, I could of course go on and on.

[pacalo]

11. And a female Democratic governor that a very partisan "president" wanted to destroy

because she didn't belong to his flock of rubberstamping politicians. To her credit, she didn't allow him to manipulate her into having her state serve as a test study for Martial Law -- when he finally decided to step in to "help".

Hurricane Betsy (1965), comparable to Katrina, was handled very differently by LBJ: see http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/AV.hom/Hurricane/audio_transcript.shtm and http://www.semp.us/biots/biot_327.html.

SoCalDem is spot on: it was a catastrophic failure owned by the U.S. Corps of Engineers for its shoddy design & by the Bush administration for its shoddy attitude about leadership (he has a constitutional duty to serve the Democratic constituency as well as those who voted for him).

[catgirl]

6. Good point

and simplifying it with "Katrina" makes it
easier for the federal government to slink
away from the blame. The victims who lost
their homes shouldn't be fighting with the
lousy insurance companies, the government
should've been making arrangements with them (ins. co's),
OR the insurance companies should sue the government
if they feel they aren't responsible due to the levees.
Either way, the victims should've had new homes by now.

Thanks for posting this.

[stray cat]

7. Also a dismal falure in federal responses

[jody]

8. "poor construction, poor maintenance and lousy planning"! I'll use those phrases when So. CA. is hit

with a major earthquake.

All the damage will be due to a catastrophic failure of buildings constructed to California code.

Have a peaceful evening but be ready to run for cover if the big-one hits tonight.

[SoCalDem]

9. You won't get an argument from ME.. There are some bad levees in Sacramento

that have failed BEFORE, and there are many more people living in their shadow now.. State governments can be stupid too :eyes:

forgot the earthquake remark.

Surprisingly, Calif has made a lot of effort to reinforce buildings and retrofitted most freeways & bridges. Will it hold up? Who knows?

I don;t expect much help if we get "the big one".. There's no "Doppler '07 Double Super deluuxe" radar to predict quakes, but we all knwo they will happen.. whaddayagonnado :shrug:

[La_Fourmi_Rouge]

20. The Sacramento River is always a threat.

Since the city fathers have chosen to build on the floodplains of North Natomas, many thousands of people have built homes in the riverbottom, particularly North Natomas. In the local parlance, we call it "The Bathtub" because if one levee breaks, it will fill up just like a tub.

The Corpse of Engineers has been riprapping and channelling and raising levves for a century yet they have not yet achieved flood protection. It is a losing game - when the deluge comes, the price will be paid as dearly and tragically as was paid in Nola.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

10. I Disagree Completely. Next To The Words 9/11, I Can't Think Of Any Word That Brings Horrible And

disastrous images into the mind of the recipient more quickly than 'Katrina'.

[Imagevision]

17. Bush failed on 9-11 Bush failed miserably on katrina resonse, people were

dying on live tv. while our president is visiting San Diego - Rice is shoe shopping and not to be outdone, Cheney is out "estate shopping"

[bleedingheart]

12. Just saw a movie called Hurricane on the Bayou

it was started before the disaster and the film was finished after wards.

The premise in the movie was that the levees are part of the problem behind the damage the city endured.

The remedy will be to allow the sediment to deposit in the delta instead of being washed out into the ocean.

Supposedly there are ways to get the best of both worlds, but of course it will take money.

It was an ok documentary but didn't give the level of detail I wanted to hear.

My inlaws were just down there helping out and they felt absolutely hopeless about their efforts. The task is too large for small groups of folks and the fact that the Fed and State government haven't gotten their act together to come up with a good plan is atrocious.

I was there in October of 2006 and it just seemed empty compared to what it was like before

[SoCalDem]

15. I think I saw that too. From what I gathered the "MrGo" canal

was yet another boondoggle that has failed to do anything positive, and prevents the river from "doing what rivers are supposed to do"..

[pitohui]

18. MRGO destroyed an entire parish (county)

every home -- EVERY home -- in st. bernard parish (our word for county) was destroyed thanks to mister go

where does it end?

the river does need to be prevented what rivers do -- what rivers do is flood every spring -- what mister go was supposed to do was bring industry, it failed to do so, so it provided a channel for the storm AND never gave any corresponding economic benefit

that's the definition of boondoggle right there

no river can be allowed to what rivers do, or human civilization could not exist, that's not the issue, the issue is that some projects are just plain dumb-ass

[NewYorkerfromMass]

13. SoCal, as a design professional...

I am a registered architect, practicing for over 20 years.
While I am not a civil engineer, I carry the same ethical duty to ensure the public safety and welfare as any structural or civil engineer. As such, I want you to understand that we design professionals can only do so much to ensure that those standards of safety are met, and I have to take issue with your statements that the "structural design is shit".

So please be aware of the following: Any structural design which is going to be built never sees the light of day until it has been reviewed as competent by many other professionals besides the structural designer. This design was fine, however, the levee failed because the soils it was built in were not suitable for what the design assumed them to be. That is the fault with the implementing agency and contractors responsible to confirm those soils (and other conditions of the design). So what it really is, is an administrational error. If it was the Army Corps' error, then so be it- but don't blame the design.

And no matter the reason for the failure- the real tragedy here was the economic Darwinism that allowed the leak to go for so long unrepaired. You can be sure as hell that if that leak was deluging onto Beverly Hills/millionaires' properties- it would have been plugged the first day- or as soon as practical.

The tragedy here was the raw classism and elitism on display. Pure social and economic Darwinism.

[druidity33]

19. thank you...

you said that better than i could have. My first thought when reading the OP was that you really don't know who to blame and it's probably unfair to single out the engineers/design folk until you find out whether the builders actually built to the specifications. But i do agree that the word/event Katrina seems to dull the publics ability to point towards culpable parties. Why can't we prosecute, or at least fire everyone who had a hand in the calamitous aftermath of the storm?

I guess there'll be hearings soon, but that seems far too late and too little...

[Blue_Roses]

14. excellent post

:applause:

[Imagevision]

16. The levee failure in no way compares to the Bush response failure

[catzies]

21. We say we can't pay for our own infrastructure, yet we pay to fight wars

Makes no sense to me. :wtf: