Human Levee Set to Highlight Inequity of Flood Plans for New Orleans

by Mike Hall, Jul 27, 2007

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state of Louisiana apparently believe that protecting the affluent communities in New Orleans’ Jefferson Parish that border the flood-prone Monticello Canal is more important than keeping flood waters out of working-class neighborhoods on the other side of the canal in Orleans Parish.

As part of the continuing rebuilding and flood protection efforts in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, an 8–to–12 foot levee and flood wall was built along the Jefferson Parish side of the canal. But the Carrollton and Holly Grove neighborhoods on the canal’s opposite bank have been left unprotected.

This Saturday, to draw attention to the flood protection inequity, several hundred neighbor residents, labor activists, including members of United Teachers of New Orleans/AFT, members of the community group ACORN and representatives from the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights, will form a human levee along the canal’s bank.

With a flood wall and levee on just one side of the canal, flood water will have only one place to go—the other side. Residents say that it’s not just the torrential downpours from hurricanes that threaten their homes, but during normal heavy rains the canal spills over its banks.

Joe Sherman, who lives in the Carrollton/Holly Grove area, told the Tom Joyner Morning Show website, BlackAmericaWeb.com:

The state, the Corps of Engineers, the Water and Sewerage Board have all been pointing fingers at each other. We need to get their attention so they will do something about this problem.

Whenever there is any rain event, a very heavy rain or another hurricane, the risk increases because there is protection on one side and no protection on the other. How can you say the community is not at risk when you have protected one half of the community and not the other? This is unacceptable.

Initial plans included flood protection for both sides of the canal. But now, revised plans mean the working families in Carrollton and Holly Grove must wait some five years before their homes receive the same flood protection as the more affluent homes of the other side of the Monticello Canal.

The neighborhood action group ACORN says protecting residents on one side of the canal and not the others shows

the lack of respect for residents highlights the city’s attitude towards those returning to low to moderate-income neighborhoods.

Community, labor and other groups who are partnering in ensuring that New Orleans is rebuilt for all residents, say it’s imperative federal, state and local governments keep their promise that there will be equitable flood protection for all citizens of New Orleans.

Says Nyra Humphries, a life-long Holly Grove resident who is just now finishing repairing her home across the street fro the canal:

It’s hard to put so much time and money into my home when there is no work done to prevent more flooding.

Click here to read about the AFL-CIO’s Gulf Coast Revitalization Program; here to read what New Orleans teachers say about how recovery efforts are failing schools, students and the city; and here for a look at how the Bush administration’s no-bid contracts for rebuilding lead to serious worker abuse along with corporate profits.

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