FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 1, 2005
CONTACT:
Christina Kreitzer, (415) 977-5619
Eric Antebi, (415) 977-5744
Countdown Begins for Next Hurricane Season in New Orleans
Sierra Club Presents Four Point Protection Plan for the Off Season
Statement of Casey DeMoss Roberts, Chair of Sierra Club New Orleans Group
This week marks the official end of the 2005 hurricane season - the busiest
on record. With only six months until the next hurricane season begins,
New Orleans continues to recover from Katrina and Rita. There is no time to
lose in restoring the defenses of the dangerously vulnerable city. There
is no way that the people and businesses of New Orleans can be prepared for
the next hurricane season unless local, state, and federal officials work
together and focus to make sure that the most important work gets done on
time. The highest priorities for the so-called "off season" should be as
follows:
1. Identifying the weaknesses in the defense
There is ample computer modeling from before Hurricane Katrina to
understand the great vulnerabilities facing New Orleans in the event of a
hurricane. That data, combined with the results of ongoing investigations
about what went wrong during Katrina, should provide a clear picture of the
city's most pressing flood prevention needs. Completing and consolidating
this work is extremely urgent because it will focus and direct much of the
repairs and upgrades to the city's flood defenses in the coming months.
2. Repairing the levees to withstand a Category Three hurricane
Six months is not enough time to design and build a whole new flood control
system for New Orleans. Therefore, the focus in the near future must be on
restoring the existing levee system to handle a Category Three Hurricane.
Experts at the Louisiana Hurricane Center concluded that the existing
floodwalls and levees should have held the water at bay, and that the
breaches were the result of faulty design and inadequate construction. It
will take a heroic effort to repair those mistakes and secure vital
protections for New Orleans before the next hurricane season. In order for
that to happen, the various agencies responsible for the levee system, from
the Army Corps of Engineers down to the local levee districts, need to get
on the same page to ensure that there is a single plan of action to
safeguard New Orleans rather than the patchwork of leaky protections that
existed before Katrina.
3. Putting an end to MRGO
The Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) is a little-used canal that has
served a handful of special interests while putting the public in harms
way. When Katrina struck, MRGO funneled flood waters from the storm surge
directly into St. Bernard Parish, New Orleans East, and the Lower Ninth
Ward in Orleans Parish. This was no accident. Engineers predicted MRGO
would act as a deadly hurricane highway, and local officials and residents
pleaded for years with higher authorities to close it down. It's time to
put safety first and close this canal as quickly as possible. The benefits
to New Orleans residents of closing MRGO far outweigh the cost of filling
it in.
4. Developing an emergency evacuation plan and reliable communications
system
County and city emergency services should use the next six months to
prepare an evacuation plan that does not rely exclusively on private
transportation. The evacuation plan could include collaboration with area
schools to use buses for emergency transportation of residents that do not
have means of private transportation. This plan should be tested for flaws
ahead of another hurricane. In addition, a reliable radio communications
system needs to be put in place to aid emergency response efforts. After
Katrina, there were times when emergency personnel were unable to
communicate with each other because of transmission problems. The people
of New Orleans cannot afford to have that happen again.
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