It may be too soon to be asking this question, but it has to be asked, and a comprehensive answer will be required.
Some will say the answer is obvious - the hurricane. I don't accept that. Hurricane Katrina had come and gone when the levies broke early this morning. Indeed, let's review what was said to be the great risk of Hurricane Katrina:
New Orleans faces a potential for catastrophic flooding if the storm surge reaches the predicted 18 to 22 feet. The levies along Lake Ponchartrain are just 17 feet high - lower in places. City streets could flood to depths of 20 feet, devastating the historic French Quarter, the Garden District and other tourist attractions. The city's 22 pumps could not keep up with such flooding, or even with the heaviest rains expected from the storm.
. . . In addition to deaths, Category 5 winds and the flooding of New Orleans would cause huge property losses. Insurance companies have been increasingly reluctant to sell property incurance policies in the city. Flooding would also leave behind a horrific stew of sewage, trash, storm debris, ruined possessions, petrochemicals washed in from the region's oil-related industrial infrastructure. Add alligators, snakes and fire ants to the mix ... well, it's not a pretty picture.
And the damage to the nation's oil and gas infrastructure could push gasoline and home heating costs even higher. The New Orleans region hosts about a quarter of our oil and gas production. Oil and gas pipelines crosscross the region and offshore platforms do the drilling and pumping.
. . . Buckle your seatbelts.
Well, Hurricane Katrina came and went. The storm surge came and went. And the levies did not break as a result. So what happened?
More on the flip.
Tonight we are
told:
The waters of swollen Lake Pontchartrain poured into this sunken city today through a gaping hole in a storm-damaged levee, as emergency workers labored to stanch the flow and used boats and helicopters to rescue hundreds of people stranded on rooftops.
. . . In New Orleans, until last night a popular, carefree tourist destination, officials said the widespread flooding could get worse if damage to the city's protective levees was not repaired soon. Although flooding was shallow in some places, in others it was much as 20 feet, and city officials were telling people to get out, saying the municipal government itself was relocating to Baton Rouge.
The flooding in New Orleans was the result of large breach in a levee on a canal that keeps the waters of Lake Pontchartrain out of the city. The hole, at the 17th Street flood wall, is at least 100 yards long and officials say it may be getting bigger. The United States Army Corps of Engineers was trying to plug the gap by using helicopters to drop huge sandbags - each weighing 3,000 pounds - into the breech. New Orleans lies mostly below sea level and is protected by a network of pumps, canals and levees. But many of the pumps were not working this morning. CNN reported that the storm caused another breach at Industrial Canal, and that corps officials feared another gap forming near Pumping Station No. 6.
The water coming through the first gap gushed into residential areas and moved down into the center of the city toward the Mississippi River, but so far, the French Quarter was dry. Other hazards arose.
Honestly, did the people in charge just go off duty once the hurricane passed by New Orleans yesterday afternoon? Was no one monitoring the levies and the working of the pumps?
With due respect to all involved, what in the hell were they doing from yesterday afternoon till this morning? Everyone was told that the MAJOR threat was the breaking of the levies. How can you then ignore this AFTER the storm passes? At first blush, this seems inexcusable.
Update [2005-8-30 23:8:35 by Armando]: Larry in NYC suggests that the levies actually broke during the hurricane but that the breaks were not discovered until this morning. First, that seems far fetched to me. But more importantly, supposing that Larry is right, that seems a more damning indictment to me. Why were the levies not carefully checked YESTERDAY after the hurricane passed? Would that not have been the first thing to do?