Don't Get Complacent, Big Easy: Officials

Posted Sep 7, 08 4:06 PM CDT in US

(Newser) – New Orleans residents may be celebrating Hurricane Gustav's near-miss this week, but that's no reason to get complacent, the New York Times reports. Officials admit that protective infrastructure still isn’t up to par, and there were several close calls when Gustav made landfall. “I want everybody to understand—we’re not there yet,” an Army Corps of Engineers colonel said.

Infrastructure in New Orleans won’t be ready for a “100-year-storm”—the kind estimated to strike once a century—until at least 2011, leaving the city at risk of being swamped by even a modest storm. Even after that, a powerful storm could flood the city. But now is time to focus on the next Gustav-sized brush: “We’ve got to finish the system—we have got to remain focused,” a city official said.

Source New York Times

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Coastal advocate Jimmy Delery inspects damage caused by Hurricane Gustav at the Almonaster railroad bridge, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)

An aerial view of the work being performed on the 17th Street Canal that runs between the Lakeview Area of New Orleans at left, and the city of Metairie, in New Orleans, Tuesday June 26, 2007. (AP Photo)

An aerial view of the new construction work being performed on the London Avenue Canal at bottom left, with the downtown area seen at top in New Orleans, Tuesday June 26, 2007. (AP Photo)

A National Guardsman makes a phone call from a bridge in New Orleans in this undated file photo. (Getty Images)

A National Guardsman wades through slight flooding to warn a New Orleans driver in this undated file photo. (Getty Images)

A resident talks with a National Guardsman near his boat in New Orleans. (Getty Images)

Water sloshes over the side of a levee on the Industrial Canal in New Orleans. (Getty Images)

Flood waters cover an area near the Industrial Canal in New Orleans. (Getty Images)

Coastal advocate Jimmy Delery, on a tour with LSU Hurricane Center experts, inspects damage along the Industrial Canal caused by Hurricane Gustav, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008, in New Orleans. (AP Photo)

James Thompson sits outside the still-closed restaurant Maison Bourbon in the French Quarter of New Orleans, La., on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008. (AP Photo)

Hundreds of New Orleans area evacuees from Hurricane Gustav fill the floor of the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex in Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)

Louisiana National Guard Chinook helicopters take large sand bags to be placed into a 150 feet breach in the levee at Pointe Celeste, La. following Hurricane Gustav. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

Kernell Narcisse hugs his nephew, KJ, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008 during a stop for gas at Loxley, Ala. as the family made its way home to New Orleans after fleeing Hurricane Gustav. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter)