So whats up with this?

[petasux]

Army engineers prepared Saturday to slowly open the gates of an emergency spillway along the rising Mississippi River, diverting floodwaters from Baton Rouge and New Orleans, yet inundating homes and farms in parts of Louisiana's populated Cajun country. About 25,000 people and 11,000 structures could be in harm's way when the Morganza spillway is unlocked for the first time in 38 years.

Honestly I dont know enough about the flood control system down there to form an opinion one way or the other.Why are we flooding the homes of people who otherwise woulda been fine to once again keep New Orleans from flooding?Is this normal?

Sheriffs and National Guardsmen were warning people in a door-to-door sweep through the area, and shelters were ready to accept up to 4,800 evacuees, Gov. Bobby Jindal said

If theyre displacing 25000 people why are they only prepared to accept 4,800 in shelters?

Engineers feared that weeks of pressure on the levees could cause them to fail, swamping New Orleans under as much as 20 feet of water in a disaster that would have been much worse than Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

These the same levees theyve known wouldnt stop a flood since before Katrina?

Doesnt this kinda go back to the conversation we had earlier in the week about knowingly living in a flood zone?New orleans has already proven itself to be a giant bowl capable of holding vast amounts of water.And apparently the 25000 people about to lose thier homes and livelihoods are sent letters every year telling them its possible these flood gates will be used.They are aware they live in a bad spot.Wonder how much this is gonna cost?

[Fieldmouse]

Levies were built to protect, cities and towns at the expense of rual areas.

[petasux]

Levees were also built to hold back water, something these seem incapable of doing.Dont get me wrong, im not upset about where theyre diverting the water to, as I said these people are made aware every year its a possibility.

I just dont understand why they know the levees are old and not doing there job and instead of updating them were gonna continue to spend millions every time this area floods to rebuild it rather than fixing the problem.

[nodog]

It's the best answer government can give. Bound to be a lot of jobs created, stocks will sore, commodities jump higher, politicians looking patronly. It's a win win for the winners and the losers if played right will be devoted voters after getting a check for their trouble. Disaster, what disaster? Oh ya, that comes later but by all accounts not to much into the future. All that moneys got to come from some where.