Beyond Katrina

Katrina, Rita and the Houma: A Nation in Recovery

Reznet, the online newspaper for Native America, has been covering  the impact of the hurricanes of 2005 on Louisiana indigenous coastal tribes via a  year long project, "Katrina, Rita and the Houma". Journalism students Mary Hudetz, a Crow reporter from the University of Montana, and Martina Rose Lee, a Navajo photojournalist from Arizona State University, collaborated  with veteran  journalists Victor Merina, a former Los Angeles Times investigative reporter, and multimedia journalist Steven A. Chin to produce the special report.  See the special report, here.

An anonymous commenter at the Reznet website posts the following:

• Bayou Landfall: The Houma Nation vs. The Hurricanes is a documentary that chronicles the struggles of The United Houma Nation after the hurricanes swept ashore on the Louisiana coast. The film has been shown internationally and won the 2006 Alan Fortunoff Humanitarian award at the Long Island International Film Festival. Please visit www.snowflakevideo.com for more information about Leslye Abbey's films.
• Bayou Landfall will be screened at the Global Green Indigenous Film Festival in Santa Fe, New Mexico on Friday, April 18, 2008, 10 AM at the Santa Fe Film Center at Cinema Cafe, 1616 St. Michael's Drive and again on Sunday, April 20, 2008, 4 PM at the Center for Contemporary Arts, 1050 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe. For additional festival details, please visit: www.globalgreenfilmfestival.com

John Verret, Bayou du Large, LA. (c) Matthew White

Louisiana coastal photographer Matthew White was in Terrebonne Parish last fall documenting  endangered landscapes  inhabited by the Houma Indians and other native coastal tribes  with traditional guide, Captain John Verret.  To see Matthew's photographs of Terrebonne Parish go here. (click the X upper right of slides if you prefer to view captioned photos.)

as named the Jazz Museum at the Old U.S. Mint as one of 100 projects it is funding in the National Park Service Centennial program this year

Louisiana Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu has announced $6 million in state and federal funding that will make a world-class Jazz Museum at the Old U.S. Mint in New Orleans a reality.  Continue at Jazz Times...

Churches band together to help Katrina victims

It's still a mess down there. They're projecting 10 years to bring it close to normalcy."

Seven Catholic parishes from Sheboygan, Sheboygan Falls and Kohler Wisconsin  have banded together to send 13 people [to New Orleans] this year, and the group already has committed to going back in 2009. As they did last year, the volunteers will build a house through the auspices of Habitat for Humanity. Continue here.

12 to Slidell — volunteers feel Katrina’s presence

Eleven volunteers from St. Patrick Church in Youngstown, Ohio went to Slidell, La., from April 11-18. Their impressions of the recovery efforts in post-Katrina Slidell are here.

Judge: Corps can be sued for flood

A federal court judge cleared the way Friday for the Army Corps of Engineers to face trial on claims that defects in its Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet destroyed wetlands and turned the navigation channel into a funnel for storm surge. Continue at Nola.com.

Everglades: Return of the blue-green plague?

From the Palm Beach Post:

"The algae's reappearance spotlights the importance of cleaning up Lake Okeechobee, a job that, done correctly, could cost at least $2 billion. Even after pressure from Gov. Crist, the Legislature appropriated just a paltry $50 million for Everglades and lake projects, not even close to what will be needed for either next year. Gov. Crist had asked for $200 million, with half going to the Everglades and the other $100 million to the lake". continue here.

Loew's Eyes the Everglades

I'll be monitoring this story closely from here on...

From Time Magazine:

As you drive west out of Miami along a road called Tamiami Trail, you come to a tract where you can feel the sprawl ending and the Everglades beginning. On your right, across the road from the last strip mall, is a large parcel of wetlands and pine trees protected by Miami-Dade County's Urban Development Boundary (UBD), a line drawn in the marsh to keep South Florida builders from encroaching any further on this unique ecosystem. Lowe's, the home improvement chain, wants to move the border so it can erect a new store on more than 20 acres of the wetlands; further south, developers want to hop the line to build a commercial park and thousands of new homes. Continue here.

Legislators find $50 million for Everglades

This is indeed good news!

TALLAHASSEE — After declaring that Florida's budget woes were so grim that they had to cut off funding for the restoration of the Everglades, legislative leaders quickly reversed themselves Monday, finding an extra $50 million to fund the massive environmental cleanup project. continue at the Herald Tribune...

First tropical wave of the year Rolls into Altantic

No worries, says Dr. Jeff Masters of Weather Underground ---sea surface temperatures aren't warm enough at this time to support serious tropical storm development. Still, as Dr. Jeff says, let this be the warning...Hurricane Season 2008 is about to commence...

