Latest Mississippi River Delta News: September 4, 2012

Hurricane Isaac lays bare the painful economics of flood protection
By Bob Marshall, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans). September 2, 2012.
“As thousands of southeastern Louisiana residents watched flood water from Hurricane Isaac invade their homes and make a soggy, expensive mess of their lives, the terms “benefit-cost analysis” and “relative sea level rise” probably didn’t enter their minds. But in the days ahead, as they wonder why New Orleans sat mostly dry behind a $14 billion federal system while they were inundated, these are terms they have to get used to…” (Read more)

Isaac renews debate about Louisiana levees: Is it worth billions to build them in rural areas?
The Associated Press. August 31, 2012.
“IRONTON, La. — When Hurricane Isaac whirled into the Gulf Coast this week, the federal levee system protecting New Orleans did its job. But the patchwork of floodwalls shielding subdivisions outside the city and rural fishing and farming communities was no match for the drenching storm…” (Read more)

In Louisiana, the Water Gives, and Takes Away
By Campbell Robertson, The New York Times. September 1, 2012.
“VENICE, La. — The end of the earth was farther away than usual…” (Read more)

Businesses Wait on BP Fines to Repair the Gulf Coast
By John Tozzi, Bloomberg Businessweek. August 31, 2012.
“Jim Marino was preparing to replenish the sand on a shriveling dune in Destin, Fla., when Hurricane Isaac churned up the Gulf Coast this week and washed it away. “All of the dune we were just going to restore is pretty much gone,” along with the beach in front of it, says Marino, president of Taylor Engineering, a 60-employee firm that does coastal restoration for counties and cities…” (Read more)

Obama visits Louisiana as it cleans up after Isaac
By Rick Jervis, USA Today. September 3, 2012.
“LAPLACE, La. – Nearly a week after Hurricane Isaac plowed through this New Orleans suburb, city streets here still resembled a battle zone: Military Humvees lined up in a Walmart parking lot. Volunteers handed out bags of ice. Residents carried piles of debris — soggy mattresses, collapsed coffee tables, stained picture frames — from wrecked homes…” (Read more)

Officials seek answers to unusual flood levels
By David J. Mitchell, The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA). September 4, 2012.
“GRAND POINT — The presidents of St. James and Ascension parishes say that Hurricane Isaac brought worse flooding to their communities than anyone expected and they are looking for answers as to why that happened and what can be done to prevent it in the future…” (Read more)

Jindal Wants Expansion of Levee System That Guarded New Orleans
By Mark Niquette and Bradley Olson, Bloomberg News. August 31, 2012.
“The $14.5 billion project after Hurricane Katrina to improve New Orleans levees passed Isaac’s test, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said…” (Read more)

Hurricane Isaac highlights gaps in flood protection, U.S. senators say
By Sarah Carr and Gordon Russell, The Times-Picayune. September 2, 2012.
“A group of high-ranking elected officials and top Army brass Saturday hailed the first major test of the New Orleans metropolitan area’s new flood protection system during Hurricane Isaac as a heartening success. But they attached several sobering caveats to their celebratory speeches during an afternoon news conference overlooking the Mississippi River…” (Read more)

Oiled animals found in Myrtle Grove marshes in wake of Hurricane Isaac
By Stephen Babcock, The Times-Picayune. September 2, 2012.
“While surveying pollution in the wake of Hurricane Isaac, teams found new oil and oiled animals Sunday in the vicinity of two inactive oil production facilities near Myrtle Grove, the U.S. Coast Guard said…” (Read more)

Army Corps will model Isaac to see whether New Orleans levee improvements worsened flooding elsewhere
By Gordon Russell, The Times-Picayune. September 1, 2012.
“The Army Corps of Engineers says it will run computer models to determine whether the New Orleans metropolitan area’s new hurricane-protection system exacerbated flooding in areas outside the system that were inundated by Hurricane Isaac’s storm surge. Officials in a number of those communities, including Lafitte and St. John the Baptist Parish, have said they believe the improved protection for the city and its inner suburbs helped push the water into areas outside the system…” (Read more)