Katrina, Preludes and Aftermaths

Via J. Kelly Nestruck, it seems Ottawa radio stations have stopped playing the Tragically Hip's "New Orleans Is Sinking" to be sensitve to what's happening in Louisiana. Moving right along...

While the gulf coast (New Orleans, Biloxi, etc.) flooding from hurricane Katrina has not reached 'Tsunami disaster" levels (as some American officials have suggested), it's still a major disaster that's having repercussions in the rest of North America.

For one thing, oil production has more or less stopped in the gulf coast, considering the rigs are missing, though the US government is preparing to open up its emergency reserves. Still, expect prices to keep going up in the next little while, oil scarcity or no.

Meanwhile, on the softwood lumber front, one housing advocate is asking for Canadian lumber duties to be dropped so a greater supply of lumber can help with the rebuilding efforts. A spokesman for Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports stated instead that the duties would be exempt ONLY for donated lumber from Canada (I would HOPE that they wouldn't be stupid enough to keep duties imposed on lumber that we're giving away for free). What I don't understand is that their supply won't be enough to keep prices low while they rebuild and with a fresh supply of Canadian lumber, they'd be able to rebuild quicker. This especially since parts hit hardest are also where much of their poor were living. Are they that adamant in protecting their lumber market to prevent building efforts to be more effective (And hearing that Home Depot stock prices are skyrocketing before and after the hurricane is why I love capitalism so much...winners and losers, all around...).

Meanwhile, PM Martin's finally getting around to calling President Bush on sending our sympathies and offering aid. Now, he also plans to discuss the softwood lumber issue at this time (since people were clamouring for him to do it, oh, 3 weeks ago but I guess it's better than never...oh wait, no it's not. Though, maybe it's because Martin didn't want the long distance charges to Crawford.). In any case, US Ambassador David Wilkins is probably right in saying Bush probably doesn't care about softwood lumber right now. My advice? Wait until New Orleans and other submerged cities have been drained and US cities get hammered with high lumber prices...that's when Martin should call.

As to Opposition criticism of our government's slow response to this incident, I'm not sure what's going on. On the one hand, as Anne McClellan states, we've offered our aid support...no word on US invitations. This from DailyKos seems to indicate that DART and other teams such as Vancouver's Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) are ready to go but again, we're waiting for the US to give us the go-ahead. Maybe it's not CONCLUSIVE evidence that we were quick to respond, but it's more than what the Opposition is offering as proof.

Finally, some have begun to wonder aloud whether the damage to New Orleans could have been minimized. Not going on a Bush-bashing here, but the Army Corps of Engineers themselves admit that funding towards projects to shore up flood control projects were diverted to the War in Iraq. A question of priorities, I guess, though I'll bet locals are now wondering whether they've got their priorties straight.

Funding aside, this was also a geographical disaster waiting to happen. Scientific American published in 2001 an extensive article on New Orleans' risk if a hurricane came barrelling down on them. Having a city built between A giant lake and the Mississippi river was probably never a good idea to begin with. But we wanted to think we could control nature, so we built barriers, levees, canals and channeled the river straight into the ocean so we could get to our oil.

Hindsight being 20/20, we realize now that the levees and the channeling prevent fresh sediment from replacing the soil in the marshes and deltas that have dampered storms from ages past. Not only do tides wash away sediment, now saline water from the ocean are creeping further into the delta and killing off the mangrove and other wetlands, thus losing further protection. Meanwhile, for all the pumps and canals that drain New Orleans when smaller storms hit, they also drain away groundwater seepage, causing further subsidence in the city (literally, New Orleans IS sinking), and creating a deeper bowl. Where did the water get pumped to? Lake Pontchartrain, because well, it needs more water. So when levees broke on the lake, the city got flooded. But it's staying that way because our own man-made barriers are keeping the water in. Double-edged swords, we've made for ourselves.

The thing is, this isn't a new phenomenon. The Corps and researchers were well aware of the situation. Years of bickering and self-interest delayed projects from ever starting. Finally a plan came to consensus and things were under way. This was a win-win situation for them. New Orleans would replenish its wetlands and coastal marshes to dampen future storms. It would become a case study on how to save many of the other developed coastal wetlands in the world. The US would've been a world leader in this area.

Then Katrina happened, and they've been pushed back years. But they will have a chance to make it better. New Orleans will be rebuilt. The question is, how will they do so? If the mentality is,

"The levees will be made bigger and stronger. American engineers will not give in. They tamed the Mississippi on its run to the sea. They aim to tame it there as well."

then they're screwed. It's not that I think they can't make bigger levees. It's that it won't solve the problem. It's not working against nature, it should be working with. Rivers meander for a reason (slows down the current). Sediment get deposited for a reason. Marshes and wetlands have dampened storms for longer than we've settled here. So why build structures that would indirectly ruin these natural features? Lousiana has plans to do just that. They just need money from the US Federal Government. It's up to Bush now to step up with the money.

Oh and one more thing. Stop SHOOTING the people trying to help you. Ass.