Levee Report Recommends Relocations

By Eileen Fleming

New Orleans, La. – Experts from the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council in Washington, D.C., say residents should at least elevate their houses. They found the Corp of Engineers plan to protect the city from a so-called 100-year-flood is inadequate. And that system won't be finished for two more years. One-hundred-year floods have a one-in-a-hundred chance of hitting in any given year. But telling residents where they can -- and cannot return -- sparks a political firestorm in New Orleans, most of which flooded after Hurricane Katrina levee breaks in 2005. Many of the neighborhoods still struggling are poor and working class. The report also calls on officials to come up with comprehensive evacuation plans and long-term regional shelters.
For NPR News, I'm Eileen Fleming in New Orleans.