Rescuers Wade Into Coastal Havoc(rebuild to take "better part of decade")

LAT: Rescuers Wade Into Coastal Havoc
As officials survey the damage, focus turns to restoring power and water services, as well as saving stranded residents and livestock.
By Ann M. Simmons, Scott Gold and Nicole Gaouette, Times Staff Writers


ABBEVILLE, La. — Louisiana parish officials, soldiers and emergency crews began taking on nature's anarchy Monday, working to rescue stranded residents and lost livestock, clear debris and return rudimentary order to a coast still under the sway of Hurricane Rita's floodwaters.

High water edged back toward the Gulf of Mexico in some communities, driven by shifting winds and natural drainage. But much of Louisiana's coastline lay under seawater, stalling the repair work facing rural governments days after the hurricane blitzed north near the Texas-Louisiana state line.

After an aerial tour, Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.) said that as many as 100,000 homes had been damaged beyond repair. Landrieu said rebuilding southwest Louisiana would take "the better part of a decade."

Across the flooded Sabine River, which runs between the two states, East Texas oil communities were drying but beset with their own spiraling problems. The region's power grid is decimated, perhaps for a month. City officials pleaded for portable generators while evacuated residents began returning, ignoring appeals to stay away.

The region's fragile plight was underscored Monday when five members of an extended family died in Beaumont, Texas, overcome by carbon monoxide fumes from a gasoline generator while they slept in their apartment. The dead, discovered Monday morning, included a 7-year-old girl, a 9-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl, all siblings, said Police Officer Crystal Holmes....


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-rita27sep27,0,2049226,full.story?coll=la-home-nation

This is a mammoth undertaking, comparable to the rebuilding of Galveston, which took many years to complete. Of course, that was at the beginning of the last century, with a much smaller population as well.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4270640.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900_Galveston_Hurricane#Rebuilding

And no matter how much we (and the folks in Louisiana) want it to be, New Orleans rebuilt will never, ever be the same city as it was. Such is the nature of this kind of overwhelming disaster.

over the better part of a decade?

build it ON STILTS. Like they do on Seabrook Island, SC. Parking for cars is underneath, home won't flood unless water gets over 8-10 ft deep. Pilings keep it from being washed away by the surge. Not a guarantee, but a better way to build in the area.

build it ON STILTS. Like they do on Seabrook Island, SC. Parking for cars is underneath, home won't flood unless water gets over 8-10 ft deep. Pilings keep it from being washed away by the surge. Not a guarantee, but a better way to build in the area.

and live lightly on the coastal edges...in synch with the reality of tropical storms. Also they used to use permanent shutters and avoid large panes of glass. We are learning the hard way that it takes more than a few hurricane ties in the roof to weather storms on the order of Rita and Katrina....

Building on stilts helps for the coasts and areas that flood, but a LOT of damage is also done by falling trees and wind far inland. Not much that can be done about that.

Better education and preparedness needs to be pushed for individual families by the states, including detailed evacuation instructions BEFORE the event. As usual in America, not much is done for Prevention.