After change at top, divisions remain at National Hurricane Center, report says

Beyond Katrina extensively covered Bill Proenza's chaotic departure from the NHC last year. Now an independent study says "the National Hurricane Center is still riddled with morale problems and internal conflicts". New NHC Director Bill Read says 'no worries'. The study is only intended to help fix the problems at the center. Ken Kaye of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports here. (I am not losing sleep over this one. I have full confidence in the competencies of the good men and women who do our forecasting at the National Hurricane Center. I've been tracking with these folks through Hilda, Betsy, Camille, Andrew, Katrina and Rita. It's the unprepared citizens in hurricane prone areas that are a bit more frightening. That said the Atlantic hurricane season is less than thirty days away now. It's time to get  prepared.

Katrina Recovery In Ocean Springs Tough To Characterize

An update on recovery progress in the lovely town of Ocean Springs, Mississippi Here.

River's ebb leads to spillway closure

Here's the scoop on the closing of the Bonnet Carre Spillway via The Times-Picayune...

Plaquemines Parish Louisiana Gets 5.3M For Coast

United States Senator Mary Landrieu, D-La., today announced that $5,325,152 in federal funds will be directed toward the construction of a beach and marsh platform along Bay Joe Wise Plaquemines Parish La. The project on the bay’s northern Gulf of Mexico shoreline is an example of the crucial efforts statewide to restore Louisiana’s coast. Continue at Bayou Buzz

Storm protection project stalls again

WASHINGTON -- Long-awaited hurricane protection for Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes in South Louisiana has hit another snag as the Bush administration raised new objections about the cost.Despite a congressional directive last year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is balking at starting work on a 72-mile levee project shielding 150,000 people around Houma from storms sweeping in from the Gulf of Mexico. Continue at nola.com. 

Mississippi River sediment piling up

NEW ORLEANS — With the Mississippi River flow increasing, several people expressed concern Friday morning that increased sedimentation could exacerbate existing problems with shallow downstream channels. Continue at The Advocate.

UNO study: Katrina 'greatly affected' state's political landscape

NEW ORLEANS - Hurricane Katrina changed voter demographics in a way that "greatly affected the political landscape of both the metropolitan New Orleans area and the state," the University of New Orleans said today in releasing the results of a study by UNO political scientist Edward Chervenak. Continue at New Orleans City Business.

Statement from Corp of Engineers - Bonne Carre Spillway Opening

The following is a statement released by the Corps of Engineers regarding
the Bonnet Carre Spillway being opened on Friday.

VICKSBURG, Miss. -- Heavy rain in the Mississippi Valley is prompting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to open the Bonnet Carre Spillway on Friday, April 11, 2008, for the first time in 11 years.

The Corps will open the spillway to keep the volume of Mississippi River flows at New Orleans from exceeding 1.25 million cubic feet per second  (cfs), which current projections indicate will occur on April 11, 2008. The spillway may be open for an estimated two to four week period, during which time the Mississippi is expected to crest at about 17 feet at New Orleans, without operation of the spillway. Operation of the structure  will relieve pressure on local levees, lower river stages, and reduce the velocity of the river current from the spillway southward.

The decision to open Bonnet Carre is the responsibility of Mississippi River Commission President Brig. Gen. Michael  Walsh, commander of the Corps' Mississippi Valley Division in Vicksburg, Miss.

Environmental, hydrologic, structural, navigational and legal considerations all bear on the decision to open Bonnet Carre. Essentially, the spillway is only operated when existing conditions, combined with
predicted discharges, reach the operational level as prescribed in the approved Bonnet Carre Spillway Operations Manual and the Mississippi Valley Division Operations Plan 2007-02 for Floods.

Other factors that affect the decision are the overall condition of the levees and the ability of the river to pass flows, and the effects high water and river currents may have on vessels navigating the river,
including the risk of vessels losing control and colliding with levees.

Bonnet Carre, located 28 miles above New Orleans, is a vital element of the multi-state Mississippi River and Tributaries (MR&T) system, which  uses a variety of features to provide flood protection to the alluvial Mississippi Valley from Cape Girardeau, Mo., to Head of Passes.  MR&T  features include levees and floodwalls to contain flood flows, floodways (such as Bonnet Carre) to redirect high flows out of the Mississippi River, reservoirs and pumping plants for flood control drainage, and
channel improvement and stabilization features to protect the levees and improve navigation of the river.

Bonnet Carre is the southernmost floodway in the MR&T system.  Located on the east bank in St. Charles Parish, it can divert a portion of the river's floodwaters via Lake Pontchartrain into the Gulf of Mexico, thus allowing high water to bypass New Orleans and other nearby river  communities.  The structure has a design capacity of 250,000 cfs, the equivalent of roughly 1,870,000 gallons per second.

