There is a typo in your article. New Orleans will absolutely not have category 5 hurricane storm surge protection by 2011 or probably ever for that matter. The Corp’s stated goal is to provide ‘100 year’ storm protection by 2011 – the level that was supposed to be provided before Katrina, but was not.
I’m just a low income homeowner who has rebuilt our family home in Lakeview in New Orleans and I need flood and hazard insurance and my comment here probably isn’t helping people like me, but it is the truth.
Furthermore, insiders know that you must take anything the Corps says with a grain of salt. While we hope the Corps does as they promise and provides New Orleans with ‘100 year’ storm protection by 2011, hardly anyone believes they will succeed. What New Orleans needs, and deserves, is at least ‘500 year’ storm protection. Realize that the definition of ‘100 year’ storm means that in any given year there is a 1% chance of having a storm of that magnitude and there is nearly a 100% probability of having at least one such storm in 100 years.
I agree with you. You cannot believe the Corp (ACOE). They want to build a levee IN my backyard as I live along the Little Calumet River and it is NOT necessary. We are on a high ridge and building a levee wall will only result in standing water in our backyards, loss of property values, loss of trees and wildlife. The project will cost $12 million just for our block alone and we have NEVER flooded. They could take the $12 million and use if for you folks in New Orleans. I wish you luck!
Ray……you live in a city that was foolishly built BELOW SEA LEVEL. Personally, I think it’s a wast of federal funds to keep trying to make the place safe and dry. Property like that should be uninsurable. Your premiums for coverage for flood and windstorm is probably being subsidized by the rest of the insurance buying community throughout the country. The risk of loss in your area is, unfortunately, much greater than most places in the country. It’s less a question of “if” you’ll get hit, and more a question of “when and how bad”. No company is biting at the bit to pay claims multiple times. No good solutions here my friend.
Your story is a typical example of how governments do business: take the money from you by force; do/build something with it that is at the very least totally unnecessary or at worst harmful & dangerous to millions of people; then walk away and insist that you continue paying them and then probably add more taxes and fees due to the problems they caused in the first place.
Standing water on your property? Your home’s value diminished? Costly contractor fees for you? The government couldn’t care less as long as they keep getting their money.
Big Man you hit the nail on the head. We are fighting it tooth and nail and by the grace of God I hope it works out in our favor. They are going to remove trees that are 100 years old. Our propery values will go in the toilet and the wildlife will also be destroyed. My garage will be on a permanent easement and my neighbors have to have their fence installed within 6″ not feet, inches of their inground pool because of the permanent easement. To top it off we CANNOT sue the ACOE or the contractor if we end up with flooded yards and basements because of poor drainage design which has already happened in another area along this project. It is heart breaking!!
The best thing we can hope for is a mega category 5 that wipes New Orleans off the map. (after everyone is safely evacuated) Then there’d be no incentive to waste more money trying to fight nature and re-buidling a sinking city. There plenty of other places in the country to live where your life and property isn’t at the mercy of natural disasters of epic proportion.
‘There plenty of other places in the country to live’
Who would man the port? How would refineries and oil and gas production stay on line? How would our country’s grain exports get shipped?
‘at the mercy of natural disasters’
natural disaster? You are misinformed about New Orleans. Please read the reports from any of the levee failure investigation teams and you will learn that our destruction was caused by engineering negligence by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Katrina missed us.
‘we can hope for is a mega category 5 that wipes New Orleans off the map’
You should lobby to force the succession of South Louisiana from the United States. You obviously feel our city and region are dispensable.
Ray
my family has been here since 1785 and we have no plans to move.
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There is a typo in your article. New Orleans will absolutely not have category 5 hurricane storm surge protection by 2011 or probably ever for that matter. The Corp’s stated goal is to provide ‘100 year’ storm protection by 2011 – the level that was supposed to be provided before Katrina, but was not.
I’m just a low income homeowner who has rebuilt our family home in Lakeview in New Orleans and I need flood and hazard insurance and my comment here probably isn’t helping people like me, but it is the truth.
Furthermore, insiders know that you must take anything the Corps says with a grain of salt. While we hope the Corps does as they promise and provides New Orleans with ‘100 year’ storm protection by 2011, hardly anyone believes they will succeed. What New Orleans needs, and deserves, is at least ‘500 year’ storm protection. Realize that the definition of ‘100 year’ storm means that in any given year there is a 1% chance of having a storm of that magnitude and there is nearly a 100% probability of having at least one such storm in 100 years.
I agree with you. You cannot believe the Corp (ACOE). They want to build a levee IN my backyard as I live along the Little Calumet River and it is NOT necessary. We are on a high ridge and building a levee wall will only result in standing water in our backyards, loss of property values, loss of trees and wildlife. The project will cost $12 million just for our block alone and we have NEVER flooded. They could take the $12 million and use if for you folks in New Orleans. I wish you luck!
Ray……you live in a city that was foolishly built BELOW SEA LEVEL. Personally, I think it’s a wast of federal funds to keep trying to make the place safe and dry. Property like that should be uninsurable. Your premiums for coverage for flood and windstorm is probably being subsidized by the rest of the insurance buying community throughout the country. The risk of loss in your area is, unfortunately, much greater than most places in the country. It’s less a question of “if” you’ll get hit, and more a question of “when and how bad”. No company is biting at the bit to pay claims multiple times. No good solutions here my friend.
Indiana Resident,
Your story is a typical example of how governments do business: take the money from you by force; do/build something with it that is at the very least totally unnecessary or at worst harmful & dangerous to millions of people; then walk away and insist that you continue paying them and then probably add more taxes and fees due to the problems they caused in the first place.
Standing water on your property? Your home’s value diminished? Costly contractor fees for you? The government couldn’t care less as long as they keep getting their money.
Big Man you hit the nail on the head. We are fighting it tooth and nail and by the grace of God I hope it works out in our favor. They are going to remove trees that are 100 years old. Our propery values will go in the toilet and the wildlife will also be destroyed. My garage will be on a permanent easement and my neighbors have to have their fence installed within 6″ not feet, inches of their inground pool because of the permanent easement. To top it off we CANNOT sue the ACOE or the contractor if we end up with flooded yards and basements because of poor drainage design which has already happened in another area along this project. It is heart breaking!!
The best thing we can hope for is a mega category 5 that wipes New Orleans off the map. (after everyone is safely evacuated) Then there’d be no incentive to waste more money trying to fight nature and re-buidling a sinking city. There plenty of other places in the country to live where your life and property isn’t at the mercy of natural disasters of epic proportion.
‘There plenty of other places in the country to live’
Who would man the port? How would refineries and oil and gas production stay on line? How would our country’s grain exports get shipped?
‘at the mercy of natural disasters’
natural disaster? You are misinformed about New Orleans. Please read the reports from any of the levee failure investigation teams and you will learn that our destruction was caused by engineering negligence by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Katrina missed us.
‘we can hope for is a mega category 5 that wipes New Orleans off the map’
You should lobby to force the succession of South Louisiana from the United States. You obviously feel our city and region are dispensable.
Ray
my family has been here since 1785 and we have no plans to move.