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Release Date: 04/12/06 00:00:00
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contacts: DJ Nordquist, Office of Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding (202) 572-8893
Susan Aspey, Office of Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding (cell) (202) 577-9359
Lu Christie, US Army Corps of Engineers/Task Force Hope (504) 862-1836
Gene Pawlik, US Army Corps of Engineers HQ (202) 761-7690
FEMA (202) 646-4600 and (225) 376-5000
April 12, 2006
NEW ORLEANS -- Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding Donald Powell, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Commander Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, FEMA Director of Mitigation and Administrator of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) David Maurstad, and FEMA Deputy Director for Gulf Coast Recovery Gil Jamieson today announced the release of advisory flood data for New Orleans and the majority of the surrounding area. The flood advisories will inform residents how to reduce or mitigate flood risks as they begin reconstruction, and will provide guidance to communities for better and stronger rebuilding.
They also announced the release of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers revised estimates of costs to certify and further enhance the area’s levees. Powell announced that the Administration plans to begin working with Congress immediately address additional funding beyond what the Administration has already requested, estimated at $2.5 billion, for work in all of the New Orleans area except for lower Plaquemines.
The $2.5 billion can be broken out into two distinct tasks: it will allow the Corps to raise levee heights, in some cases as much as 7 feet, and complete other levee work, at a cost of $0.9 billion; and it will allow the upgrade or replacement of existing flood I-walls with T-walls. The estimated cost of replacing I-walls outside of lower Plaquemines is $1.6 billion.
Those improvements will provide 100-year protection to about 98 percent of the population in the New Orleans area. Providing similar protection to the area of lower Plaquemines, which is home to 2 percent of the area’s population, is estimated to cost a total of $1.6 billion. Before committing to that funding request, the Administration is awaiting the results of the Corps’ further analysis that will provide additional insight into the technical challenges of protecting such a narrow strip of land; whether certifying the levees there exacerbates an already challenging environmental situation (i.e., sinking and wetlands erosion); and whether such improvements would be economically justified. For that reason, flood advisories from FEMA were issued only for the Belle Chasse levee-protected area of Plaquemines and for areas outside of levee protection in Plaquemines.
Powell said that the Administration will begin discussions with Congress this week regarding the timing of a formal request for additional authorization and funding to certify and further enhance the majority of the levee system, including the details of local cost-share arrangements. This commitment to future improvements allows FEMA to provide flood advisories today for almost all of the communities protected by levees in Southeast Louisiana.
“President Bush remains steadfastly committed to rebuilding the Gulf Coast region,” said Powell. “We know people are looking for guidance about where and how to rebuild responsibly and we know these advisories will provide a greater degree of certainty and confidence to the citizens of New Orleans, who are anxious to rebuild their homes and businesses. These advisories give state and local leaders the tools they need to offer that guidance to their citizens, and to help them make sound rebuilding decisions.”
The flood advisories, formally known as advisory base flood elevations or ABFEs, estimate the flooding risk to the New Orleans area and inform residents and local officials about how to reduce or mitigate those risks. The Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) has stated that in order for residents to be eligible for its State Homeowner Assistance plan, all reconstruction work must meet or exceed the latest available FEMA advisory base flood elevations and meet the legal requirements of the State Uniform Construction Code. FEMA has previously stated that these advisories must be used for any rebuilding projects using certain FEMA grant dollars thus the advisories apply to both public infrastructure projects as well as mitigation grants. More details about the flood advisories can be found at www.fema.gov.
The flood advisories are linked to the certification of the area’s levees. Recently, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers stated that the levees were not certifiable, meaning that they do not meet the standard for a 100-year flood, which represents a 1 percent chance of flooding in any given year, based on updated analysis of new storm data. The 100-year flood standard is a requirement of FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
Today’s commitment by the Administration to work with Congress to request authorization and funds for this work allows FEMA to release the advisories, which recognizes the eventual protection that will be achieved once the Corps’ work is completed. Later this year, FEMA will begin its formal regulatory process, which ultimately ends in the release of final and binding flood maps that reflect 100-year protection.
According to today’s Corps estimates, the total additional cost beyond what the Administration has already requested to certify and enhance the entire New Orleans levee system by replacing I-walls with T-walls and raising the levees to provide 100-year protection would now be $4.1 billion. The Corps’ preliminary cost estimate, released last month, was $5.9 billion for this work. This kind of cost projection typically takes several years of analysis and refinement, and in this case, the effort has been significantly accelerated. The $1.8 billion reduction in the estimates (from $5.9 billion to $4.1 billion) reflects two revisions:
Once completed, all the improvements will provide a hurricane protection system for New Orleans that is significantly better and stronger than ever before.
The timeframe for repairs of the levee system, according to the Corps, is as follows:
The estimated $2.5 billion in additional costs is in addition to the existing $2.08 billion appropriation that the Corps is currently using to repair damage caused by Katrina and to raise the levees to their Congressionally-authorized design heights, and is also in addition to the Administration’s pending supplemental request of $1.46 billion for levee work, which includes $100 million for wetlands restoration. Information on the Corps’ work that would be performed with the $1.46 billion request in the pending supplemental can be found at: http://www.usace.army.mil/.
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The Office of the Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding coordinates the long-term Federal rebuilding efforts by working with state and local officials to focus on a set of prioritized, integrated and long-term initiatives to rebuild the region such as restoring long-term safety and security, renewing economic activity, and revitalizing communities. www.dhs.gov/officeforgulfcoastrebuilding.
For more than 200 years, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has served the Armed Forces and the Nation by providing vital engineering services and capabilities, as a public service, across the full spectrum of operations—from peace to war—in support of national interests.
FEMA manages federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also initiates mitigation activities, works with state and local emergency managers, and manages the National Flood Insurance Program. FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003.
This page was last modified on 04/12/06 00:00:00