.
Floodwaters surge into New Orleans again
By Andy Sullivan
NEW ORLEANS, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Floodwaters poured into New Orleans again on Friday as Hurricane Rita inundated several square miles of this still-devastated city but officials said they expected few deaths since the affected neighborhoods were largely deserted.
Dozens of recently drained blocks in neighborhoods flooded by Hurricane Katrina were swamped again after surging storm waters topped the levees in at least three places along the Industrial Canal, which runs through several poor but historic neighborhoods.
"We were hoping this wouldn't happen, but with Rita knocking at our door we're stuck with this," said Mark Heimann, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Officials at the scene said they expected minimal loss of life as the affected neighborhoods had been uninhabitable after Katrina and residents had been prevented from returning. Rescue teams went door-to-door looking for residents until Friday morning, when the searches were suspended.
Throughout the day, a 30-foot-wide waterfall poured over a recently patched section of levee into the Lower Ninth Ward where water had begun to seep through on Thursday.
On Flood Street, 10 blocks from the gap, water was knee-high and rising steadily by midafternoon.
Flood waters reached east of the city into neighboring St. Bernard Parish, and west roughly for 2 miles through residential streets still ravaged by the last flood.
"It's frustrating, but there ain't nothing you can do about Mother Nature," said St. Bernard Parish President Henry Rodriguez.
The Army Corps of Engineers rushed 12 trucks full of boulders through the city to try to close one gap but could not dump them where they were needed. Corps officials said there was little they could do to stop the flooding because high winds prevented them from reaching the affected sections by helicopter.
In more upscale neighborhoods near Lake Pontchartrain also heavily hit by Katrina, new metal barriers withstood a five-foot storm surge, though water seeped through some repaired levee sections.
Richard Pinner, an Army Corps civil engineer, said seepage was unavoidable because the Corps has only had time to patch the damaged sections with boulders and gravel rather than more impermeable materials like clay or synthetic membranes.
The seepage had been steady even before the storm, he said.
But one state senator said the Corps should have had plenty of time to put more durable levees in place.
"Any idiot knows stone and gravel wasn't going to work when you have water coming up like this," said Sen. Walter Boasso, whose district includes St. Bernard Parish. "It's the same water we dealt with three weeks ago."
New Orleans resident Jeffrey Holmes said he did not think his house 2-1/2 half blocks west of the Industrial Canal would flood again even though it took on 3 feet of water after Katrina hit.
"I don't think where I'm at is going to be a problem," he said.
(Additional reporting by Ellen Wulfhorst in Baton Rouge)
(c) Reuters 2005.