The Bonnet Carre structure consists of a control structure and a floodway.  The control structure is a concrete weir that parallels the river for a mile and a half.  It consists of 350 gated bays, each holding 20 timber "needles," for a total of 7,000 needles. When needles are removed, river water flows into the floodway and is conveyed nearly six miles between guide levees to the lake. Operation of the structure is relatively simple. Two cranes, moving on tracks atop the structure, lift timbers from their vertical position in the weir and set them aside.  A complete opening of all 350 bays is not planned at this time.

Bonnet Carre was first opened during the flood of 1937; since then it has operated seven other times, during high water in 1945, 1950, 1973, 1975, 1979, 1983, and 1997.  The flood of 1997 was the last time the spillway was operated.

Mississippi River rising

Ferries halted; spillway opening as river swells

With the Mississippi River cresting beyond the National Weather Service’s previous predictions and even higher than the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers anticipated, precautions are now in motion to prevent potentially catastrophic flooding along the river’s lower portions.From Thursday’s closure of ferry operations near St. Francisville to today’s rare opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway to the south near Norco, both public and private interests began preparations. Continue at The Advocate.

New Orleans Flood Statement

The National Weather Service has issued a Flood Warning for New Orleans.

THE FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AT NEW ORLEANS. * FROM LATE SATURDAY NIGHT UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE...OR UNTIL THE WARNING IS CANCELLED. * AT  7:00 AM FRIDAY THE STAGE WAS 16.7 FEET. * MINOR FLOODING IS FORECAST. * FLOOD STAGE IS 17.0 FEET. * FORECAST...THE RIVER IS EXPECTED TO RISE TO NEAR FLOOD STAGE EARLY SUNDAY MORNING. * IMPACT...AT 17.0 FEET...THE RIVER WILL RISE ON THE LEVEE MAKING NAVIGATION AND DOCKING DIFFICULT. THE CITY IS PROTECTED TO A PROJECT HEIGHT OF 20 FEET. * THE BONNET CARRE SPILLWAY IS EXPECTED TO BE OPENED TODAY.

The Sixth Annual Grand Isle Juried Exhibition/April 12 - 20, 2008

Lake Pontchartrain, 11/07 --copyright Matthew White

Matthew White was selected to show some of his photography in the 6th Annual  Grand Isle , La. Juried Exhibition.  The exhibition theme, “Water Consciousness” will spotlight works relating the natural beauty and potential loss of the island and the surrounding wetlands. The goal of the Exhibition is to raise awareness of Louisiana’s coastal erosion through an artist’s eye and to encourage the creation and preservation of images of this culture and its disappearing habitat for future generations. Works selected will be on exhibit at the Grand Isle Community Center, Hwy. 1, Grand Isle, Louisiana April 12 - 20.  A reception and awards presentation will be held on April 20 2008.

Click here to view images.

Schedule Announced for St. Francisville, White Castle Ferries

   

The Department of Transportation has closed the St. Francisville and White Castle ferries because rising waters have flooded access roads to the ferries.Ferry service at these two locations is suspended until water levels recede.Starting Friday morning, DOTD will move the White Castle ferry to the Plaquemine ferry landing and will run two boats every 15 minutes - one from each side - at the Plaquemine landing from 5:30am to 9:30am and 3:30pm to 7:30pm, Monday through Friday. Continue here.

New Orleans Flood Statement

The National Weather Service has issued a Flood Warning for New Orleans

THE FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AT NEW ORLEANS. * FROM LATE SATURDAY NIGHT UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE...OR UNTIL THE WARNING IS CANCELLED. * AT 7:00 PM THURSDAY THE STAGE WAS 16.9 FEET. * MINOR FLOODING IS FORECAST. * THE FLOOD STAGE IS 17.0 FEET. * FORECAST...THE RIVER IS VERY NEAR FLOOD STAGE AND IS EXPECTED TO FLUCTUATE NEAR FLOOD STAGE THROUGHOUT THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. * IMPACT...AT 17.0 FEET...THE RIVER WILL RISE ON THE LEVEE MAKING NAVIGATION AND DOCKING DIFFICULT. THE CITY IS PROTECTED TO A PROJECT HEIGHT OF 20 FEET. * THE BONNET CARRE SPILLWAY WILL LIKELY BE OPENED TOMORROW TO LIMIT THE FLOW PAST NEW ORLEANS AND PREVENT FURTHER RISES AT THE CARROLLTON GAUGE.

Corps to open bonnet Carre Spillway for first time in 11 years

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The Army Corps of Engineers plans to open the Bonnet Carre Spillway for the first time in 11 years on Friday, because of heavy rain in the Mississippi Valley. Coninue here.

Flood Warning - New Orleans

The National Weather Service has issued a Flood Warning for New Orleans.

