Gaps remain in N. Orleans flood controls (rushing to install temp flood prevention structures)

[maddezmom]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Gaps remain in New Orleans's flood control system despite improvements after Hurricane Katrina, and areas hardest hit three years ago remain vulnerable, a U.S. official said on Thursday as Tropical Storm Gustav headed toward the U.S. Gulf Coast.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers program manager Bill Irwin told a telephone news conference the agency was rushing to install temporary flood-prevention structures along the Inner Harbor Navigation Channel in New Orleans, which was devastated by Katrina in 2005.

"There are gaps in the system, but the system is stronger and better than ever," Irwin said. "This is a work in progress," he said.

"There are those high-level risk areas -- such as the Lower 9th Ward, Gentilly, St. Bernard, New Orleans East and the West Bank -- still," he said. The low-income Lower 9th Ward was broadly devastated by Katrina and became a symbol of the storm's human impact. Its rebuilding has been slow.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N28345000.htm

[maddezmom]

1. DOD: Engineers to review post-Katrina pumps

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Department of Defense will hire an independent engineering company to review allegations that pumps installed in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina weren't adequately tested and might fail during a hurricane.
Acting Inspector General Gordon Heddell said he has ordered his staff to begin work immediately on a contract to look at tests done before the Army Corps of Engineers installed the pumps, and at the pumps themselves.

It was not clear how long it would take.

"Based upon my review, and the need for public confidence in New Orleans' flood protection system, I have concluded that an outside opinion is warranted," Heddell wrote in an Aug. 8 letter to Scott Bloch of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. A copy of the letter was sent to The Associated Press on Friday.

The special counsel office handles whistle-blower complaints, including those by Corps engineer Maria Garzino, who cautioned in early 2006 that the pumps would not work properly.

more:http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-08-23-katrina_N.htm

[Blackhatjack]

2. I see another major disaster just ahead if Gustav hits NOLA ...

How could the government not have finished the job before now, and double checked everything for functionality?

Unbelieveable.

[maddezmom]

3. wonder if the companies ties with Jeb Bush had to do with the delay

Ties to Jeb Bush
MWI is owned by J. David Eller and his sons. Eller was once a business partner of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in a venture called Bush-El that marketed MWI pumps. And Eller has donated about $128,000 to politicians, the vast majority of it to the Republican Party, since 1996, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

MWI has run into trouble before. The U.S. Justice Department sued the company in 2002, accusing it of fraudulently helping Nigeria obtain $74 million in taxpayer-backed loans for overpriced and unnecessary water-pump equipment. The case has yet to be resolved.

Because of the trouble with the New Orleans pumps, the Corps has withheld 20 percent of the MWI contract, including an incentive of up to $4 million that the company could have collected if it delivered the equipment in time for the 2006 hurricane season.

Misgivings about the pumps were chronicled in a May 2006 memo provided to the AP by Matt McBride, a mechanical engineer and flooded-out Katrina victim who, like many in New Orleans, has been closely watching the rebuilding of the city’s flood defenses.


more:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26443458/

[damntexdem]

6. Well, there you have it: a GOVERNMENT would have.

Unfortunately, we have not had one of those, a government, under Dubya.

[The Stranger]

4. Unfuckingbelievable.

The War Criminal Junta spent a trillion in Iraq and left New Orleans to get destroyed again -- and Nancy Pelosi still doesn't see any evidence warranting impeachment hearings.

[damntexdem]

5. Have they brought in the special FEMA cardboard levees yet?

Anyway, I'm so happy that "the system is stronger and better than ever." I'm sure that any flooding and destruction will also be stronger and better than ever.

[Canuckistanian]

9. Hey, they replaced the duct tape levees already

The real question is- where are all the school buses?

[XemaSab]

7. "Little Dutch boys are being airlifted to the New Orleans area...."

:eyes:

[Sick Of Their Lies]

8. Dictator for Life Bush

He has a plan..all poor people and people of color all die
Only White Multi Billionaires allowed in his America.

[Ian David]

10. Anyone have a link to McCain being against the waterway infrastructure bill? n/t

[Elidor]

11. If only there was a federal agency charged with overseeing stuff like this

Oh, wait...

[aquart]

12. "Rushing"? IT'S BEEN THREE YEARS.