John Goodman for safe levees in the USA
Posted by James on November 6, 2010 · 25 Comments
www.levees.org John Goodman, actor and New Orleans resident, donates his time to explain why people everywhere should be concerned about levees and flood protection.
Video Rating: 4 / 5
We MUST have an 8 /29 INVESTIGATION to determine what went wrong and the solution to prevent this from happening again. The worst ENGINEERING disaster in the history of the USA. Bring in engineers from The Netherlands who are already successful at Flood Prevention and engineering. People of NOLA cannot TRUST any local contractors, engineers, US Army Corps of Engineers, nor the USACE.
These are criminal actions, stop the assault on the people of New Orleans
Two weeks before Katrina, I visited NOLA. As we drove around, and already some areas were closed, I asked my host: “Is there water around here.” At that time I sensed water all around us. My host responded that NOLA was below sea level. More amazing to me, than my sense of foreboding, was the host’s non-chalant response. I wondered why NOLA’s own residents choose to not do something to help their wonderful city. Katrina hit. I felt for NOLA in a pround way.
Actually the CBD is pretty bad too. It looks like a third of the high rises are empty. However, some I think were empty before the storm.
Attention New Orleans, stop worrying about the federal government’s response, and start worrying about your incompetent, corrupt Mayor, Raycist Nagin, who is to blame for most complications that surrounded Katrina.
We don’t threaten their freedom. We ensure their freedom by dethroning a genocidal dictator, instilling them with democracy, and allowing them to decide their future by giving them the right to vote.
Strawman arguments do not win.
klk
Love ya John. Been missin’ you around ole Met,, love you videos, especially the pet preparedness one. You’re looking svelte,
Isn’t it apparent now that our own government are the terrorists? This government rebuilt Indonesia after the tsunami, but nola is still abandoned except for the CBD and the French Quarter which was not badly impacted.
America, do you CARE??? Remember, there are levees in all 50 states,bridges too, it will be you next.
All 50 states have levees in disrepair and those same levees have not been maintained in the last 40 years. Sign petitions, call your congressional representatives now. California is at great risk due to the levees in Sacramento. If those break, no one in Ca will have any water, no tap water, no water at all. Think about it, it will affect us all.
Thank you, Nolabig1, you are correct”everyone needs to see this” how do we accomplish that?
I willing to work on that project.
I visited New Orleans for the first time last summer. I will never forget it. Despite the devastation, the city is very much alive. It is undeniably unique and I can’t wait to go back.
People care so little about New Orleans and Louisiana that we can’t even have a film on Youtube featuring a national celebrity without the conversation becoming about Iraq. Can’t we talk about the people in our own country? Truly, we have been forgotten.
Respect for some of the soldiers but what would you do if tens of 1000s of Arab soldiers would occupy your country to “protect their freedom”?
“God bless America. And God bless the fighting men who keep her free.” Please could you explain to me who is “threatening your freedom”? You`re an incredibly idiotic lemming. Any soldier who got deported to Irak will tell you that when he comes back with amputated legs.
Families can’t move back to New Orleans unless they feel protected and well provided for. Our protection against flooding is the levee system, I’m not pointing fingers, I just want it fixed. Our protection against crime are police officers, I want more officers back on the streets. To provide for my family you must supply my kids with education, I want our schools back. Attention United States: Please focus on domestic complications first.
When Katrina made landfall in Buras it was a low 4 – high 3. It decreased in strength and surge as it moved towards NOLA. The western end hit Slidell and the eastern end hit Hancock Co. NOLA experienced 80 mph winds. The levees were built using outdated data and failed below design specs. These facts are pretty basic and widely known. Being insistent does not mean you are right.
LeveesOrg is a citizens advocacy group not a “case.” The non sectarian non partisan grassroots group’s mission is education that New Orleans was destroyed primarily by bad levees, and not bad weather.
If you want to win your case, you don’t even mention the category of the storm, because that refers to wind only. Levees have nothing to do with wind. To win your case, you mention the faulty flood wall construction, and that they failed when the water level in the canals was lower than what they were rated at. Forget about storm category, or you lose!!
The problem with leveeorg is that they are trying to claim Katrina missed New Orleans and that it was only Cat 1 or 2. The government lawyers are going to walk all over that. Katrina’s west eyewall past over the east side of the city limits. The storm surge was 18-20 feet. Clearlt not a miss, clearly not Cat 3 surge.
And I refer you to this website…do a Google Search for Stephen A Nelson at Tulane University (Hurricane Katrina..What Happened) You will see photos where flood walls were topped and the levee along Hayne Blvd scoured and eroded as the water flowed over.
Not True. The western edge of Katrina’s eye past over the eastern edge of New Orleans. Also, my dad’s house is near US 90 and HWY 11, 7.5 feet ABOVE sea level, just outside the levee. He had over 8 feet of water in his house. The debris line is 18 feet above seal level.
Dear Zapadac:
This is Fact Two directly from LeveesOrg’s website:
“Katrina missed New Orleans. Winds in the New Orleans area were in the Cat 1 to Cat 2 range and the tidal surges about a Cat 3.”
In places where the water was higher was due to funnelling effects caused by Corps-built water projects. That is why the Ninth Ward which is mostly bove sea level got so much water.
If you check the photos from NOAA after the storm, you will see boats on top of the levee near Downman Road and Hayne Blvd. The water came over the levee at Hayne and behind the Entergy plant.
In New Orleans East, the surge was 18-20 feet. My dad’s house is 7.5 feet above sea level and the water was to his cealing, 8 feet high. That comes to 15.5 foot surge at least.
“The storm had a Cat 5 storm surge.” You are right, but not in the metro New Orleans area, it was the Gulf Coast that got that Cat 5 surge, still it is a good point that the water was worse than a normal Cat2 would bring.