Cause Of Levee Failure?: nola.com reports on why the floodwalls of the 17th Street and London canals failed. While these barriers were not topped, i.e. water didn’t flow over them, they were broken and the soil under these walls has been named as the culprit. It appears that “a soft, spongy layer of swamp peat underneath the 17th Street Canal floodwall was the weak point that caused soil to move and the wall to breach … the same peat layer also runs under the London Avenue Canal breaches and probably was instrumental in those collapses as well.”

Even a cursory examination of an Orleans Parish soil map shows that almost all of the flooded area sits on “poorly-drained swamp land” that consists of “organic … clayey surface underlain by a clay subsoil interspersed with organic strata” and “3 feet of loamy materials over clayey and organic swamp lands.” Again, according to the map, the material directly under the 17th Street Canal is “70% organic … more than several feet thick that is underlain by a slightly-firm gray clay.” In other words, swamp peat. This raises the question: If almost all of the parish sits on this stuff, why did the canals fail right where they did? Why right there?

Blaming levee failure on swamp peat is a lot like saying that someone died of cardiac arrest (technically, everyone dies of cardiac arrest; what brought it on would be the true cause of death). Perhaps it was a combination of factors, including highly-directed water flow, increased force on a particular portion of the floodwall, poor structural integrity on the part of the floodwall itself and underlying swamp peat that caused the failure. Besides, what is the Corps of Engineers going to do — replace the pervasive swamp peat with some other material or, dare I say, dig deeper? This Kansas City Star article barely touches on a multi-headed demon of a problem that faces New Orleans.

That the organic-rich soil caused the floodwalls to give seems too uncomplicated, especially given the lack of money allocated towards building up our admittedly-imperfect levee system prior to Katrina. Funding issues and priorities, anyone?

Case in point – Now that New Orleans is almost entirely dry, the Corps plans to rebuild the levees back to previous condition by June 1, 2006. According to the Washington Post, “For now, there are no plans to rebuild the levees stronger than before. The Corps would have to get Congress’ approval for such work.” Do you think such approval will be in hand before the work is already underway?

*sigh*

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More From The Lower Garden District and Tulane: Reports on cleanup efforts in my neighborhood and the reopening of the school. All of this is great news indeed!

You would not believe the intensity of cleanup efforts going on here now. The house on the corner of Euterpe and Magazine (the one that completely collapsed) is nearly gone now — a crew has been here all day working on it. There is still a lot of trash and debris around the city but there is a very noticable improvement in the past few days. In addition to workers, residents are increasingly visible, cleaning up their property. The Rue on the 3500 block of Magazine is open now as well, as is Surrey’s. We patronized both establishments today! Our roof was inspected on Friday and we have some minor damage, mostly missing and cracked slates, flashing around the chimneys that needs to be replaced, and a few other things. The roofer says the water spots on your ceiling resulted from hurricane force winds blowing water under the slates rather than more generalized leaks.

Tulane will be open in the Spring, with classes slated to begin on January 17. Many of the repairs to the campus have been completed. Meanwhile, J is … now becoming involved in some clinics in N.O.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band On The Road: Not all tourists and music-lovers get a chance to squeeze into the spartan space at 726 St. Peter St. to catch a glimpse of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, but they can now – the band is on the road with everything they have left. Recovering from 2.5 feet of water in their City Park home themselves, the Penfields caught up with the band in Newtown, CT. The following is Thorny Penfield’s account of the show in its entirety, beautifully expressed, ripe with emotion, tears and love:

Last Thursday night Carolyn and I went to see the Preservation Hall Jazz Band at a little town hall theatre in Newtown, CT. It was a classic venue and big crowd for this Dixieland style traditional jazz performance. Our buddy, Buddha, is working with the band and managing their merchandise on the road. It’s become increasingly apparent how important it is to Carolyn and me to see New Orleans musicians play New Orleans music and work to express all they feel on stage. It makes these performances that much more important to get to and be a part of. It makes their statement through music more expressive, more beautiful and overall a greater appreciation for their talent.

They nailed the classics Tiger Rag, Didn’t He Ramble, Closer Walk with Thee, Saints Go Marching In, Go To the Mardi Gras and even new tunes like Shake That Thing. Nate came out and locked down a dixieland version of You Are My Sunshine. Carl LeBlanc, who has played with everyone including Sun Ra, is playing banjo and sang lead vocals on When I WAS 64 as opposed to When I AM 64 by the Beatles. These guys who range in age from 34 to 70 somethin’ are a band without a home, living on a tour bus. Just yesterday they went to Burlington Coat Factory to buy suits and ties because they have nothing even to wear. Some of the band members even had the tags still on the cuffs of their sleeves last night.

The management of this band have created their own New Orleans Musician’s Relief Fund Foundation which people were raining money on in the merch booth last night. It felt so good to second line and dance and cheer them on. People were yelling “We love you.” From the audience after songs and the band was yelling back at them “We love you too.” All those who have had their lives robbed from them by the flooding in New Orleans, they just seem different. They look tired, they look defeated, their musical stamina has been stolen out from their souls a little bit. They’re playing each song fighting to get their groove back, fighting to reclaim their need to share and express and play.

