Preventing Another Katrina Can the Army Corps of Engineers save New Orleans this time aroun?

摘要

May 20, a few minutes before 1 p.m. and a few miles above the Port of Baton Rouge, the towing vessel Crimson Gem was pushing 20 barges loaded with corn into a tight bend on the Mississippi called Wilkinson Point. The river was raging at eight knots, or about nine miles per hour. It creamed and ripped against pilings and tore along the wharves with a low hiss. Sheets of surface current collided and whirlpools seven yards across spun down the seams. Two days before, at this spot, the Mississippi hit 47.5 feet, the highest level ever measured here. In recorded history.