N.O. Flooding Could Have Been Prevented!

We are hearing the carping and blame-placing from many quarters. Instapundit has a link to where Bill Clinton chastises CNN regarding their negativity. The phrase "Nattering Nabobs of Negativity" sure was wasted on Spiro Agnew. A Pox on all of those Political Axe-Grinders!

After 9/11, we heard the constant refrain, "It was a Failure of Imagination!" Turns out, with Bojinka in 1995, and Able Danger recntly, that statement wasn't entirely accurate. This Katrina Disaster however, was/is, a Failure of Imagination.

I ask the question: What happens from here? How could much of this disaster have been prevented? How can we prevent a future such event? To determine this, it is necessary to determine what actually happened in this specific event; the flooding of New Orleans. All that we've heard so far is that: "It was two separate events!", "The Levies Failed. We didn't expect that. Nobody imagined that the levies would fail!" We are still seeing computer animations showing the main lake levies being overtopped by storm surge.

I watched on the Discovery Channel (I think) a documentary about what the Dutch have done, and are doing, in their battle against the North Sea. I saw this a week or so prior to Katrina hitting New Orleans. Every person interested in "Flood Control" should see it. I'm sure that that video is available from Discovery Channel.

As far as I can tell, the main levies protecting the city from the lake, were not breached! The storm surge did not over-top them significantly. The three breaches that flooded the city were all in internal canals that were not built to the strength of the lake levy.

If there had been closed Storm Gates at the entrances to these miles of canals, those internal levies would not have been overwhelmed. Thus; for Katrina, the city would have been spared this flooding. They'd be partying and playing Jazz on Bourbon Street. A direct hit might have been another story. But, we've got this situation now.

What would such storm gates have cost after Betsy in 1965? Well, that was then. How about now? A Half-Mil for the 17th St Canal? A Couple Mil for both ends of the Industrial Canal? A Half -Mil for the other one? Even if I'm off by a lot, it seems like peanuts, compared to the cost of the present devastation. Peanuts also, compared to the cost of reinforcing all of those internal canals.

Seems to me, that the construction of storm gates, or closing some of these canals permanently, would be the simplest and most cost-effective measures for the fairly immediate and, relatively long term future. These should be of high priority. Are all of these internal canals still necessary, or merely some historical relics that are risky to keep?

I hope that this writing will provide food for thought for responsible officials. Perhaps also, with these insights, some of the carping will subside--but I doubt it.