White House Wants to Spend $3.1 Billion Fixing New Orleans’ Levees

Mr. Bush took a huge hit in his popularity with his mishandling of the flooding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina came ashore in August. Nothing restores a politico’s reputation so much as handing out millions upon millions in local spending. So, one may expect him to get a bit of a bump now that he has announced $3.1 billion to fix New Orleans’ levee system. This is most welcome, and one hopes it will be spent wisely and will incorporate the experience not only of Louisiana but Holland as well.

Simply put, the levees are the sine qua non for rebuilding New Orleans. No one is going to come back to a city that doesn’t have an adequate system of levees in place. Putting things back the way there were just isn’t good enough. The system that failed was built to withstand a Category 3 hurricane; a direct hit of that caliber occurs once every 50 years. So, in 2055, America could be having this discussion again if improvements aren’t made.

Donald Powell, the top federal official for reconstruction, was beside the president when Mr. Bush announced the plan. Mr. Powell said, “The levee system will be better and safer than it’s ever been before,” but refused to say that the system would withstand a Category 5 storm. He settled for “stronger and better.” And since there is no upper level for Category 5, perhaps he’s being realistic.

When he added, “The federal government is committed to building the best levee system known in the world,” one grew hopeful and suspicious at the same time. Hopeful, because there are places in the world that have incredibly sound systems, for example, the Thames Estuary and the Netherlands. America’s Dutch friends, in particular, have lessons to teach. In 1953, a similar event killed 1,800 and forced 100,000 from their homes – in a population of 12 million. The Dutch “Delta Plan” began in 1953, right after the disaster, and was finished only a couple of years ago at a cost of $5 billion. Simon Rozendaal, science writer for the Dutch weekly Elsevier, said in articles he wrote after Katrina hit, “the Delta plan was designed to protect the Netherlands from flood conditions that happen only once every 10,000 years.” It will take quite a bit to top that, and one doubts the US government is up for a 50 year building plan.

Fifty years or whatever the final timeframe, not even American ingenuity can do this overnight. Officials expect a system as good as the one that failed to be in place next year and that strengthening will continue for a couple of years after that. Mayor and New Orleans Cheerleader Ray Nagin, who on Wednesday said his city was being left to die, rejoiced at the news on Thursday saying “It’s time for you to come back to the Big Easy. This action says “Come home to New Orleans’.” One would like Mr. Rozendaal’s opinion first.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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