2005.12.06.TP Story Corps to Buy Property

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Times-Picayune Updates

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Corps: Land needed to rebuild levees By Mark Schleifsteinand Frank DonzeStaff writers û

The Army Corps of Engineers will need to buy at least 15 feet, and in some areas, as much as150 feet of property along some stretches of the 17th Street and London Avenue canals as part ofits effort to rebuild stronger levee walls in places that failed during Hurricane Katrina, a corpsofficial said Tuesday.

In the first public indication that levee reconstruction will require a buyout of private property near

the breaches, Fred Young, corps project manager for the levee reconstruction program, told anOrleans Levee Board committee that the additional space may be necessary for severalalternatives being considered for adding protection to the levee wall system.

“We’re only going to take what we require, and then our real estate people in our office will have totake care of that,” Young told reporters after addressing the board.

Young also told the board’s planning, engineering and construction committee that the corps isdesigning floodgates to be possibly installed at the ends of both canals that could be closed toblock hurricane storm surge, but would normally remain open to let pumped rainwater out of thecity. He said a decision on whether to install the gates has not yet been made.

Young said the foremost alternative to reinforce the canal’s levees is replacing the present I-wallsystem — a thin, concrete wall atop sheet pilings — along both canals with a stronger wall that

resembles an inverted T.

The T-wall design will be used in permanent repairs of sections of the 17th Street and LondonAvenue levee walls that were breached during Katrina, Young said, and could be used inreplacing other sections of those and other walls in New Orleans and other area parishes.

The design, which includes a wider levee and the addition of a series of long, H-shaped metal orconcrete pilings to support sheet piling running under the levee. The wider, concrete base of thewall would help reduce erosion of the levee if water were to pour over the wall.

The corps also is considering simply widening the earthen levee beneath the I wall design forparts of walls not breached, which would use the additional soil to block water from the canal thatmight seep beneath the wall’s sheet pilings.

It’s also considering whether a system of wells might be installed that would capture waterseeping beneath the pilings without undermining the walls and allow it to be pumped to anotherpart of the city’s drainage system. The wells could occupy what is now residential property alongthe canals.

The 15-foot area to be taken along the 17th Street and London Avenue levees will allow corps andlevee board officials access for inspections and maintenance, and was recommended by severalforensic investigative teams looking into why the levee walls failed, Young said.

Wider areas may be necessary for the seepage berms or well designs, he said. Young said thecorps was attempting to be as judicious as possible in determining what property may beacquired, and that the agency’s real estate staff already has begun research aimed at acquiringthe 15-foot border.

Acquiring the property also could reduce the chance that construction of a backyard swimming



pool or the growth of a large tree could affect the levee’s stability, he said.

“Our idea is to make sure some type of flood protection is done by June 1,” Young said. “If it takesa 40-foot berm for stability or a 150-foot berm for seepage, or relief wells in a berm, that’s whatyou possibly could see.”

He said officials may also consider hammering another layer of sheet piling at the toe of the leveewalls to block seepage.

Young said the corps already has installed sheet piling reaching 51 feet below sea level at thebreach of the 17th Street canal, which will block seepage there while that part of the wall is rebuilt.

Piling that will reach 65 feet below sea level will be installed at the London Avenue canal inadvance of repairs there.

The corps already has decided to replace I walls along the east side of the Industrial Canal withthe T design. Work is expected to be completed in a few weeks to remove a huge barge thatfloated into the Lower 9th Ward during Katrina and must be moved over the levee’s temporaryrepairs and back into the canal. .

Young said a review of levee walls to see if they need to be replaced with the stronger T-walldesign will also include the Jefferson Parish side of the 17th Street canal and the “return canal”along the Jefferson-St. Charles parish border.

Task Force Guardian, the corps name for the reconstruction effort, has awarded 37 contracts inNew Orleans and surrounding areas at an estimated cost of $317 million.If part of the levee’s footprint along the 17th Street Canal is increased by 150 feet, it wouldprobably require the purchase of some homes along the west side of Bellaire Drive in Lakeview.Most were severely flooded in Katrina’s aftermath, with some knocked off their foundations orcompletely destroyed at the breach.

Some homes on Pratt and Warrington drives also might need to be purchased on both sides ofthe London Avenue canal.

Discussing the design of the canal gates, Young said they might be made of sheet piling, metalwalls and other materials. The gate will have to be designed to allow the passage of 10,000 cubicfeet per second of water in the 17th Street canal, the capacity of Pump Station No. 6. At the

London Avenue canal, it will have to allow 9,000 cubic feet per second of water pass through fromtwo interior puming stations.

But it might take too long to be completed in advance of the beginning of the next hurricaneseason, which begins June 1.

“The question is how can we get there by June 1,” Young said. “A large structure at the front of thecanals is going to take some time to build.

“You’re going to have to fabricate it,” he said. “You’re going to have to bring it out there in pieces.You’re going to have to drive piles. You’re going to have to connect it into the levee system.You’re going to have to make sure it’s stable.”

And while all that’s being done, he said, the corps still must complete its repairs of the rest of the

city’s levee system.

That work is being done to assure that the entire system is restored to a level of protection equalto that authorized by Congress before Katrina hit on Aug. 29. The corps describes that protectionas equivalent to blocking the effects of a fast-moving Category 3 hurricane, or a storm with 100mph winds and a surge that would push water 11.2 feet high along the Lake Pontchartrainlakefront.

Katrina’s highest measured sustained winds were 105 mph at Lakefront Airport and Belle ChasseNaval Air Station.

Acting Levee Board President Mike McCrossen said the breadth of Young’s update came as asurprise. He said the board’s staff will cooperate with the corps plans, but also is to present its

own “comprehensive position paper” soon that will outline its suggestions for long-term levee fixes



and for establishing a state-wide requirement for inspecting levees in the future.

Mark Schleifstein can be reached at [email protected] or (504)¤826-3327. FrankDonze can be reached at [email protected] or (504)¤826-3328.

Copyright 2007 NOLA.com. All Rights Reserved.

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2005.12.06.TP Story Corps to Buy Property