In 1972, Tropical Storm Agnes dumped enough water to raise the Susquehanna river to 41 feet. A huge flood ensued, causing over a billion in damages. Then, in 1975 the river crested at 35 feet, which remained the highest river water level for over 30 years, until yesterday and today. What's fascinating is that three years ago, Wilkes-Barre decided to raise their levees from 36 feet up to 41 feet. That looks like a brilliant infrastructure investment right now, because that extra 5 feet averted catastrophe. Here's the money quote from an article in their local paper (where I got all my information):
The levees, raised 5 feet in 2003 at a cost of $200 million, were improved to prevent a second Agnes flood, which nearly reached 41 feet in 1972 and caused $1 billion in damage. The highest crest since then was 35 feet in 1975.
"That $200 million saved us a billion dollars today," said Commissioner Todd Vonderheid.
However, Lisa informs us that some nearby towns were opposed to levee improvements because they seemed too expensive. So they decided to "opt out".
Nine people have died so far in PA from the flooding. It's reasonable to assume that many more would have perished had the levees not been raised.
New Orleans' Pontchartrain levees, by the way, are less than half the height of Wilkes-Barre's.
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Today the Army Corps of Engineers submitted a preliminary report to the White House regarding Category 5 levees for South Louisiana. Senator Mary Landrieu is rightfully concerned that the White House is filtering the report's "scientific analysis... through a political screen". In a press release she cites state officials who claim that the White House is rewriting the ACoE report before it is released to the public, and that the White House is inserting policy statements into what should be a purely technical report about Cat 5 levee construction.
In a letter this evening by Louisiana officials who worked with the Corps to develop the original draft, the state reported that "the rewriting of the report by the Administration, inserting policy statements, has been done in a way that seems unprecedented in our history of working with the Corps." The officials also reported that the "policy review resulted in the rewriting of the entire executive summary and much of the report, without consultation with the Corps/State Project Delivery Team."
If we had an Executive branch that gave a rat's ass about science, Landrieu's concerns would seem alarmist and paranoid. But sadly, this is the Bush administration, where science is utterly despised. The only time Bush appeals to science is when he wants to delay something to death. Here's my interpretation of their approach.
Strategic Defense Initiative? Easy peasy!
Global warming? Evolution? The jury is still out on those strange notions.
Sending astronauts to Mars? Warp Ten speed!
Building higher mounds of dirt to protect New Orleans? Yikes, that will require years of study before a decision can be made.
It's amazing how the issue of Category 5 flood protection has been deprioritized since Katrina.
Senator Vitter doesn't even use the term "Category 5" anymore. Mayor Nagin doesn't either. After being strung along for months after the storm, they finally got the message that the White House thinks Category 5 flood protection for S. Louisiana is too costly. So they've focused on much smaller goals, and their public commitment to Cat 5 levees has waned. At least Mary Landrieu is willing to stand her ground on this issue. She understands the need to play hardball with this White House rather than simply taking them at their word, and "hoping" for the best.
Update: The Times Picayune has much more on what looks to be like a front page feature story. Here's the opening graphs:
The Army Corps of Engineers, which was directed by Congress to prepare a report on how to protect Louisiana from a Category 5 hurricane, is poised to issue a vaguely-worded document that will not list the specific projects that would be needed to secure the state's fragile coastline.
The report was to be issued Friday, but the corps postponed action until July 10 after several heated exchanges with representatives of Gov. Kathleen Blanco who say the Bush administration has inappropriately removed a list of specific projects that corps engineers had included in the document's initial draft.
To underscore my earlier points, I've reprinted some lengthy YRHT excerpts which track Bush's opposition to Cat 5 flood protection since Katrina (not to mention prior to the storm):
11/02/05
Without a federal commitment to Category Five levees and world-class flood protection, displaced businesses will not return to Southern Louisiana and insurance costs will quickly become prohibitive. Cutting taxes and red-tape will be meaningless without these essential infrastructure investments.
Yet, according to John Maginnis, Washington Republicans say the budget is too tight when it comes to the future of the "gret stet".
Securing top-level levee protection poses frustrations.... Last week, a delegation of the Louisiana Recovery Authority presented the state's priorities to senior White House officials.
...
But the Louisiana team hit a wall--a large earthen wall--on its top priority of rebuilding the southeast Louisiana hurricane protection levee system to withstand a Category 5 storm. The Bush team would not commit beyond the Category 3 level.
...
A top tier levee system from New Orleans to Morgan City would take years and $20 billion to build, far more than the Bush administration and conservatives in Congress are prepared to go. But to tell homeowners and business investors pondering their future in New Orleans that the levees will protect them from almost all storms might not inspire the confidence it takes to bring the area all the way back.
Reilly says the recovery authority will "keep pounding" on the Category 5 issue, but that might start to feel like one's head against the wall of Washington's intransigence.
These so-called conservatives didn't fret when a $500 billion dollar Medicare bill ballooned (immediately) to $750 plus billion. But now they want to deny Louisiana $20 billion for levees.
These so-called conservatives hardly peeped as expenses in Iraq grew into the hundreds of billions with no end in sight. By February U.S. taxpayers will have spent another $20 billion towards nation-building in Iraq. But allocating that same amount for a devastated Louisiana is suddenly too expensive.
American lives were sacrificed so that Iraqi Shia can enjoy their restored wetlands; but, when a thousand Americans die in the aftermath of Katrina, that's not enough incentive for Washington Republicans to adequately protect South Louisiana.
