Disasters: Whew!: Looks like New Orleans will 'take a pass' on Ernesto

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According to the latest report I've seen (Russell McCulley, "New Orleans hopes for miss as Ernesto nears," Scotsman):

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Storm-weary New Orleans residents were relieved to hear Tropical Storm Ernesto was likely to give the jazz city a miss but prepared for the worst on Sunday just in case it turned towards them just a year after Hurricane Katrina hit.

"I have strong faith that it's not going to come here," said Jose Awill, purchasing supplies at a hardware store.

"That devastation we went through last year, I believe, was once in a lifetime," he said. "But if they tell us to go, there's not much I can do but pack up my truck and go."

Forecasters said Ernesto could become a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of nearly 100 mph (160 kph) in the Gulf, and its most likely path would take it ashore on Florida's west coast south of Tampa midweek.

But the storm cast a shadow over events commemorating the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which struck the Gulf Coast August 29, 2005, killing about 1,500 and stranding thousands more in flood waters in New Orleans.

North America > USA

In the providenc of God, however, Cuba has had more than its fair share of hurricanes, and now seems likely to get the full force of Ernesto (last name "Guevarra"?). Still in New Orleans, there was an anxiety-driven pre-'cane tension reaching all the way up to the Federal admin vs the Army Engineers. The latter said the Levees were the best they could be under the circumstances but not reliable were the hurricane force to reach Level 3, like last year. Associated Press via Wired reports:

NEW ORLEANS -- The head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conceded Saturday that despite aggressive efforts to repair the levee system in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, it was unclear whether it could hold up to a sizable hurricane this year.

Lt. General Carl Strock, the commander of the Corps, said the agency was carefully tracking Tropical Storm Ernesto, which was spinning in the Caribbean and projected to reach hurricane strength by Tuesday.

He was confident the Corps had done all it could to repair and reinforce 220 miles of levee walls, but he conceded he couldn't be sure whether the system would withstand Ernesto if reached Category 3 status and struck near New Orleans, as Katrina did Aug. 29, 2005.

Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who appeared at a news conference with Strock, said her office was carefully watching the storm and would order evacuations it they became necessary.

She said that although she is not happy with the current strength of the levee system, she believes as much work as possible was done in the year since Katrina.

But a different approach dominates the report in John Heilprin's equally AP article via Lycos News, tho perhaps more easily discreditable due to its source in the US Federal admin.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal emergency officials claim the New Orleans levee system is ready for another major hurricane, despite the less-optimistic views of other political leaders and engineers.

"I think we're in good shape," Don Powell, the Bush administration's coordinator of Gulf Coast rebuilding, said Sunday. "There's no question in my mind, we're ready."

The levees failed after Hurricane Katrina, a Category 4 storm, roared ashore a year ago, flooding the city of New Orleans. The levees were built to withstand a Category 3 storm; the highest level is a Category 5.

Whether the city is ready or not could be tested soon by Hurricane Ernesto, the first of the Atlantic season, with winds of 75 mph that could grow into a Category 3 hurricane by Thursday. The storm was projected to make landfall in Haiti on Sunday and to bring rain and wind to southern Florida by early Tuesday.

Whatever the case may be, there's no excuse for the pork-barrell approach to rebuilding New Orleans. Taxpayers should never have been called upon to restore the city to its former "pristine" glory. The Engineers are probably entirely correct, and it may not be only a "once in a life time" event that New Orleans will have to cope with again next year or the year after (no, I don't have the gift of prophecy, at least as far as I know). I already expressed my views on rebuiliding New Orleans, and haven't changed them since. But my first take was a response to Kanye West's racist televised racist attack on President Bush.