Medary.com

Part-Time Pundit notes (and links) that the US Corps of Engineers was 25 years away from providing New Orleans with the kind of protection we now know it needed. (Via QandO Blog):

. . . In 1977, plans for hurricane protection structures at the Rigolets and Chef Menteur Pass were sunk when environmental groups sued the district. They believed that the environmental impact statement did not adequately address several potential problems, including impacts on Lake Pontchartrain's ecosystem and damage to wetlands. Ultimately, an agreement between the parties resulted in a consent decree to forgo the structures at the Rigolets and Chef Menteur Pass. Instead, a "high-level plan" resulted, amounting to construction of a levee system around St. Bernard, Orleans, East Jefferson and St. Charles parishes. . . . (Al Naomi, Corps of Engineers senior project manager said) "A category 5 hurricane hitting the city may be a once-in-500-year event...A Category 3 like Hurricane Betsy in 1965, or less, is more likely, and the existing levee system should be able to handle a storm like that.

"But there are no guarantees. One failure of overtopping of a levee could be catastrophic.

"The point is to eliminate that storm surge threat with one of these plans. Then we can build stronger buildings and stay in local shelters with the red cross, instead of spending eight hours in traffic trying to leave. "the philosophy of what we do during a hurricane would change. We could spend more time protecting our homes and less time trying to get out of the city in these desperate evacuations."

The cost estimate for the study will be discussed with the State Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD), the local sponsor, before being submitted to headquarters for funding. Right now, there is no money for the study in FY05, even though it is one of the most vital for a city threatened more every hurricane season by a potential Category 5 storm.

With federal funding, a cost sharing agreement could be arranged with DOTD, and the feasibility study could proceed, taking about five years to complete, with another 10 to 20 years for construction.

One obvious conclusion is that we need to start listening more to engineers and less to lawyers.

Even so, New Orleans still would have been flooded by Katrina, a high-Category-4 hurricane.

The levees were built to protect against a Category 3 storm. Against Katrina, they were useless. New Orleans, in a word, was doomed.