The president and the so-called conservatives in Congress have broken faith with our state. Previously, these reckless spendthrifts made Lyndon Johnson look like Calvin Coolidge. Twenty billion was nothing to them; a rounding error. But now it's everything to us, and they won't pay it. Our survival depends on Cat 5 levees, but Bushco suddenly can't commit to essential protections for South Louisiana.
11/17/05
Almost immediately after the storm, displaced business-owners from New Orleans began demanding a federal commitment to Category 5 levee protection.... category five has become the buzzword, and literally thousands of businesses will make their decision to return or relocate based on a federal commitment to category five protection.
But [Cat 5 levees] won't happen.
See, when Dub wants to go to Mars, science is at his service. However, when he doesn't want to pay to protect the "gret stet", science becomes a profound obstacle.
...
And what the hell's the point of a Texan in the White House if all we get is some weak-ass "Well, let's see what science dictates..." posture!! Wasn't Bush the guy who promised "bold action" after Katrina? Well, where is it? I thought Texans were supposed to do the dictating-- not the guys in lab coats. The scientists figure out how to accomplish the big goals that Texans set for them. Right?
11/20/05
But [David Vitter, R-La.] said there's hope for more help in the near term. He predicted that Congress would come back after its Thanksgiving recess and approve a redistribution of some of the $62 billion for "priority needs" plus additional funding. He said that Donald Powell, the newly named coordinator for federal hurricane response, gave him every indication during a meeting Friday that the White House is seriously considering his request to make a commitment to repair levees and build replacements that would protect against Category 5 hurricanes.
There's "hope" for Cat 5 levees, you see, because Bush's crony gave our junior Senator every indication that Bush is "seriously considering" them. Meanwhile thousands of businesses choose to relocate because they rightly judge this administration by its actions, not its words.
11.22.05
Unfortunately, our officials must learn that hope is not a plan when dealing with these people.
In an interview last week... [Donald Powell] contradicted an assertion by Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco that he had committed the Bush administration to local leaders' $20 billion priority, strengthening the New Orleans levee system to withstand a Category 5 hurricane instead of the current Category 3.
"He was pretty clear about it," Blanco said.
But Powell, 64, a tall, low-key Texan who wears a cattleman's belt with a lone star under his suit, demurred. "The commitment is to build the levees back to a three... and then to study the five."
Wow, Big Slick "demurred". Color me monkey-shocked.
12/08/05:
[Senator David] Vitter is "hopeful" that the Bush administration will "articulate a clear, firm commitment" on Category 5 levee protection "in the coming weeks".
Like I've said before, nothing has worked more effectively than "hope" when it comes to the Bush administration's governance. They're terrified of "hope" and respond immediately when collective hopes are multiplied. I'm sure Rove loses a lot of sleep at night over people's hopes: all the supporters who hoped Bush was right about Iraq; the Houston Chronicle's "hope" that Bush would govern from the center in his second term; fiscal conservatives "hoping" Bush will one day make a principled veto on a spending bill; Representative Jindal's "hopes" that the new Reconstruction Czar has Louisiana's best interests at heart, as well as the many Louisiana Republicans still "hopeful" the President will do right by our state, and commit to Cat 5 levees and wetlands replenishment.
Yeah, hope is a helluva plan with this crew. Guess we should just "hope harder" when we don't get the results we want. Hopefully, that'll work. Right?
12/15/05:
At a news briefing at the White House, officials dodged the question of whether the levees would be built to withstand a Category 5 hurricane, using broader language instead to promise that the city's citizens would be safe and the levees would be "stronger and better."
"The federal government is committed to building the best levee system known in the world," Donald Powell, the top U.S. official for reconstruction, told reporters.
1/13/06:
[Times Picayune:] on what most city leaders consider the paramount issue for rebuilding -- the construction of a levee system that could withstand a hit from a Category 5 storm -- Bush remained coy. In fact, neither he nor Powell, who flew down on Air Force One with Bush and attended the meeting, have ever voiced support for Category 5 storm protection, which carries an uncertain price tag and could take years to complete. Asked directly about it on several occasions, both men carefully sidestepped the matter, and Bush did so again Thursday.
Coyness. That's what you want from a President or Reconstruction Czar when they talk about the most important issue facing your stricken city. Yeah, by all means, please mince words and make no firm commitments. That's helpful.
Why can't Bush just have the testicular fortitude to say what he really thinks: "No, we think Category 5 levees are too expensive. The country is fighting a trillion dollar war right now, and my promise to cut the deficit in half by 2009 is looking more and more like a pipe dream. So twenty billion is too much to spend to protect South Louisiana with Cat 5 levees. Unlike Senate Minority leader Harry Reid, we think Category 3 is good enough for New Orleans."
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Well I can't resist mentioning this one Pre Katrina post excerpt:
[City Business]:
In Fiscal Year 2006, the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is bracing for a record $71.2 million reduction in federal funding.
It would be the largest single-year funding loss ever for the New Orleans district, Corps officials said.
...
There is an economic ripple effect, too. The cuts mean major hurricane and flood projects will not be awarded to local engineering firms. Also, a study to determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane has been shelved for now.
Is there a South Louisianan who would still trade their Bush tax cuts for poorer flood and coastal protections? Anyone? Ok, there's still a few. Well, then: would you mind if I looked at your insurance premiums? Have they risen much? May I ask you some follow-up questions about this when a storm enters the Gulf this summer?
