Drew,
I guess they are exactly like most people in the U.S. if it is not happening to them why bother...or like they say if it's out of sight then it is out of mind! But you would think with them being so close to all of the major flooding and it looking like it would happen there that they would be a little bit more concerned! I guess ignorance is bliss!

Hopefully they will get those levees fixed before anything else ever happens there.

Cindy...Ga.

Wow, another mayor Nagin. Wait for the disaster to hit before you do anything.

It does sound familiar, Drew. It seems that the only time they’ll learn is when a flood actually happens, which is too late. Even if it was too late for New Orleans, it wasn’t too late for the neighboring towns. They could have perceived it as a serious warning then and taken steps to strengthen their levees so they can be prepared for major storms now and in the future.

Lilibeth
Edmonds, Washington

A couple years ago when hurricaine katrina hit the gulf coast, the media was all over FEMA, now we have these floods and there is no mention in any of the media circles of what FEMA is doing to help alleviate this new catastrophy. Whose dropping the ball now?

I watched lastnite as John King interview Cindy McCain about Michelle Obama's comment where she says for the first time she is really proud of her country. John like many others always fail to state the Really, why is that? Cindy states she has always been proud of her country and gets emotional, I assume if she hears anyone states differently. I guess Cindy was really proud of the country during slavery, proud of the country during Jim Crow days, KKK, lynching of blacks at the drop of a hat, the vicious killing of Emmett Till, the experimenting on black men by giving them syphilis, killing children in Vietnam, going to war in Iraq for no reason thus killing thousands of Americans. What if Michelle had said she was proud of her country for the first time would it have been so bad considering what Blacks have suffered at the hands of white America. So again, why is it that everyone fails to say what Michelle really said, her speech was replayed on “The View” and you could really hear the word really, well I guess I will not call it what it truly is…we all know why you, others and CNN in general will not say what she really said. We shall keep the word silent, the silent R (and its not really) word.

Drew it amazes me about this I mean you would think if nothing else the USACE would have checked them after Katrina just to save the PR headaches. I mean after the Minnesota bridge fell down departments of transportations everywhere started bridge inspections to make sure their bridges were not next. I can’t believe the USACE wouldn’t have done this too. I don’t see why the two can’t “share” the cost of the repairs, or upgrades or whatever because you know as soon as the town floods federal money will go to them for repairs and what not and thus the circle of life continues.

Marcy
Mobile, AL

Drew, This does sound entirely too familiar. After Katrina, there was alot of information about levee construction and the reasons for levee failure in New Orleans. I was surprised to read, if the facts are correct, that there is no central plan for management of the Mississippi river system by the Army Corps of Engineers. My understanding is that funding depends on monies allocated through Congress for individual states. Thus, levees built in one state can negatively impact other states, and that this has also impacted the natural buildup of wetlands that protect New Orleans. It's terrible what's happening in the midwest now, and it's even sadder that lessons from New Orleans seem not to have been heeded, at least not in time to prevent the current tragedies for the families affected.

East St Louis should consider electing a new mayor and city manager. The current ones do not seem up to the job. Not monitoring the river stage, not inspecting the levees, not knowing how public works projects are funded – pathetic, just pathetic.

In all fairness, most cities in IL only survive on sales tax revenues. Property taxes are paid to the county, which could and does provide financial assistance to school districts, police and fire pensions, etc. Unless both the cities and counties greatly increased their respective taxes, they don't have the revenue to repair or replace the levee system in their areas. That would also put the full burden on the taxpayers who live in that area. Considering the increasing cost of living they can't afford it.

The financial burden to improve all of the levee systems, and other infrastructures, should be shared by the state and federal governments. But knowing that the ACOE sub-contracted the work to replace/repair the levees in NOLA, the oversight needs to be with the states. Hopefully the states care more about the safety of their residents than the ACOE.

Drew,

This doesn't surprise me at all. It seems that most of America's elected officials have never heard of the old axiom that Prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Annie Kate
Birmingham AL

Drew,
It's so obvious that this stuff would happen; first all: the scandals between senators, the Obama-Clinton thing, the Polygamist sects...now this? America is falling apart; something NEEDS to be done. Now.

Anderson,
Keeping YOU honest!

Tonight you said that no politician is discussing the infrastructure. That is not true. Senator Obama has steadily been discussing the infrastructure. You need to keep more up to date and do more research and more blogging.

With food, energy, health care crisis, and an endless war, where are we going to get the money to rebuild and maintain thousands of miles of levees?

We need to ban the use of these unreliable structures. Why don’t we build our homes and business outside these flood hazard areas. Let's utilized the floodplain for what Mother Nature has designed them for (conveyance of flood water). Furthermore, let's limit our use of the flood hazard areas to agriculture, recreation, transportation, and commerce.