Author Topic: SELA, Katrina, and the Iraq War.. (Read 1835 times)

DoctorYO · « **on:** August 31, 2005, 04:04:42 PM »

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001051313

"PHILADELPHIA Even though Hurricane Katrina has moved well north of the city, the waters may still keep rising in New Orleans late on Tuesday. That's because Lake Pontchartrain continues to pour through a two-block-long break in the main levee, near the city's 17th Street Canal. With much of the Crescent City some 10 feet below sea level, the rising tide may not stop until it's level with the massive lake.

New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In fact, the federal government has been working with state and local officials in the region since the late 1960s on major hurricane and flood relief efforts. When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA.

Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside.
HURRICANE COVERAGE

Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars."

READ THE FULL ARTICLE IT GETS BETTER...

google SELA if you want more info; plenty out there to substantiate the above..

In a nutshell: war monies took priority over levy reinforcement..

The current admin better have another faux.news Aruba because once the majors pick up on this there is going to be some political fallout (maybe even rioting by those who's lives have just been destroyed) anyway you look at it..

Note this dates back to last years IVAN (thats when i read the Picayune articles after the hurricane bonanza last year..) and well before that when congress passed this program..

DoctorYo

Sandman · « **Reply #1 on:** August 31, 2005, 04:06:29 PM »

I'm walkin' on sunshine!
Woah Woah!

I'm walkin' on sunshine!
Woah Woah!

I'm walkin' on sunshine!
Woah Woah!

Eagler · « **Reply #2 on:** August 31, 2005, 05:36:44 PM »

dang I knew the hurricane damage was Bushs fault

thanks for pointing that out yo

lol lol lol

Ripsnort · « **Reply #3 on:** August 31, 2005, 07:08:53 PM »

Eagler,
I had $20 on Raider179 a high 2 to 1 odds...then Doctor Yo, the dark horse, comes out of (hindsite) nowhere! I didn't even place or show!

DREDIOCK · « **Reply #4 on:** August 31, 2005, 07:28:30 PM »

Now I hear on the news Cindy Sheehan is blaming Bush for the devistation too.

Problem is even had they gotten that money I doubt very much the outcome would have been any different.
Think about it. they were getting money and doing work for 10 years and it wasnt enough. "Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle")Would the extra year and a half made that much of a difference?
I highly doubt it.

This is just a convienient way for those who wish to blame the administration for anything they can think of to do so.
And if it were another administration in there the situation. and the blame placing would be the same but from the other side

Ripsnort · « **Reply #5 on:** August 31, 2005, 07:58:59 PM »

Now that the "Poly card" has been played (and so soon, I expected at least a week before this would come), how long before the race card is played, that these people would have got faster, better help and assistance, had it not been for their color? I give it one week, Jesse will be first to say it. Speaking of which, where is Jesse?

Toad · « **Reply #6 on:** August 31, 2005, 11:05:16 PM »

Army trying to plug New Orleans’ broken defences

Quote

Although bolstered by rock and concrete walls, the levees are essentially dams of compacted earth. They are not intended to withstand water flowing over them, so the Corps built them high - 6 m along the Mississippi river and about 4.5 m along Lake Pontchatrain, which is normally lower than the river. They were designed to weather a Category 3 hurricane, and in 1965 they survived Category 3 Hurricane Betsy.

Katrina was a Cat 4 when it came ashore near N.O.

Interesting article
Hurricane Risk to New Orleans from Sept 2002.

Quote

"A couple of days ago," explains Maestri, "We actually had an exercise where we brought a fictitious Category Five Hurricane into the metropolitan area."

The map is covered with arrows and swirls in erasable marker. They show how the fictitious hurricane crossed Key West and then smacked into New Orleans.

When the computer models showed Maestri what would happen next, he wrote big letters on the map, all in capitals.

"KYAGB—kiss your bellybutton good bye," reads Maestri.

"Because," says Maestri, "anyone who was here when that storm came across was gone—it was body-bag time. We think 40,000 people could lose their lives in the metropolitan area."

They didn't miss what actually happened by very much in their exercise.

sling322 · « **Reply #7 on:** August 31, 2005, 11:45:50 PM »

You would hope that the magnitude of this tragedy would spur people in the future that when they say its time to get out.....they would get out. No more of the stupid, "bah...we can ride this out" crap.

My fiancee has an aunt and uncle who live in LaPlace, LA which is a just a little bit NW of New Orleans. We have been unable to reach them. We tried to contact them on Sunday before the storm hit and had no luck so we are assuming they had already evacuated. Problem is....we dont know where they evacuated to if they did because they didnt contact us and we are most likely their closest evacuation point here in Houston.

Thrawn · « **Reply #8 on:** August 31, 2005, 11:45:54 PM »

Goth was talking about it and said that the program simulated a slow moving Cat 3.

Gunslinger · « **Reply #9 on:** September 01, 2005, 12:34:46 AM »

Yup I heard it with my own ears. Kennedy blames the Mississipi gov for the hurricane cause he was staunchly against kyoto treaty.....Sheehan said it was Bush and his environmental policies that caused the hurricane to hit. Imagine that ONE guy in 5 Years causes a Cat 5 hurricane.

In addition she said the releif effort would be much better cept all the guard troops are in Iraq. This woman is a magical eight ball and needs to be recruited to work for the super secret branch of the govt that predicts the future.....

It's a little too soon to be politicising the event but I think the left is teh winnnar!

Lazerus · « **Reply #10 on:** September 01, 2005, 03:31:27 AM »

I heard (repeated from people that sourced news sources) that representatives of foreign countries are saying the same thing, implying or outright stating that America is to blame for the storm because of our failure to comply with or join treaties that they say reduce the greenhouse effect and fight global warming, which is apparently the cause of this storm, but not the other major hurricanes that have hit the US over the last century.

I expect it from that murdering bassturd from the NE, but I had hoped that it wasn't a position held by representatives of other countries in the position to state their countries standing.

as I said at first, I heard it from someone else, not sure if it's true.

FUNKED1 · « **Reply #11 on:** September 01, 2005, 04:02:43 AM »

Holy crap, I made a joke about blaming boosh for this last weekend. The dethtoamreeka crowd never disappoints.

sling322 · « **Reply #12 on:** September 01, 2005, 07:25:20 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Gunslinger

In addition she said the releif effort would be much better cept all the guard troops are in Iraq.

Nothing like making over exaggerated statements to criticize an administration you dont like.

There was some national guard leader on CNN the other day showing how many troops they had available in each of the affected states (LA,MS,AL). All three of them still had over 60% of their guard troops at home...not even on active duty yet. In fact he said that no state in the US had more than 50% of their available troops deployed so there are plenty of troops if they need them for whatever needs to be done in New Orleans.

Mickey1992 · « **Reply #13 on:** September 01, 2005, 07:39:16 AM »

NO was a disaster waiting to happen. People have been talking about it for 30 years. I am not surprised it finally happened.

Pinning the problem on the fact that we ONLY spent a half billion $US to fend off what was a predictable disaster is crap.

lazs2 · « **Reply #14 on:** September 01, 2005, 08:03:43 AM »

liberals are funny... 5 years ago cindy would have been a dumb, trailer trash Okie that lived in hicksville (right down the road from me) now...

she is the smartest woman in the world except maybe hillary...

lazs