One of the most touching moments came when John Brunious, the trumpeter and Rickie Monie, the pianist came out for the encore to play a duet of Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans. John stepped up to the mic and began to work his way through the intro and first few verses. You could see the tears welling up in his eyes. He made it through the line that ends “the lazy Mississippi” and then he just broke down and sobbed on stage. He worked to regain his composure and tried to keep singing, he simply couldn’t do it. He’s played for at least forty years to thousands of people and we know how hard it must be for him to feel that sad in front of so many. The crowd rose to its feet and clapped and cheered and egged him on. He called for the “bridge” of the song and worked his way through it on the trumpet to wrap up the song. It was an amazing moment of sadness and really makes one feel so fortunate about our own lives.

We found out from Buddha that John Brunious lost everything in his home including generations of trumpets that belonged to his family. One band member had gone back to dig through the sludge and destruction to find a single mouthpiece that John needed. They brought what they found with them on the road, cleaned it all up and it wasn’t the right mouthpiece after all.

As we left we bumped into John before they climbed on the bus and Carolyn gave John Brunious a big hug that seemed to last for a minute or two.

I encourage everyone to check out the Preservation Hall web site. The recordings that Ben Jaffe has remastered and produced are really incredible and a great bargain. We bought all the different copies they had for sale and hope to pass some of them along to our nephew and Carolyn’s godchild, Mason.

Preservation Hall is an institution of New Orleans that must continue to spread the word about the most important American music in existence.

What more can I say after that? To hear of some of the most venerated musicians reduced to such homelessness and tears is too much to bear, but look at how they go on, spreading the music everywhere in our land. That, in itself, is inspiration. Please visit the site and give what you can – all of the funds go directly to New Orleans musicians.

The Band Outside Their Home . Courtesy CFCE, Inc.

Good news – Fats Domino, rescued from the rooftop of his Lower Ninth Ward home, is back home in New Orleans. It’s a pity that we don’t treat our most valuable musicians as we do inanimate national treasures.

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Things Looking Up In The Garden District: A neighbor updates me on the progress of the Lower Garden District:

I am happy to report that we now have mail delivery in the neighborhood! The mail we’re getting is old (end of August, early Sept.) but even this is a huge step forward. Also, as I write this there are giant fork lifts and trucks outside cleaning the sidewalks and streets of all piles of tree branches, etc., and trash. I think the refrigerators will be next, and G and his crew are going to help J get yours down our steps and ours off the deck so we can wash our hands of those things forever. There were also lots of crews out today cutting the grass on neutral grounds around the city. Makes a huge difference.

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Setbacks and Moves Forward: As the Audubon Nature Institute lays off 690 employees and fixing Orleans Parish floodwalls and levees to full capacity may take into the next hurricane season, the former eastbound lanes of the I-10 twinspan are open to two-way traffic.

The 690 axed full- and part-time employees included 420 from the zoo, 220 from the aquarium, and the remaining 50 from the research center and Nature Center … the remaining nearly 200 employees — both full and part time — now are spread out among the facilities.

[Army Corps of Engineers chief Carl Strock] said that if the investigation shows the canals need completely new structures, then the corps will examine all options, including floodgates at the mouth of the canals. “We must restore this level of protection by hurricane season next year,” he said. “It may not be repairing the floodwalls; it may be doing something in a more permanent fashion across the fronts of these canals to take the surge off before it gets into the canals.”

The former eastbound bridge between New Orleans and Slidell will open to two-way traffic between 3 and 4 p.m. [Friday October 14th, after final checks are made] … The speed limit will be 50 mph. Westbound vehicles must merge onto the bridge near the lakeshore in Slidell, then cut back over to the westbound interstate lanes when they reach eastern New Orleans.

More New Orleans Websites: Jamie Amdal is back in business at her job as realtor at the Prudential Gardner Garden District office (thanks, Kavita!). I haven’t yet formulated my personal stance on the present and future of realty in New Orleans during what Jamie calls the “current post-Katrina craze.” However, our city does need local people to get back to the work of helping people buy and sell homes who now have tight budgets and very special needs.

Some interesting New Orleans links from Jamie:

Bring New Orleans Back – the “only non-profit fund exclusively dedicated to the restoration of the City of New Orleans.” Commission members include Dan Packer, Mel Lagarde, Boysie Bollinger, Scott Cowen, Wynton Marsalis and a whole cast of interesting characters including venture capitalists, lawyers, a social worker and no scientists.

New Orleans Network – a tool to help people in the New Orleans and Gulf Coast area stay connected to their communities … to help us rebuild our social circles, our neighborhoods, the different communities we participate in, and our cities.

Lakeview Civic Improvement Association – speaks for itself.

Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans – a private non-profit organization that promotes the preservation of New Orleans architecture and neighborhoods … includes guidelines for how to treat historic homes damaged by hurricane floods and winds.

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Oh, and happy Yom Kippur.

NOLA Tests The Waters: A study conducted by LSU’s Louisiana Water Resources Research Institute concludes that the water that flooded Mid-City and Lakeview was mostly harmless. According to John Pardue, the study lead, the samples “contained chemical and biological contaminants in levels very similar to water from a typical rainstorm.”

Pardue warns, however, that the muck and dried-up mud contains hazardous biological material as well as high levels of metals such as copper, zinc, cadmium and lead. Returning residents as well as recovery workers must be careful when cleaning up this material.

The study also ran some tests above and beyond EPA standards (and what are those?). The water contained “small amounts of [home construction] chemicals, including one used in aerosol paints and another used in caulking compounds and sealants [not readily toxic] … like the earlier EPA tests [the study] also didn’t find large amounts of several cancer-causing chemicals associated with gasoline, including benzene, because they evaporate quickly.”