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It's Official: New Orleans Will Never Be the Same

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff

Posted Apr 24, 2009 1:21 PM CDT

(Newser) – Even if the government somehow managed to re-create pre-Katrina New Orleans, it couldn't guarantee the safety of the city and its residents, according to a new report. The Army Corps of Engineers is rebuilding levees in anticipation of a “100-year storm,” but for a city of New Orleans’ size nothing is truly sufficient, the Times-Picayune reports. The report recommends relocating people living in at-risk areas.

“Reconstructing all pre-Katrina protective structures, and creating settlement patterns just as they existed before Katrina, simply would position the city and its inhabitants for additional, Katrina-like disasters,” the report warns. For residents who can’t be moved, the committee recommends a tactic used by the city’s early residents: “Add an extra floor in building plans so that floor is expendable in a flood event.”

The 17th Street Canal in Metarie, La., showing repairs made since Katrina.
The 17th Street Canal in Metarie, La., showing repairs made since Katrina.   (AP Photo)
The Orleans Marina on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans in 2008. This area outside of the levee protection system was flooded during the passage of Hurricane Ike in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Orleans Marina on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans in 2008. This area outside of the levee protection system was flooded during the passage of Hurricane Ike in the Gulf of Mexico.   (AP Photo)
A Louisiana National Guard Chinook helicopter drops sand bags into a 150 feet breach in the levee at Pointe Celeste.
A Louisiana National Guard Chinook helicopter drops sand bags into a 150 feet breach in the levee at Pointe Celeste.   (AP Photo)
An aerial view of the new levee wall and the destroyed Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans.
An aerial view of the new levee wall and the destroyed Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans.   (AP Photo)
An aerial view of the work being performed on the 17th Street Canal.
An aerial view of the work being performed on the 17th Street Canal.   (AP Photo)
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A "second opinion" allows an opportunity to ensure that calculations are reliable. An outside external review group may also be able to state politically sensitive findings or facts that a government agency may be reluctant to. - National Academy of Engineering/NRC

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 7 comments
riffran
Apr 25, 2009 12:26 PM CDT
naaa they are to busy replanting the explosive charges in the dike's, to respond....oh gee my bad that was Bush.....because he hates black people.........
riffran
Apr 25, 2009 6:09 AM CDT
libby didn't claim Bush detonated explosives in the levees just to kill black people....now gee who did that?...hmmmmmm.......and more to the point, the foreknowledge that a "katrina" could happen, started prior to the founding of New Orleans....engineers at the time pointed it out...., and offered a different locale....but it was rejected because of the shipping proximity to the Gulf
Mad
Apr 25, 2009 4:03 AM CDT
You lie like Libby

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