The American Society of Civil Engineers have claimed that 'relativley cheap modifications' could have prevented the chaos that Hurricana Katrina
brought. They have found that rather than just a few breaches, there were dozens across the whole system, much of it flowing through the defences.
news.bbc.co.uk
Hurricane Katrina was a catastrophic storm, but it was the breaches of the levee flood defence system which did the majority of the damage in New
Orleans.
The society found that rather than there being a few breaks in the levees caused by water going over the top, there were dozens of breaches across the
entire system - much of it flowing through the defences.
The report to Congress stated that if just "relatively inexpensive modifications" had been made "some of the failures would likely have been
prevented".
There was criticism that the defences did not cope well, and the report suggests inappropriate materials like sandy soils may have been used.
The society also linked the different authorities maintaining sections of the levees at varying standards, to weakening of defences.
In conclusion Congress was advised to give population centres more protection - and to seriously consider preparing for bigger floods that happen once
every 500 years - rather than once every century.
Please visit the link provided for the complete story.
We all know what should have been in place before Katrina...and we all know what should be in place after Katrina, but will they listen?
The last few months have proved how vicious Mother Nature can be so its time for the world to start taking notice and taking proper precations against
future floods, earthquakes and tsunamis etc...
[edit on 13-11-2005 by asala]
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Of course a lot of it could have been preventable. Not even taking into account the infrastructure, half of the disastor involved the handling of the
people. I am still trying to figure out why LA didn't call FL ahead of time to consult what to do.
Forida has major experience at this point and I'm still wondering why they weren't consulted regarding preparations, evacutations, etc. Such a
shame.
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Originally posted by Relentless
Of course a lot of it could have been preventable. Not even taking into account the infrastructure, half of the disastor involved the handling of the
people. I am still trying to figure out why LA didn't call FL ahead of time to consult what to do.
Forida has major experience at this point and I'm still wondering why they weren't consulted regarding preparations, evacutations, etc. Such a
shame.
First of all, Florida is not under sea level and second of all, there was only approximately 48 hour notice that Katrina was coming towards New
Orleans.
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Originally posted by Relentless
Of course a lot of it could have been preventable. Not even taking into account the infrastructure, half of the disastor involved the handling of the
people. I am still trying to figure out why LA didn't call FL ahead of time to consult what to do.
Forida has major experience at this point and I'm still wondering why they weren't consulted regarding preparations, evacutations, etc. Such a
shame.
As my first post here at ATS, I feel like I must respond to this. I'm from the gulf coast of Alabama, and, obviously, very experienced with
hurricanes. I'm sure all of the states here in the Deep South would agree that Florida has historically prepared for, and responded to hurricanes no
better or worse than any of us. The fact is, Florida seems to me to get more 'Screen Time' during times of natural disaster than most other gulf
states. I can assure you, even though it would never happen, a call to Florida requesting advice on Hurricane prepardness and response would be no
more or less helpful than a call to Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia or Texas.
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