Editorial: Levee/Floodwall Talk Should Be In No-Spin Zone

Hurricane Katrina has wreaked havoc across the Gulf, and Hurricane Rita is now trying to come center stage. Thousands have been victimized (by Katrina) already, and again thousands are scrambling for safety. We know at this writing only that Rita has become a very dangerous hurricane—category 5—and that rating may change several times before it makes landfall.

If there are positives to be found in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, surely one of them is that it has been a wake-up call to our nation. News coverage indicates we needed one. Serious mistakes were made at all levels.

Reports about the aftermath of Katrina, even while other major storms were forming in the Atlantic, have spurred serious conversations and evaluations in cities where floodwalls and levees exist. People want to know if they are safe. If anything, the citizens of the nation need honesty on levee and floodwall talk.

It’s difficult to fault the contention that if you don’t build in the floodplain, you probably won’t be flooded. But this discussion is being presented because we are dealing with people all over the nation who chose (and still choose) to build and live where their safety is not assured—in the floodplain or along coastal areas.

"To build or not to build?" asks the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on its "other views" page of September 20. The Post provided a platform for the discussion. The subject was floodplain development.

Featured in the Post were Lee McKinney, president of McKinney Associates, based in Chesterfield, Mo., and former district engineer for the St. Louis Engineer District; and Wayne Freeman, executive director for Great Rivers Habitat Alliance. McKinney, who discussed how sound, sensible developments can be built on the floodplain, is a paid consultant for St. Peters, Mo., and its Lakeside 370 floodplain development project. He says the St. Peters project is taking every step to protect development wisely. Freeman maintains that the public has to rein in out-of-control politicians, developers and the Corps of Engineers.

Our purpose is not to endorse either side in the debate. Our purpose is to emphasize that citizens whose homes and businesses can be damaged if levees or floodwalls fail need no carnival-barker hype to convince them that everything is hunky-dory or, on the other side of the argument, that the sky is falling. They simply need truth. If they choose to ignore reality, perhaps they should shoulder the financial burden resulting from their mistakes.

McKinney says the New Orleans levee system did not fail. It was two breaks in floodwalls that did the deed—the floodwall at the 17th Street Canal and the one at the London Street Canal.

Correct as that may be, the difference makes no difference. Victims don’t care whether the water poured through a broken levee or whether it swirled through a breached floodwall.

Interestingly, Chesterfield (Mo.) valley, located in the floodplain, was hard hit by the flood of 1993. The Post published a 2003 picture to illustrate some of the multi-billion-dollar development that has risen since 1993. Yet, we understand that the protective levee around St. Peters, designed to protect against a flood that might occur every 500 years, has not been completed.

With the tragedy of Katrina fresh in our memories, and with Rita steaming across the Gulf, it is not to be unexpected that questions might arise about the St. Peters levee. St. Louis folks have now learned that their flood-protection system needs some $15 million worth of work or it might fail. It was important to learn that.

McKinney makes strong arguments, based on decades of experience, as to why sensible development in floodplains can take place. Freeman counters with arguments as to why he thinks floodplains should be left floodplains.

Interestingly, lots of folks knew what had to be done to fix the levee and floodwall system to protect New Orleans, but politics reared its ugly head, and for decades the solution was left wanting. The failure falls on a lot of heads. Correcting the problem takes both time and money. In the meantime, some folks are again scampering for safety and wondering if New Orleans levees and floodwalls will be put to the test again.

Projects turn out only as good as the people in charge of them. Multi-year projects may end up being influenced by the decisions of many people over the years, particularly as elections change the power structure. Financing may become unavailable.

So we need a no-spin zone. No matter who is called upon to inform the people about flood-protection systems, politics should be left out of it. It is the government whose job it is to oversee floodplain projects and permitting. The failures at New Orleans were colossal.

The Waterways Journal encourages letters to the editor.
Have something on your mind?
Send letters to: jshoulberg@waterwaysjournal.net.
(Please indicate whether or not your letter is intended for publication.)