Posted 9/01/2005 01:43:00 PM by Douglas

Yet another eerily prophetic article about a hurricane in New Orleans, again from 2001.

A major hurricane could swamp New Orleans under 20 feet of water, killing thousands. Human activities along the Mississippi River have dramatically increased the risk, and now only massive reengineering of southeastern Louisiana can save the city

Yep, that's about right, and that's just the sub-heading.

Now, let the finger pointing begin:

New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In fact, the federal government has been working with state and local officials in the region since the late 1960s on major hurricane and flood relief efforts. When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA.

Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside.

This topic isn't going to go away anytime soon. Could there have been something that could have saved New Orleans from this fate? Considering there are thousands of people along the Mississippi River valley that make a living by building homes with the sole intent of collecting federally backed flood insurance, it's pretty hard to commit this kind of money to flood mitigation. Plus, what else can be done? There's just so much dirt you can stack on the levees, and not even the Army Corps of Engineers can make water flow uphill. So what's worse than blowing $500 million on levees and pumping stations that may or may not be effective? Turn on CNN right now to find out.

Doing nothing.