Wow! What great suggestions/comments. Many of you speak with great passion & conviction...and I agree with what you're saying. Mass evacuation over & over again may initially save lives, but it will kill our city, our region as a viable place to live, work & play. Some of you will say..."that's OK...go build on higher ground...I ain't gonna pay for you to live below sea level." My response is simply ..."we can't do that unless you're willing to pay to move the entire region." Obviously that's far too expensive. So what do we do?
We are building and rebuilding our 1st line of defense, our levees and they proved during Gustav & Ike that they work for weaker storms. The Corps will close the MRGO and have a new wall/levee across the famous "V" created by the intersection of MRGO & the Intercoastal...but much more is needed. We need to complete the levee system all the way to the Louisiana/MS state line closing off Lake Pontchartrain with gates that will keep the Gulf surge from reaching the Northshore. We need to rebuild some of the marsh right away with dredge material and allow the mighty Mississippi to recreate more wetlands with new river diversions that do more than just lower salinity levels. Costly? You bet but our country can't afford not to since we supply 25% of the oil & gas for the nation, not to mention the shrimp & oysters. We can live in SE Louisiana IF the Government, both State & Federal, have the leadership necessary to complete these projects. I believe in Bobby Jindal, we have that leader. Let's keep the heat on our local officials to tweak/fix the problems that can be fixed. Living here should be no more fearful than living in "tornado alley" or on the "Earthquake Zone" or in "Fire Valley". This active hurricane cycle we're in will pass and our children and grandchildren can live here like many of you did back in the 50s, 60s & 70s...dealing with a hurricane every now and then.
10 comments:
Do you really believe that Jindal will fight hard for the levee work to be ALL done and done right and done to a, say, 1000 year standard, though? It's one thing for him to be acting when the storm is ongoing but what will really matter is the "offseason" and behind-the-scenes. I am somewhat concerned in that he is not really a New Orleans politician and the New Orleans area is not his core constituency and not only that but that he probably has as much Baton Rouge ties as New Orleans ties and at least right after Katrina hit many in Baton Rouge were talking up a "New Orleans is over and done with and B.R. is the prime spot in the state as of now" stand. Also, we know that the New Orleans area does not have the clout in the legislature that it has had or in Washington D.C. either.
OTOH we have simply got to have that work done and done well enough so as to be able offer assurance to all that even over several centuries the Katrina scene of a flooded city won't be repeated.
Let those who wish to evacuate in the face of hurricane force winds be able to do so -- voluntarily -- but bring an end to periodic mandatory mass evacuations in the face of flooding and let us be able to make "hunkering down" like Houston did our main strategy.
Thanks again Bob. I do find hope in your words once again. I'm relatively new to the area myself, but I do love living here and would like to have the option to buy property here and make a life for myself.
We can do this and we must but it takes speaking with a united voice throughout the metro New Orleans area. Too much bickering goes on between towns and neighborhoods, as they say United We Stand, Divided We Fall.
Sorry, I have not gotten down to reading your last blog, but I thought to throw this out there....
Why not adjust the current Saffir-Simson scale with an added letter to the number. Why not also assign a letter to the number between A and E. "A" being like a Cat 1 to "E" being like a Cat 5... This letter will take in consideration storm surge/water damage... or maybe just the size of the storm.
For instance Ike may have been a Cat 2 for Wind purposes but a D or E for storm surge purposes...
Let face Ike did as much damage as Katrina and we all know what Katrina was.
I know you had talked about changing the scale earlier...to me that would be a simple enough change that people could relate too...Could that work Bob,
Maybe in terms of LA Ike did as much damage to Texas as Katrina did, but if you remember, many more 1000s of people lost everything in Katrina and the death toll between LA and MS was huge. Katrina put 31 Feet of surge at its highest level in MS, which just happened to be in my neighborhood. Yes IKE was devastating and maybe in terms of dollars, it cost more, but in terms of total losses in actual homes and business, Katrina was worse. Katrina was a cat 3 with an excess of Cat 5 surge. Camille was a Cat 5 and didn't put as bad a surge as Katrina. Check the stats. the official storm surge at Galveston was 15 feet, half what it was in Katrina.
Let's continue to provide our support in both resources (for those who can) and prayers for the people in Texas.
Bob, Just Shrimp and Oysters....Crabs and don't ever forget about dem Crawdaddy's.
I keep on forgetting that we went thru a period of low Hurricane Activity....I guess the enormous hurricane seasons we have had in recent years, you kind of forget that. The weather is cyclical.
Do long range forecasters have any time frame when this might happen?
Geez aren't we due for a cold than normal winter???
I agree with all that you said, Bob...but like Hundredoaks, I have concerns about IF it will happen. I must say though, after Katrina, Bobby Jindal was one of the first people to step up to the plate for his constituency after Katrina, and fight for relief.
See, I don't think that city or parish lines matters to a sensible person! ANYONE can see, that when we protect one area, and not another, we lose HUMANS, BUSINESSES and HOMES. It costs EVERYONE around the state, and costs the nation. While we do not have a lot of clout in Washington, we can if we demand such! I mean, how many of us stay up with what bills our legislators are voting on? How many of us know which lobbyists are working over our politicians? Do we support industry that will demand change?
The gas and oil industry can NOT afford to be unprotected in our state. The country can NOT afford this. Ask yourself HOW MUCH the oil and gas industries work towards coastal restoration, or lobby for levees. It ain't much, folks! Why? They have the resources to get back up and running in a heartbeat. In Houston, most are already back...
