One year later: Did we learn from Katrina?

Issue Date: August 23, 2006

By Christine Souza
Assistant Editor

The Jones Tract flood of 2004 covered 11,000 acres and caused millions of dollars in losses to San Joaquin County agriculture. Hurricane Katrina, which struck the Gulf Coast one year ago, serves as a reminder that extreme flooding is an even greater probability in California.

It was one year ago this week that Hurricane Katrina cut a vicious swath through the Gulf states, leaving death and destruction in its wake. Two thousand miles away in California, the reverberations of that mighty storm are still being felt.

Katrina resulted in the deaths of more than 1,800 people and an estimated $75 billion in damages, making it one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history. When levees failed, massive flooding inundated 80 percent of the city of New Orleans. After seeing dramatic coverage of the devastation in New Orleans, Californians recognized immediately that a similar disaster could happen here, given the conditions of levees that hold together the state's water conveyance system.

"Our concern in California is the same one that the people face in the Gulf Coast, in particular in a city like New Orleans, where the work needs to be done carefully but it never seems to get done quickly enough to satisfy government's primary function--which is to provide for public health and safety," said Brenda Washington Davis, California Farm Bureau Federation Natural Resources and Environmental Division managing counsel.

Davis, an expert in California water issues, was born in New Orleans and brought up in Baton Rouge, La., both of which were hit by Katrina. Now that a year has passed since Katrina spread its wrath across the South, Davis said Californians have become even more aware of the vulnerabilities of the state's own levee system.

"We have ongoing concerns with the lag time and processing that goes into getting levees shored up to provide the protection that everyone needs," Davis said.

Last January, while Katrina was still fresh in everyone's minds, California experienced a significant water event where water levels surpassed flood stage in many areas and caused a few breaches along the way. In February, Gov. Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency for California's levee system and signed an executive order directing the California Department of Water Resources to identify and repair eroded levee sites on the state/federal project levee system to prevent catastrophic flooding and loss of life.

DWR evaluated more than 50 sites along the Sacramento River flood system and recommended 29 critical sites at risk of some sort of possible failure in the next flood season. Five hundred million dollars were set aside in the state budget for these erosion improvements. Construction of these projects is now under way with a deadline for completion set at Nov. 1.

"Under Gov. Schwarzenegger's leadership, California continues to take dramatic steps to prevent a Katrina-like flood disaster," said DWR Director Lester Snow. "These steps include emergency levee repairs now under way by the Department of Water Resources and Corps of Engineers, increases for flood protection in the state budget and the bond measure on the November ballot to upgrade our entire flood management system.

"We can't control Mother Nature, but the governor's leadership is giving us a strong line of defense against future storms and flooding disasters."

When it comes to flood protection, Alex Hildebrand, a South Delta farmer in Manteca, said the state has much work to do to secure, maintain and repair the state's levees, especially along the San Joaquin River.

"The state has never taken any responsibility for having a flood management program in the San Joaquin River system and has not exercised the same responsibilities that it is by law required to exercise in the Sacramento system and the North Delta," Hildebrand said.

He added that there has been no channel maintenance in the San Joaquin River and the bank protection work currently being done in response to the governor's state of emergency is happening south of the North Delta.

"There has been no channel maintenance in the San Joaquin River system for many years," Hildebrand said. "In the meantime, thousands and thousands of houses are being built, for example in Lathrop, that are right up against the levee.

"The levee at best is what they call a 100-year levee, which means if you have a 30-year mortgage you've got a 30 percent chance of being flooded before you pay off the mortgage."

If a levee fails, Hildebrand added, the amount of flooding would be massive.

"The evacuation problem would be enormous, just as it was in Katrina. So it is quite possible that something comparable to Katrina could happen in California," Hildebrand said. "But I do think this issue is getting more reasoned attention now."

Delta farmer Rudy Mussi became a victim of the Jones Tract flood in 2004 after a 65-foot breach in a private levee caused 160,000 acre-feet of water to flow from farmland of Upper Jones Tract to Lower Jones Tract. He said he believes the government should make levee maintenance a top priority.

"Why wait until a levee breaks and we have to throw $100 million at fixing the problem and have people suffer losses?" Mussi said. "Why not throw the $100 million at the levees before a loss occurs?

"There needs to be a constant source of funding for the levees. If you have a systematic program, you can have an ongoing maintenance and at the same time improve the levees."

The CFBF board of directors recently voted to support Proposition 1E, the Disaster Prevention and Flood Prevention Bond Act of 2006, that will appear on the November ballot. Proposition 1E is a legislative bond that would provide $4.09 billion in funding from the sale of General Obligation bonds for flood control system repairs and improvements.

"Prop 1E is an important step in restoring and improving California's critical flood control infrastructure, and its passage will make people's lives, homes and businesses safer," said Tony Francois, CFBF director of water resources. "But we should also remember that significant regulatory obstacles to proper levee maintenance remain.

"According to experts at the California Department of Water Resources, federal permitting requirements are a key factor in delaying and increasing the cost of important public safety work on California's levees."

DWR spokeswoman Elizabeth Scott said Proposition 1E would rebuild and repair the state's most vulnerable flood control structures to protect homes and prevent loss of life from flood-related disasters including levee failures, flash floods and mudslides. The bond also protects the drinking water system by rebuilding the delta levees that are vulnerable to earthquakes and storms.

"The money that would come from this bond would protect the farmland in the delta, but it also protects Southern California and their water supply," Scott said.

"The unfortunate circumstance in New Orleans with Katrina has been an eye-opener for the people in this state. It has become something that is at the forefront of public consciousness, and I think levees are something maybe your average person took for granted or didn't even think about from day to day. Now it has now become a public safety issue."

(Christine Souza is a reporter for Ag Alert. She may be contacted at csouza@cfbf.com.)

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