Saturday, June 28, 2008

Samedi

Atchafalaya

N.O. levees squeezed by Congress' demand for cash
~The goal to raise levees and build large-scale flood defenses around this flood-torn city could be delayed indefinitely because of congressional demands that Louisiana chip in $1.8 billion to the effort over three years.

As floodwaters recede in the Midwest, anger rises
~As an early tally of damage reaches billions of dollars, some towns say the federal government in years past turned its back on their pleas for help building or bolstering flood protection barriers.
After the great floods of 1993 swamped this tiny town in eastern Iowa, Mike Luck begged the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to help protect it from future disasters. Corps officials responded that this community of fewer than 700 residents probably would have to chip in more than $1 million to help build the federally engineered levee system it sought, the former mayor recalled. Unable to raise the funds, New Hartford built an earthen berm, which breached recently when Beaver Creek flooded, part of the widespread flooding in six Midwestern states. "There was no way we could get that kind of money pulled together for a levee," Luck said. "It took this town more than three years of bake sales and barbecues to raise enough money for new playground equipment."
"It felt like the government was telling us,
'You're not big enough or important enough for us to spend our money to save,' "
Luck said.

Army Corps of Engineers should have to pay for its failures

Corps of Engineers rewriting history on flooding and levee breaches~S. Rosenthal

More on seepage - and what the Corps is holding back
~Matt McBride


Corps blames muskrats for levee breach on Mississippi
"It's so disappointing," said Linda Wilmesherr as she peered through binoculars at water pouring through a gap that appeared to be 30 feet wide. "With all the guns in this county,
couldn't we kill a muskrat?"

Editilla would like to know
how the Corps knows that muskrats are the cause of this levee failure--while they continue to maintain that they did not build these smaller levees, that these levees are hence substandard by definition and so have not warranted Corps scrutiny or maintenance?
This is what the Corps continues to tell the nation, to wit: they are not responsible for the failures of these levees as they did not build them and have not maintained inspections of them.
It was bubbas on bull dozers.
It was small town city councils.
It was Katrina the Clown.
It was Congress. It was muskrats.
So it must have been a muskrat, eh?
But , how does the Corps know this?
Another sandbag barrier fails at Winfield, Mo.

FEMA to send mobile homes to Iowa

Post Disaster Planning
- Iowa Lawyers Under Water Seek Assistance


Wisconsin Health Officials Say Severely Ill Boy Played in Flood Water~State officials say more than 160 communities have discharged untreated sewage into streams and lakes because flooding shut down their treatment systems. The releases totaled more than 800 million gallons of sewage.

When Disaster Strikes
~Flood victims don't have to go it alone. One catastrophe specialist explains how his business is helping the University of Iowa clean up the muck.

Some have drawn comparisons between this flood and Hurricane Katrina. Do you think that's valid?
"It doesn't matter if even one home is flooded: If it's your home, it is your Katrina. I sympathize with these folks. From my observations of the areas that were hit down here, they were hit equally bad. The biggest difference is that you have services right outside of the affected areas. I can go into a hotel and have a hot shower and a meal at night.
During Katrina, I couldn't. We lived in tents and hoped for a shower every few days. That event was so widespread. Certainly, this is bad, but at least there are hotels and family and friends nearby that were not affected that can help. I've been in this business for 20 years, and I hope I'll never see anything like Katrina again in my lifetime."

~Dennis McKinley, project manager for BMS Catastrophe, a privately held company with 731 employees in Fort Worth, Texas, that specializes in cleaning up after fires, floods and other disasters.

Best Friends deploys rescue team to Iowa

Legal Restraints Abound in Farmers' Flood Aid

EcoSteel incentive plan moves quickly in Miss.

Feds Help Hospitals Handle Higher Labor Costs

Congress' (and the President's) Priorities: ABNO~Harry Shearer

Barbour: 'Pigs in the python'

Larry Craig and David Vitter: Guardians of Marriage ~Loki-Humid City

New market a gathering spot in recovering N.O.

NOAHs,”New Orleans Architectural History survey” ~jlp/New Orleans

New Garden District 'Borders' Will Be Concept Store

~Editilla Whoas~
<--Dig'da Nola Rising ad'propriatin lifted off the station's site! Cool, huh? Wonder if WRNO has taken pause fo'da cause before da'ghost gets there first?


Music Review: Walter "Wolfman" Washington
- Doin' The Funky Thing


NolaFunk Lagniappe

Al Green lays down his
Al Green-est album ever


New Orleans Guitar Legend Jimmy Robinson Solo CD
~all about Jazz


Closing Shop—And A Life
~Sal Nunziato


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