WASHINGTON – President Bush pledged on Thursday to rebuild New Orleans’ shattered levee system taller and stronger than before Hurricane Katrina struck, requesting an additional $1.5 billion to buttress the system that failed and left the city flooded.
“The federal government is committed to building the best levee system known in the world,” said Donald Powell, the top federal official for reconstruction.
Officials dodged the question of whether the levees would be built to withstand a Category 5 hurricane, using broader language instead to promise that the city’s citizens would be safe and the new levees would exceed anything New Orleans has ever seen.
Katrina, a Category 4 storm, broke through levees at numerous points after it hit on Aug. 29, killing 1,300 people in the Gulf Coast region. Louisiana officials have said bringing the levees to Category 5 protection is crucial for persuading people to move back to the city.
“This action today says come home to New Orleans,” Mayor Ray Nagin said after meeting with Bush at the White House. “It’s time for you to come back to the Big Easy.”
Powell said the president already had requested $1.6 billion to repair breaches in the levees, correct design and construction flaws and bring the levee system to a height authorized before the hurricane. That work is expected to be completed by June.
The additional $1.5 billion the president is requesting would pay to armor the levee system with concrete and stone, close three interior canals and provide state-of-the art pumping systems so the water would flow out of the canals into Lake Pontchartrain, Powell said. The additional work would take two years to complete.
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