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NEW ORLEANS/BATON ROUGE HAS ISSUED A * FLOOD WARNING FOR THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AT NEW ORLEANS. * FROM SUNDAY MORNING UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE...OR UNTIL THE WARNING IS CANCELLED. * AT 11:00 AM THURSDAY THE STAGE WAS 16.6 FEET. * MINOR FLOODING IS FORECAST. * FLOOD STAGE IS 17.0 FEET. * FORECAST...THE RIVER IS EXPECTED TO RISE TO NEAR FLOOD STAGE SUNDAY MORNING. * IMPACT...AT 17.0 FEET...THE RIVER WILL RISE ON THE LEVEE MAKING NAVIGATION AND DOCKING DIFFICULT. THE CITY IS PROTECTED TO A PROJECT HEIGHT OF 20 FEET. * THE BONNET CARRE SPILLWAY IS EXPECTED TO BE OPENED ON FRIDAY THE 11TH.

Call for Speakers/Ideas: Katrina Event in Houston, Texas

I am working on a Katrina/Rita related program or event for a Foreign Media Tour of Houston, Texas ---March 5-7. The theme is how Americans view health care, the economy, and immigration in an election year. Since Houston is a  major gulf coast city that has also been impacted by the hurricanes of 2005,  there may be room in the schedule for a Katrina/Rita related program.  If you are a Katrina survivor who has relocated to Houston, or an individual or group working on behalf of Hurricane Katrina recovery issues,  I would like to speak with  you regarding  ideas  for this event. This is a great  opportunity to support the cause - i.e. to brief the foreign media  and help them better understand  issues and challenges related to ongoing gulf coast hurricane issues as well as recovery and rebuilding efforts post-Katrina.  If you have an interesting idea or contribution to make towards this endeavor,  please contact me at beyondkatrina@gmail.com.

Margaret Saizan
Beyond Katrina: The Voice of Hurricane & Disaster Recovery
www.hurricane-katrina.org.

help foreign political reporters better understand the role of local and state governments, parties, and lobbying organizations in U.S. elections.  To deepen the reporters’ understanding of the 2008 contest, the tour will also focus on key issues that both parties and all candidates are debating:  the economy, immigration, and health care. 

Images from New Orleans Mardi Gras

City of New Orleans from Algiers Ferry - © 2008 Matthew White

The above photograph  of the New Orleans skyline was taken by photographer Matthew White on the morning of Fat Tuesday as he made  his approach into New Orleans to take Mardi Gras pix. He said the crowds were lighter this year, and some have chalked that up to the fact that the city's most famous celebration  fell so early this year.  I had a very emotional reaction to this particular image - the metaphor is obvious I think. As it is said every  picture is worth a thousand words. For more of Matthew's images of Mardi Gras 2008  check out his image gallery.

An Invitation from Governor-Elect Bobby Jindal

As Inauguration approaches, I wanted to take the opportunity to invite you to some of the Inaugural events in the coming days. This is a very exciting time for our state, and I hope that you will be able to join us to celebrate.

This coming Saturday, January 12, we will be holding the “Believe in Louisiana” Inaugural Family Festival at the Sheraton Baton Rouge Convention Center Capitol Atrium. This free festival will have activities for children, musical entertainment, door prizes and a variety of foods from around the state.  I know that this will be a very enjoyable afternoon for children and adults alike. Information regarding time and place is below.

Believe in Louisiana Inaugural Family Festival
The Sheraton Baton Rouge Convention Center Capitol Atrium
102 France Street
Baton Rouge, LA 70802
Saturday January 12, 2008
2:00pm – 6:00pm

I would also like to invite you to the Inauguration Ceremony on Monday, January 14. Statewide officials, including myself, will be taking their oaths of office at the State Capitol in what promises to be an historic day for our state. The people of Louisiana have called for change, and Inauguration Day brings an official start to turning our state around.

Inauguration Ceremony
Monday January 14, 2008
11:30 AM
Steps of Louisiana State Capitol

I am looking forward to taking office, and I want to take one more opportunity to thank you for your support. Without it, these events would not have been possible. I look forward to seeing you Saturday and again on Monday!

Sincerely,

Bobby Jindal

Governor Blanco's Final Column

It has been one incredible ride - and the honor of a lifetime - to serve as your governor during this most challenging of times.

Eleanor Roosevelt said "A woman is like a tea bag - you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water." In my case, it just happened to be the greatest natural disaster in American history.

When you face the unprecedented, you give it your all. You don't worry about headlines. You trust history to bring perspective to an incomparable situation. And you keep working.

That's what I've done, and I leave office proud to hand over a strong fiscal environment with sound accomplishments that will lead Louisiana well into the future.

Until now, public education has never been the priority in Louisiana, but we have truly put education first. From expanding Pre-K to funding teacher pay at the Southern Regional Average to fully funding our colleges or universities and investing in new technology, our r