5 Myths about Hurricane Katrina
http://community.livejournal.com/obama_2008/1556033.html
By bord_du_rasoir:
As we stand 24 hours from near-certain levee failure in New Orleans and/or the surrounding metro areas, I feel the need to use this opportunity not as an excuse to bash Republicans but to teach people not from area - if they are going to complain about the government's handling of these disasters - what exactly they should be complaining about.
Every American, it seems, is well-versed in how FEMA failed to respond, but most Americans are brutally misinformed about what took place in New Orleans August 29, 2005 and what may take place tomorrow, September 1, 2008. Public officials - Democrat and Republican - have repeated and continue to repeat the misconception that Katrina was a natural disaster.
Below the cut, five myths are dispelled about what happened to New Orleans in the wake of Katrina, but there are three main points:
1. THE CATASTROPHIC FLOODING OF NEW ORLEANS WAS NOT A NATURAL DISASTER.
2. The flooding was due to systemic (non-partisan) failures on a federal level.
3. The levee failure that happened in New Orleans could happen in a great many locations throughout the U.S. - not just in Iowa and Nevada, but in counties containing 43% of Americans are vulnerable to levee failure.
DEBUNKING OF MYTH #1: The catastrophic flooding of New Orleans was an engineering disaster, not a natural one.
DEBUNKING OF MYTH #2: The source of New Orleans' troubles is not that it was located in the wrong place. Further upriver is too shallow to hold ocean-going freighters and container ships. Thus, New Orleans has been a center for international trade its founding in 1718. New Orleans is an essential trade post with enormous implications for the U.S. economy. It's safe to say New Orleans provides more economic revenue to the U.S. than the city gets back in federal tax dollars. At its founding, New Orleans was 125 miles from the gulf coast and protected by hundreds of square miles of wetlands that acted as a buffer to greatly lessen the impact of hurricane storm surges. However, the federal agency - The Army Corps of Engineers along with commercial enterprise dredged up some 10,000 miles of canals, devastating these wetlands, dramatically reducing New Orleans' natural defense against storm surges:
DEBUNKING OF MYTH #3: It's widespread belief that New Orleans flooded because it's below sea-level, and New Orleans residents' are complete idiots who are just asking for it and deserve what they get for living in a city that sits below sea-evel in a great big bowl. But, the city did not flood because it is below sea level; it flooded because of improperly built levees. Large parts of the city sit above sea-level. In fact, the Lower 9th Ward, famous for being the site of a dramatic levee break is above sea level - along with the original New Orleans settlements - the French Quarter, Central Business District, the Garden District, Treme, the By-Water, and Uptown. And in addressing the below sea level parts of the city and the city's susceptibility to flooding, we must also acknowledge that New Orleans is not alone. New York City's extensive below-sea-level subway system relies on 24-hour pumping. London and Holland also rely on pumping systems to prevent flooding. Moreover, Fernley, NV - located 4200 ft. above sea level flooded when a nearby levee collapsed.
DEBUNKING OF MYTH #4: Levee failure is not a New Orleans problem; it's a national problem. It's conventional wisdom that what happened to New Orleans could only happen in New Orleans due to its unique geography, but the conditions that caused the disaster in New Orleans are far from unique. 43% of Americans live in a county with an area protected by a levee. 122 levees in 28 states have been declared in a state of active failure, affecting the following municipalities: Louisville, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Memphis, Baltimore, Kansas City, Omaha, Portland, Seattle, Honolulu, Jacksonville, Savannah, Albuerque, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and Washington D.C. - many of which have levees in worse condition than those the New Orleans levees.
DEBUNKING OF MYTH #5: The levees have not been built to withstand a major hurricane and there are no specific plans under the Bush, McCain or Obama administration to do so. Nor do I see plans for significant federal wetland restoration funding. Though essential, these preventive steps have not seen the federal funding rebuilding efforts have. There's something wrong when over $100 billion federal dollars are allocated to rebuild New Orleans but the $10 billion needed to build proper levees are not. Considering New Orleans continuing contributions to the U.S. as a major port, the Army Corps dredging of southeastern Louisiana wetlands, the failure of the levees constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers, the coast of rebuilding when the levees fail, the federal government needs to get on board funding the Army Corps' construction of these levees YESTERDAY.
