Levees Hold in New Orleans

Sept. 2, 2008

City avoids possible devastation as Hurricane Gustav weakens before making landfall

New Orleans seems to have avoided threats of devastation Monday, Sept. 1 when Hurricane Gustav came ashore 70 miles southwest of the city. Gustav was downgraded from a Category 3 hurricane to Category 2 before making landfall, the New York Times reported.

Although Gustav weakened to a tropical depression early Tuesday, Sept. 2 as it moved over central Louisiana, officials said it still remained a flood threat. It was forecast to move into northeast Texas late Sept. 2.

The levees in New Orleans held, despite the repair work from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 being far from finished. There was only ankle-to-knee-deep water on the streets on the edge of the Ninth Ward, although water splashed over the wall of the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal for hours, the newspaper reported.

Maj. Gen. Don T. Riley, deputy commanding general of the Army Corps of Engineers, said he did not expect any breaks in the levees this time.

“We’ve gotten no word of real flooding in the city,” Col. Jerry Sneed, the city’s emergency preparedness director, said. “We’re not getting any major destruction.”

At a news conference Sept. 1, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin refused to say when people would be allowed back in, but he said the public schools would reopen next week.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said a return would have to wait until debris was cleared and roads and bridges were inspected.

According to officials, at least seven people were killed—four in traffic accidents and three from falling trees in Baton Rouge and Lafayette—along with three patients who died as they were being evacuated to hospitals or nursing homes beyond the hurricane’s reach, the newspaper reported.

Gustav caused the closing of offshore oil platforms that handle a quarter of the nation’s petroleum production and left more than a million households without power, the newspaper reported.

Source: New York Times

Sponsored Recommendations

Blower Package Integration

March 20, 2024
See how an integrated blower package can save you time, money, and energy, in a wastewater treatment system. With package integration, you have a completely integrated blower ...

Strut Comparison Chart

March 12, 2024
Conduit support systems are an integral part of construction infrastructure. Compare steel, aluminum and fiberglass strut support systems.

Energy Efficient System Design for WWTPs

Feb. 7, 2024
System splitting with adaptive control reduces electrical, maintenance, and initial investment costs.

Blower Isentropic Efficiency Explained

Feb. 7, 2024
Learn more about isentropic efficiency and specific performance as they relate to blowers.