Weekly News Summary For March 6-12, 2006:
Ingram Barge Company barge ING 4727, which surfed through a failed levee on the Industrial Canal in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and became a must-see on the flood-damage tours of the Lower Ninth Ward, is about to be cut up and removed.
Titan Marine, a Fort Lauderdale-based salvage company hired by Ingram, lifted the barge on industrial-strength air bags for engineers and lawyers to get a final look before cutting torches dismantle the barge in the next week. A judge has ordered parts of the barge to be saved for courtroom evidence, while the remainder will be sold for scrap.
The 200- by 35-foot dry-cargo hopper barge was chartered to Lafarge North American and delivered a load of cement to Lafarge’s plant on the west side of the Industrial Canal just before Katrina roared ashore on August 29, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
At some point, the empty barge broke loose from its moorings, presumably a result of the massive storm surge, which also deposited other barges on top of nearby bridge fenders and on levees throughout the area.
The massive flooding of the Ninth Ward area of New Orleans and much of adjoining St. Bernard Parish resulted from that levee breach and from storm surge waters topping or destroying parts of the levees along the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MR-GO). A staggering 30,000 homes were flooded from those breaches.
For many blocks around the barge, no homes remain intact. Most are simply gone—victims of the powerful currents of water that surged through the levee breach and carried the barge ashore. Those houses that remain around the fringes of the area are shattered hulks. Some slabs remain, testifying to the location of former homes.
A few trees still stand. There are cars, too, but most are upturned.
Near the barge, workers of Cajun Contractors were driving sheet piles deep into the repaired earthen levee, providing support as the Army Corps of Engineers and its contractors work feverishly to prepare for the next hurricane season, officially due to start June 1….
Involved parties have agreed to a 45-day delay in the pending sale of London-based ports operator Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation (P&O) to the United Arab Emirates-based Dubai Ports World, allowing time for a more thorough investigation.
P&O operates six major U.S. ports, including those in New York; Newark, N.J.; Miami; Baltimore; Philadelphia; and New Orleans, in addition to several other smaller ports.
The sale raised a firestorm of congressional dissent with members of both political parties complaining that the sale to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) might pose security risks because, critics charged, the predominantly Muslim country was soft on money laundering, was a trans-shipment point for smuggled nuclear materials, was the base of at least two of the World Trade Center bombers, and is one of only three countries that still recognizes the Taliban as Afghanistan’s official government….
The Port of New Orleans Board of Commissioners approved a proposed riverfront development agreement with the City of New Orleans that aspires to create new public spaces and commercial development along the New Orleans riverfront.
The agreement must now be approved by the city to go into effect.
The port has agreed to reserve several of its docks between Jackson Avenue and the Industrial Canal for public access mixed with commercial and retail development. Potential projects include parks, hotels, a riverfront amphitheater, shops and other developments. The port’s cruise and cargo operations will continue in the area as well.
The docks where commercial development will be permitted are not suitable for the large-scale cargo terminals like the ones the port has between Jackson Avenue and Audubon Park….
The Northwestern Engineer Division announced it will not conduct a spring rise this month because the amount of water in the system of Missouri River reservoirs is too low.
It would have been the first spring rise conducted as part of the revised Missouri River master water control manual. The release of water from upstream reservoirs is designed to mimic the historical ebb and flow of the Missouri River to assist in the spawning of the endangered pallid sturgeon.
There was 36.3 million acre feet (maf.) of water stored in the reservoirs on March 1. This is below the storage preclude of 36.5 maf., which is part of the technical criteria contained in the revised master manual.
Early February estimates by the Corps indicated that there may have been enough water in system storage for a March pulse, but Larry Cieslik, chief of the water management office, said weather patterns changed, resulting in the lower storage….
The main chamber at Locks 27 on the Chain of Rocks Canal reopened on February 25—five days ahead of schedule.
“Probably the two biggest factors that enabled us to finish early were the mild winter weather and the lessons we learned earlier from the work on the auxiliary lock,” said Jay Fowler, resident engineer for the project. “One allowed us to proceed almost unhindered, while the other allowed us and Midwest (Foundation Corporation) to improve our processes and save some time.”
Midwest Foundation Corporation of Tremont, Ill., is the contractor performing the maintenance.
The auxiliary lock chamber was closed on October 17, 2005, as the first part of the two-phase rehabilitation project to replace the 50-plus-year-old lift-gate machinery and counterweights in both the main and auxiliary chambers. The auxiliary chamber reopened on December 22, prior to the main chamber closing on January 3….
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