May 7, 2007
Kansas City, Missouri
Photographer states :: This was taken This morning - high water with a lot of tres, limbs & debri headed to the mississippi!
The Missouri River is already flooded. Get people to high ground ! Now !
City reports all pump stations running at 100 percent
Pumping at London Avenue canal was briefly stopped to allow canal to drain into lake, but was resumed a short time later
Street flooding was being reported in various sections of the New Orleans area Friday afternoon as severe thunderstorms moved through the area.
The most notable event of the day's weather came when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asked the New Orleans Sewerage Board to turn off Pump Station No. 3 on the London Avenue Canal after the water level in the canal reached 4.3 feet. Since Katrina, the Corps has limited the water level in the canal to 4 feet to protect the integrity of the canal walls. The pumps were turned on a short while later after enough water in the canal drained into Lake Pontchartrain to drop the water level to 1.3 feet.
The move has no relationship to the hurricane gates at the mouth of the canal, which are only closed in advance of a tropical event pushing storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain. The gates were not closed.
The most notable event of the day's weather came when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asked the New Orleans Sewerage Board to turn off Pump Station No. 3 on the London Avenue Canal after the water level in the canal reached 4.3 feet. Since Katrina, the Corps has limited the water level in the canal to 4 feet to protect the integrity of the canal walls. The pumps were turned on a short while later after enough water in the canal drained into Lake Pontchartrain to drop the water level to 1.3 feet.
The move has no relationship to the hurricane gates at the mouth of the canal, which are only closed in advance of a tropical event pushing storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain. The gates were not closed.
Joel K. Bourne, Senior Editor–Environment, National Geographic Magazinefor National Geographic News
May 6, 2007
Almost a year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers declared that it had restored New Orleans' levees and floodwalls to pre-Hurricane Katrina strength.
But the system is actually riddled with flaws, and a storm even weaker than Katrina could breach the levees if it hit this year, say leading experts who have investigated the system.
May 6, 2007
Almost a year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers declared that it had restored New Orleans' levees and floodwalls to pre-Hurricane Katrina strength.
But the system is actually riddled with flaws, and a storm even weaker than Katrina could breach the levees if it hit this year, say leading experts who have investigated the system.
The unwelcome news comes as residents gird for what is predicted to be a "very active" Atlantic hurricane season, and as residents are still slowly rebuilding their homes and lives after Katrina.
During a recent inspection of the levee system with National Geographic magazine, engineering professor Bob Bea of the University of California, Berkeley, found multiple weak spots.
(See an interactive map of the weak spots).
The most serious flaws turned up in the rebuilt levees along the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet ship channel.
The channel's levees had failed in more than 20 places when Katrina's storm surge pounded them, leading to devastating flooding in the Louisiana city's Lower Ninth Ward and in St. Bernard Parish, which borders the city to the southeast.
Bea found several areas where rainstorms have already eroded the newly rebuilt levees, particularly where they consist of a core of sandy and muddy soils topped with a cap of Mississippi clay.
During a recent inspection of the levee system with National Geographic magazine, engineering professor Bob Bea of the University of California, Berkeley, found multiple weak spots.
(See an interactive map of the weak spots).
The most serious flaws turned up in the rebuilt levees along the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet ship channel.
The channel's levees had failed in more than 20 places when Katrina's storm surge pounded them, leading to devastating flooding in the Louisiana city's Lower Ninth Ward and in St. Bernard Parish, which borders the city to the southeast.
Bea found several areas where rainstorms have already eroded the newly rebuilt levees, particularly where they consist of a core of sandy and muddy soils topped with a cap of Mississippi clay.