Maybe WE should start demanding that if you are going to make money in our state, you support the people, not just take from them and turn over huge profits while many here suffer.
Maybe we should hold our politicians accountable, write to them, call them. Try it, it's easy to get their secretaries on the phone, and get something small done in days. So, on a larger scale? When the heat is on, politicians act...it's politics, after all!
The problem is, that in winter, or after we take that sigh of relief, we become complacent. I think that we all need to remember, and work hard in the safe times, to ensure that we do our part. We elect and PAY these folks...it's OUR money. If you had a business, wouldn't YOU want to know what your employees were doing? Wouldn't you tell them something when they didn't do the right things?
Bobby Jindal has some money in his pocket, and some ideas...NOW is the time when we need to demand from our politicians that we want this done. We need to demand from North Louisiana politicians, that this be done, OR they will pay again and again. We can not let up the heat.
Oh, and I'm all for the poorly planned Ms. River diversions. We MUST allow silt deposition back to our coast, which the Ms. River can do faster and more efficiently than our bulldozers. It's been researched, but no good plans in place. WRITE to the Army Corp of Engineers, the Mayor of New Orleans (you WILL get a response)...and others. If you do not get an intelligent response, demand another. I promise you, you will get it. ENough people write, they will HAVE to do something!
Ok...I'll get off my soapbox (but just thinking about it gets me mad!)....
THanks Bob, for getting us all to think, and hopefully, act!
Stormzz
Bob, I'm replying to your earlier post regarding those that stay behind. I am from Dulac and I am quite familiar with the hardship of living in the aftermaths of flooding. We don't just flood for large hurricanes in our area, we flood quite often and we don't get the publicity that large metro areas get or that is generated due to a large killer hurricane so here is what we do: first of our church family pulls together and those of us with the least amount of damage get started helping those with the most damage. The church sets up for a mobile unit to come in and provide hot meals twice a day. Once the flood waters recede the unit starts going to the peole but until then we serve them from the church parking lot. We collect cleaning supplies and we go out after work and on weekends if neccessary and we help get people back into thier homes. The reality is that these people stay in these homes because they have no other choice. For example, you stated it takes over 1000.00 to evacuate a family of four. That is about right, however, you need to add in the fact that those families are not working during the evacuation and therefore no paycheck is coming in, then in the case of Gustav when we were allowed to return home we still did not have power to return to work for another week on top of that, so now we have 2 weeks with no paycheck coming in. Then and I will admit 2 storms back to back is normally rare but this is the 2nd time in 3 years for the Houma area, then when Ike hit, most of us had only been able to work 1 or 2 days before having to evacuate again. Ike flooded alot of companies and those people are in some cases not even sure if they still have a job. So the result is they stay in their flooded powerless homes, not because they are irresponsible but because they must. You are right something needs to be done about levees etc and Houma found that out this time because the water came into a lot of places that normally do not flood. Therefore, what you do for your neighbor today your neighbor may be doing for your tomorrow! So get up everyone, grab a mop and some bleach some one some where needs your help.
How are the ratings for FOX 8?
I'm just wondering what the ratings of Fox * have to do with anything?
There is an article from July concerning the Nielson ratings, and how they are so grossly inaccurate here in the New Orleans area...WHY? Because of the change in population, and distribution of population in the New Orleans area since Hurricane Katrina.
On the Northshore and surrounding areas, they are not so randomly, or heavily surveyed from Nielson.
So...What are we gettin' at?
I used to flip channels in the morning...and although I've got some friends at Channel 4, couldn't take it anymore. Eric and Sally ...Eric always interrupting her in an unprofessional way, and her singing "Happy Birthday..." OH no, couldn't do it! lol
Then, I heard folks changing to FOX 8...and I'm very impressed. It's personal, but professional, which I like. Everyone I know watches FOX 8, and insanely like a daily food requirement, Bob's Weather Forecast.
Chris Franklin in the am, I like him...but it's obvious he reads from a scripted forecast, and I'd like to see a Meteorologist do more. When guidance had changed and Gustav was clearly moving towards Cuba, he kept saying that it wasn't going to be an issue for us, and was going to move over Florida. That morning, guidance had shown every other indication. That night, Bob said it like it was.
I'm not saying Chris is wrong, but it's clear that he's reading off of a forecast report, and I hate seeing that. I think he's more capable than that! But he's fun to watch, lol!
I'm all about FOX 8...Bob Rocks (do I sound like Caveman now??? LOLOLOL). I think that MOST people watch FOX 8 for Bob...not retiring any time soon, eh Bob? :)
Stormzz
Oh folks...some post Hurricane humor....
Top Ten Reasons Hurricane Season is Like Christmas
10. Decorating the house (boarding up windows).
9. Dragging out boxes that haven't been used since last season (camping gear, flashlights).
8. Last minute shopping in crowded stores.
7. Regular TV shows pre-empted for "specials".
6. Family coming to stay with you.
5. Family and friends from out-of-state calling.
4. Buying food you don't normally buy ... and in large quantities.
3. Days off from work.
2. Candles.
1 And the number one reason Hurricane Season is like Christmas...At some point you know you're going to have a tree in your house!
Sorry to be way off topic, but we're all due a laugh ;)
Have a great evening....
Stormzz
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