Much of the language and specific info for this post is taken from this video:
By bord_du_rasoir:
As we stand 24 hours from near-certain levee failure in New Orleans and/or the surrounding metro areas, I feel the need to use this opportunity not as an excuse to bash Republicans but to teach people not from area - if they are going to complain about the government's handling of these disasters - what exactly they should be complaining about.
Every American, it seems, is well-versed in how FEMA failed to respond, but most Americans are brutally misinformed about what took place in New Orleans August 29, 2005 and what may take place tomorrow, September 1, 2008. Public officials - Democrat and Republican - have repeated and continue to repeat the misconception that Katrina was a natural disaster.
Below the cut, five myths are dispelled about what happened to New Orleans in the wake of Katrina, but there are three main points:
1. THE CATASTROPHIC FLOODING OF NEW ORLEANS WAS NOT A NATURAL DISASTER.
2. The flooding was due to systemic (non-partisan) failures on a federal level.
3. The levee failure that happened in New Orleans could happen in a great many locations throughout the U.S. - not just in Iowa and Nevada, but in counties containing 43% of Americans are vulnerable to levee failure.
DEBUNKING OF MYTH #1: The catastrophic flooding of New Orleans was an engineering disaster, not a natural one.
DEBUNKING OF MYTH #2: The source of New Orleans' troubles is not that it was located in the wrong place. Further upriver is too shallow to hold ocean-going freighters and container ships. Thus, New Orleans has been a center for international trade its founding in 1718. New Orleans is an essential trade post with enormous implications for the U.S. economy. It's safe to say New Orleans provides more economic revenue to the U.S. than the city gets back in federal tax dollars. At its founding, New Orleans was 125 miles from the gulf coast and protected by hundreds of square miles of wetlands that acted as a buffer to greatly lessen the impact of hurricane storm surges. However, the federal agency - The Army Corps of Engineers along with commercial enterprise dredged up some 10,000 miles of canals, devastating these wetlands, dramatically reducing New Orleans' natural defense against storm surges:
DEBUNKING OF MYTH #3: It's widespread belief that New Orleans flooded because it's below sea-level, and New Orleans residents' are complete idiots who are just asking for it and deserve what they get for living in a city that sits below sea-evel in a great big bowl. But, the city did not flood because it is below sea level; it flooded because of improperly built levees. Large parts of the city sit above sea-level. In fact, the Lower 9th Ward, famous for being the site of a dramatic levee break is above sea level - along with the original New Orleans settlements - the French Quarter, Central Business District, the Garden District, Treme, the By-Water, and Uptown. And in addressing the below sea level parts of the city and the city's susceptibility to flooding, we must also acknowledge that New Orleans is not alone. New York City's extensive below-sea-level subway system relies on 24-hour pumping. London and Holland also rely on pumping systems to prevent flooding. Moreover, Fernley, NV - located 4200 ft. above sea level flooded when a nearby levee collapsed.
DEBUNKING OF MYTH #4: Levee failure is not a New Orleans problem; it's a national problem. It's conventional wisdom that what happened to New Orleans could only happen in New Orleans due to its unique geography, but the conditions that caused the disaster in New Orleans are far from unique. 43% of Americans live in a county with an area protected by a levee. 122 levees in 28 states have been declared in a state of active failure, affecting the following municipalities: Louisville, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Memphis, Baltimore, Kansas City, Omaha, Portland, Seattle, Honolulu, Jacksonville, Savannah, Albuerque, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and Washington D.C. - many of which have levees in worse condition than those the New Orleans levees.
DEBUNKING OF MYTH #5: The levees have not been built to withstand a major hurricane and there are no specific plans under the Bush, McCain or Obama administration to do so. Nor do I see plans for significant federal wetland restoration funding. Though essential, these preventive steps have not seen the federal funding rebuilding efforts have. There's something wrong when over $100 billion federal dollars are allocated to rebuild New Orleans but the $10 billion needed to build proper levees are not. Considering New Orleans continuing contributions to the U.S. as a major port, the Army Corps dredging of southeastern Louisiana wetlands, the failure of the levees constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers, the coast of rebuilding when the levees fail, the federal government needs to get on board funding the Army Corps' construction of these levees YESTERDAY.
Much of the language and specific info for this post is taken from this video:
Click to view