February 12, 2021 By Jim Myers
Washington, D.C. The former vice chairman of the Inland Waterways Users Board (IWUB) expressed confidence the critical role the board serves will be recognized by a review ordered by the Department of Defense.
Michael Monahan, a member of the Campbell Transportation Company Inc. board, also predicted the current suspension the IWUB is under will be rapidly lifted.
That suspension and “zero-based” review were ordered by newly confirmed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who included a list of more than three dozen advisory boards in a memo dated January 30.
An IWUB meeting previously scheduled for February 9 was canceled, stated an announcement posted on its website.
little bit on that lettering which is interesting because that tells us a little bit about what the mississippi river is doing. the rain, of course, is just starting again. we ve been seeing the constant bands come through. a little bit of a break and then it starts over. it s not too hard. but the water is going to collect here and that s the big concern. we know they were looking at the drainage system here. they were trying to keep the debris out because they re concerned about the mississippi. it s expected to crest at 43 feet. normal is 30 feet. so it s certainly concerning. also the amrite river that s supposed to crest at 39 feet. that s not far from here. but the city of baton rouge itself did okay because of these levee systems here right in the city which has served it well. but they are still concerned a little about tornadoes and funnel clouds they ve seen spotted in this area. reported funnel clouds. but the good news is despite the rain and despite the continued ugly weat
concern, us residents of new orleans don t have a lot of faith in our aging and poorly maintained drainage systems. i was curious about that, you referred to that storm you had on wednesday that turned canal street into literally a canal. do you feel confident in the gates and levee systems that are protecting you now post katrina? i do, because the levees have held up. our thanks to angie there. trying to see if we have the bourbon street shot there in new orleans. to see if things this is usually when they re coming out
here. give you a closer look at this. this was built back in the 80s by the army corps of eption nears. i just got nailed by wind right there. 20-foot high concrete wall. this river can get really high. this storm hasn t even hit yet and it s already this high. you look over here and the town of morgan city. this is what keeps so many communities here in southern louisiana dry. are levee systems like this. without it, you have so many people in this area that live at or sometimes below sea level and water comes from so many different places. comes from gulf and whichever son with you will. it s a wet area. a swamp land down here. if when you live below sea level can you get needed out so fast like we saw in hurricane katrina. the conditions, we re getting gusts in the 30 s i believe is what we are feeling right now. the storm itself is still at tropical storm out in the gulf maybe 40, 50 miles out on the coast. maybe a little closer at this point. once it gets to 74
corps of engineers, we ve been in contact with, coast guard. we ve identified with the levee, various levee systems. most of those areas would be topping into into the failures like so the danger is mitigated by the exact spots where levees might be topped and you just watch them very, very closely and you re standing by to respond and of course, the evacuation orders are cover large areas. kristin: yes. folks have to comply with that. we have in louisiana we ve been through a lot of storms and we ll get through this one. kristin: we wish you and your constituents around the region the best as they try to ride out the storm and we know the worst is yet to come.