Ready to evacuate poor people? Hospitals? Nursing homes? (Was anybody ever prosecuted for those nursing home deaths during Katrina???).
We have had years to recover from Bush era incompetence and indifference to victims of natural disaster. Performance in Puerto Rico does not seem encouraging, and little need be said about Trumpists.
Does anyone have experience with this stuff in the New Orleans area? Are things in better shape?
I think New Orleans might be in more trouble – the French Quarter is now flooding. I don’t think the French Quarter flooded during Katrina* – it’s the high ground The reason it’s the Vieux Carre (old square) is because it was an island that stayed dry. But now, with the high ground flooding, the rest of the city has to be flooding, too.
I’m not sure what, if anything, this tells us.
"In past storms, the city has issued thousands of sandbags to fire stations across the city for residents to come fill and take home to protect their property. A spokesman for the fire department reached by phone said no sandbags had been issued by the City of New Orleans for this particular storm. When the reporter asked him for his name, the spokesman refused to identify himself, saying all information about the storm should come from New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s office.
The mayor’s office has not returned WWNO’s request for information or comment. But a tweet from the city’s emergency management twitter account says New Orleans is “not issuing sandbag distribution in this instance.”
I’ve heard the big pumps are being maintained better and the worst dikes were repaired. But the erosion of the wetlands that once helped protect New Orleans has continued, instead of being reversed.
New Orleans is being flooded by the Mississippi before Tropical Storm Barry adds to the flooding. So this could be worse then Katrina. The River is 10’ higher then normal and here comes a storm surge on top of it.
ETA: On the sandbags, I found this on the Nola.com site: Where can I grab sandbags in New Orleans area? See full list of locations
Just gonna leave this here. Carry on.
This was a concern earlier in the week, but it’s not going to come to pass:
When you posted this, the flooding in downtown New Orleans (including the French Quarter) had already come and gone on Wednesday the 10th. The flooding that did occur in New Orleans on 7/10 was caused by localized heavy thunderstorms that overwhelmed pumping capacity. The entire city did not flood, and what flooding did occur only lasted about 8-12 hours.
There were multiple issues with Katrina but the rainfall issue North of Lake Pontchartrain has been addressed.
At the time of Katrina there were no bulkheads on the drainage canals that flowed INTO the lake. When the rains hit, the lake height rose and back flowed into the canals which couldn’t handle the water. Once they canals were breached the city was filled with water from the lake. with bulkheads installed that problem has been mitigated.
The other issue with Katrina was tidal flow that moved up the ship canal. Not much you can do about that. Once the water hits a wall it just climbs up and over with the force and volume of the water behind it.