channel. the back levee has been overtopped so much that there s 12 foot of water against the mississippi river levee, but inside the levee system, areas that never had water from katrina are inundated with water. billy, any idea of why this happened? well, we had a mandatory evacuation because of the storm currently projections for that area were 9 to 12 feet with we had an eight-foot levee. that was a parish levee that wasn t in the federal system. the parish has been adding to that every year and we just needed three or four more years without a storm. obviously we didn t get that with the this event here today. we ve been hearing about the dozens of rescues taking place throughout plaquemines parish by the national guard as well as bystanders that were paying attention. those people living in st. bernard s parish which is right next door to plaquemines parish were out on the roads trying to
particularly the one in the greater new orleans area and st. bernard all evacuated to higher ground. really we re finding this mostly in the nursing homes. i think that the state gave nursing homes we put additional requirements on them to he have these plans and procedures to evacuate. i think the state is finding we gave them a little too much discretion in determining when they should leave. in most of the areas throughout the state, they have very few mandatory evacuations. typically whefrl a parish president or mayor says this is a voluntary evacuation, that s to say able bodied people should not have to leave, i think we have to re-evaluate how we determine wa a voluntary evacuation is and hey, if able bodied people maybe should leave, then unable people should definitely leave. that s a question that will linger after this. thank you for your time.
plaque mince parish. sheriff, what can you tell us about the rescue operation at this point? .around 3:00 a.m. this morning, we was contacted by some officials here in plaque mince parish, and told us that they were having some problems with tidal flooding and overtopping the levee system, which caused some serious flooding in their jurisdiction. how many people have been rescued so far and how many people have yet to be rescued? not quite sure how many is left out there. well over 30 people we saw come in this morning that was brought to our jail where they were sheltered and fed. the. the parish president did say that the situation here at least in some parts was worse than hurricane katrina. what do you think? what do you see as the situation being here? yeah, he s exactly right. i know he s been fighting for flood protection for his parish for a very long time. and i think we have flowed protection here today since katrina to protect st. bernard parrish rish and the effect
in place for about 7,000 people. i heard what had to be one of the most heartbreaking interviews today, a man hiding with his family had gone as high as they could in their home. tell said he might have to shoot the roof off so me and my family can get out of here. everyone thought pieces were put in place wan plaque mince parish, why have they not been provided the funds? senator mary landrieu is looking into the issue. why didn t ge they the funds when you know thousands of people live there? it s something we re going to be looking into, as well. it also has concern we have been.requesting from the corps of engineers and the government the proper funds to protect not only the city of new orleans which seemed to have been a center point after katrina, but the outlying parishes, as well. there s also a parish right now, st. charles where the levee hasn t been protected. that protects a nuclear plant.