Weekly News Summary For October 13-19, 2008:
In a meeting billed as the Rainfall and River Forecasting Summit, three federal agencies concerned with the rivers met in St. Louis on October 7 through 9 to mull over lessons learned from the floods of 2008.
In between two days of closed meetings, top representatives of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. Geologic Survey held a public open house on October 8 to hear concerns from industry and interested members of the public. Besides flooding croplands and some downtowns, such as Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the unprecedented high water levels cost the barge industry millions.
The summit’s purpose, a brochure stated, was to “discuss what went well with forecasting during the recent flood events, what did not go well and forecasting improvements that can be made by the agencies for future floods and low water events.”
The morning session was opened by Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh, chief of the Mississippi Valley Division of the Army Corps of Engineers. He gave an overview of the situation he faced when he took command in February 2008, since the winter’s heavy snowfall was part of the build-up to the summer’s floods. Some parts of the upper Midwest, he said, experienced 200 percent of their normal precipitation. The Cairo river gauge was already at flood stage by February.
To cope with the spring and summer flood, the Corps had to move $50 million worth of assets to the Upper Mississippi. From May to July, four separate “storm events,” hard on each other’s heels, brought six to 10 inches of rain apiece in short periods. Gauging stations recorded 47 record measurements…
The National Industrial Transportation League has called on the two presidential candidates to describe what specific measures they would take as president to address the problems of the nation’s freight transportation system. In separate, but essentially identical letters to Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), Bruce Carlton, president of the NIT League, said that over the course of the election campaign, few details from the two candidates have been forthcoming “on what measures your administration would consider or the priorities you would establish in this area.”
Carlton noted that the current surface transportation authorization law, SAFETEA-LU, will expire next year and that with such problems as traffic congestion and infrastructure maintenance facing the nation, “bold new leadership and new ideas on effective ways to meet these national challenges must be offered.”
In asking for information from the two presidential contenders, Carlton said, “we need to know what approaches, programs and plans each candidate intends to pursue to building our nation’s freight transportation system including its infrastructure which is so vital for the nation’s economic growth and well-being.”…
Galveston’s beaches still feature debris including tires and the occasional rotting cow carcass. The October 7 discovery of the body of a victim brought Texas’ official death toll from Hurricane Ike to 37 (79 nationwide). And in some parts of Galveston the tide sucked away all the sand, leaving bare rocks. Galveston’s mayor, Lyda Ann Thomas, has asked the federal government for $100 million to help restore its beaches, which pump millions into the city’s economy in good times. Entergy Corporation, the area’s utility, only restored the last customers’ power on Sept. 30.
But Galveston’s port officials say the port is getting back to capacity and the mood is positive.
Mike Mierzwa, Galveston’s deputy director of ports, said that while many offices and warehouses were damaged by a storm surge estimated at 13 or 14 feet, some made out better than others due to their elevation. Elevated terminal buildings suffered only a few feet of flooding. Mierzwa said a grain elevator operated by ADM was heavily damaged and not yet open…
Having recently put four new towboats into service, Higman Marine Services, based in Houston, Texas, continues to steadily expand its fleet of towboats. The growing transporter of petroleum and petroleum-based products now has 41 vessels, 26 of which—including the most recent newbuilds—were constructed by Hope Services Inc. in Dulac, La.
One of the new boats is named for the company’s founder, Capt. Jack Higman. He was a pharmacist from an affluent family in Orange, Texas. In 1917, he and a partner, Louis Smailhall, formed Higman Towing Company to haul logs on the Sabine River to a sawmill in Orange.
The firm started with two small tugs and three barges that the two partners used to also transport fresh water to various places in Louisiana. They divided the responsibilities; Higman was in charge of obtaining business for the partnership while Smailhall saw to the actual operation and maintenance of the boats and barges.
In 1922, Higman sold his interest in the partnership to Dr. E.W. Brown, also of Orange. By then, some crude oil was beginning to move by barge, and as demand for the movement of logs and water waned and that of crude oil increased, the company changed its focus. In 1953, it bought three boats and 10 barges—the entire marine fleet of the former Pan American Refining Company—to keep pace with the growing demand….
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