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You know, I think there is a certain measure of uncertainty that exists here and in the Gulf Coast as well. Uncertainty as to whether New Orleans will really come back to the way it was. And I'm always struck when I came down here at the neighborhood loyalty that exists. A lot people worried if New Orleans comes back, "can my neighborhood,er, recover?". And underlying both those questions obviously, just how safe is New Orleans. Now, will the levees hold? It was just this weekend that the head of the Army Corps of Engineers said that he can't guarantee that the levees would hold if another storm with the severity of Katrina were to hit.
If New Orleans is hit by a hurricane as powerful as Katrina, the Army Corps has equipped the city with an 800-million dollars arsenal- 220 miles of repaired and reinforced levees and floodwalls and temporary floodgates and pumps.
the elements that we rebuilt are bigger and stronger than they were put prior to the storm.
But dozens of other engineers funded by the National Science Foundation are pessimistic after analyzing Katrina's destruction.
We can expect another disaster,er, rupture the walls, and again catastrophic flooding. Today that levee is not nearly as competent, strong as it should be.
The Army Corps of engineers is confident that it has strengthened the levee's weakest links. But still...
Even if, if the walls withstood the force, er, which you know, at this point they will. Er, the water is still gonna come over the top of them.
Some neighborhoods could face up to 6 feet of flooding but the Corps of engineers believes next time no breaches. Because those broken levees are fixed with new metal piling, 70 feet into ground. Meantime, the Department of Homeland Security has a plan to evacuate residents with no way to get out, 50 hours before a hurricane hits, ten hours later flood-prone, low-lying neighborhoods would be evacuated and then 30 hours before a storm's landfall, a citywide mandatory evacuation. The Superdome will not be used as a shelter and the convention center will be used only as a command post and a center to process bus evacuees. Airlines will be asked to help out already ticketed tourists who want to bail out early and trains will be used especially to evacuate the elderly.
We are the only city in the United States today as trains setting right now, ready to take citizens out of the city of New Orleans in an evacuation.
Trains, planes and buses. Floodgates, walls and pumps. Is it enough to protect New Orleans? The city hopes never to find out.
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levee :Am E a wall of soil built along the side of a river 防洪提
rupture:if an organ or object rupures or you rupture it, it bursts or tears suddenly 破裂
mandatory:ordered by a law or rule 强制的
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