Recent studies have found that the city of New Orleans, which bore the brunt of the hurricane Katrina, hasn't learned anything yet and is repeating the same policy mistakes it did in building levees after the deadly storm Betsy in 1965.
With the third anniversary of the deadly hurricane Katrina a week away, things look calm and comfortable with minor fears that the remnants of hurricane Fay may bring some rain to the Big easy.
A one-year study by
Associated Press reveals that the residents of the city are under a false belief that the levees build by the federal government will hold against any kind of future hurricanes.The study points to the fact that the Army corps of Engineers which is constructing the levees after hurricane Katrina, are using faulty drainage pumps, outdated measurement techniques, making conflicting statements about flood risk etc.
It appears that there will be a significant cost overrun in levee construction similar to the case with the construction work after hurricane Betsy where the costs had soared from an estimated $85 million to $757 million by the time the work got completed. After Hurricane Betsy flooded the city, the builders of the new levees had underestimated the risk of future hurricanes.This time also the builders are defining Katrina as a 1-in-396-year storm while other experts classify it as a 1-in-32-year storm. After the 1965 storm over 22,000 homes were built in vulnerable areas of the city against the views of the experts.The corps have encouraged building homes in low lying areas after Katrina with a belief that the new levees can stand any powerful storm.
Windell Curole, a Louisiana hurricane and levee expert said
People forget, but they cannot afford to forget. If you believe you can't flood, that's when you increase the risk of flooding. In New Orleans, I don't think they talk about the risk.
