[StBernard] Donald Powell

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Sun Apr 8 20:54:09 EDT 2007


Did you hear Donald Powell, Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Recovery, in
an interview with WWL TV that aired on April 8? Powell was in town for the
Nat'l Hurricane Conference. The reporter said that Powell was confident that
southeast LA is protected. Powell said, "the levee system is back to
pre-Katrina...the breaches are repaired...I'm comfortable that the Corps has
a scope of work their doing...they have plans targeted for the 100 year
protection."

This makes it sound as though Powell believes all the levees are at the
pre-Katrina authorized heights and that the system is intact. Maybe Powell
should have attended the Corps public hearing on April 4 when the COE told
St. Bernardians that we do still have sections several feet below the
pre-Katrina authorized heights. When questioned, the Corps confirmed that
Verret to Caernarvon floodwall is especially lower than it should be and
although the engineering drawings are ready to bid for construction to raise
it the first 4 feet (it needs to be raised in two phases and 4 ft. is just
the first phase), the COE needs additional funds to award a construction
contract. Many residents pointed out that unless this section and the
section between Bayou Bienvenue westward of the Paris Road bridge are
raised, St. Bernard Parish will be a spillway come high water.

So, has Donald Powell not been told that NOT ALL LEVEES HAVE BEEN RAISED TO
PRE-KATRINA HEIGHTS or was he told and this is what he just tells the media.
We know better. Unfortunately, the world will know better if we have a storm
that floods St. Bernard from the south to Paris Road because the
Verret-Caernarvon levees are way lower than they should be and/or we flood
from the 9th ward to Paris Road because the levee under the Paris Road
bridge and westward is too low.

How is it that there is enough money for the 17th, Orleans, and London
Canals, but not enough for Lake Borgne Levee District (us)? Stay tuned
for a future email regarding the public hearing. ddk





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