New Orleans is Not Unique After All

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, finishing what Katrina started:

The Army Corps of Engineers has identified 146 levees nationwide that it says pose an unacceptable risk of failing in a major flood.

The deficiencies, mostly due to poor maintenance, are forcing communities from Connecticut to California to invest millions of dollars in repairs. If the levees aren't fixed, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) could determine that they are no longer adequate flood controls. If that happens, property owners behind the levees would have to buy flood insurance costing hundreds of dollars a year or more.

The substandard levees are being identified under a corps inspection program that has grown more aggressive since Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed levees across the Gulf Coast in August 2005.

I wonder if FEMA will require a “three feet above ground” rule for new construction in these at-risk areas.

Also, notice the revising of events after Katrina:

Thousands of residents who lost property did not have flood insurance because those levees were considered adequate; later reviews found many were not well maintained.

It should say “later reviews found many were not well designed.”

Via Gentilly Girl.