Page 6 - Levy System News Today

Many there are trying to heed the advice to get out of the city. a little 90 miles from new orleans, biloxi, mississippi, where there is a curfew until 7:00 a.m. roads have been flooding there. >> we have been here until 5:00 a.m., making sure that we track the storm. new orleans, of course, taking a direct hit. it is a little erie that its 7 years -- >> to the day. hit new orleans in 20 feet of water in some spots. its the real test to see whether or not the upgraded and new levees can actually...

In louisiana over topping. lets head to new orleans. jonathan seere is live for us. hi, jonathan. >> hi there. we have our local affiliate fox 8 heading down there. the levy there are reports of water over topping that. however the levy system protecting the city of new orleans so far appears to be holding very well. viewed as the first test of real storm since hurricane katrina where the levees were freed. the investment protecting that city from hurricanes like this one coming through right no...

The system will cover over the state of louisiana dropping anywhere from 18-24 inches of rain after that it is still a flood issue. a lot of the area the water has nowhere to go. authorities say they have faith in the levy system. the drastic images from 2005 there is mass devastation we saw with hurricane katrina. since then the levy system has undergone a $14 billion facelift. there is more than 133 miles surrounding the city of new orleans while the number of perish parishes that protect resi...

System. there have been a $14 billion investment to upgrade the 133 mile stretch of levy system that protect this city as well as a number of vulnerable parishes oo thank you very much live in new orleans. the rnc could have opened and closed for business but not before they unveiled a real time debt clock to highlight the nations soaring deficit. >> for this convention we also want to draw your attention to the unprecedented fiscal recklessness of the obama administration as depicted by the r...

Time it accelerates by the time we head to the weekend. heather, patti ann? >> people of new orleans bracing for the brunt of the storm. we are live with the latest from louisiana. >> gulf states have declared a state of emergency. we think it will make land fall tonight or early tomorrow morning. the biggest trend of the storm is the fact that it is going to be a rain maker. this is a low lying part of the united states. so what are people doing? well if traffic is any indication there are thou...

Evacuation orders. we have provided transportation and shelters. we are shelter be the grand isle right next door at the la fukushila fousche. >> we have only been on the ground a couple of 40urs john and people have said will the levies hold up? how confidence are the people in the area with the levy system? i have interviewed the army corps of engineers. they are confident. are you? >> yes. billions of dollars have gone in. we are much better protected than at the time katrina hit. mother natu...

Martha: jonathan, thank you very much. cargo, as we said, is now slowly beginning to move again on the mississippi river. a 15-mile stretch was completely closed to shipping yesterday, which has a huge impact on the economy there. were talking about hundreds of millions of dollars at stake for every day that those barges cannot make it down the river. the coast guard fears that the wakes from those shipping vessels could increase the pressure on their already severely strained levy system. so ...

Flood zone yesterday, and from up above it gives you a great appreciation for the levy system. the traces, the path of the mighty mississippi. it is first and foremost a flood wall. as martin savage tells us tonight, when the roads are underwater it can also double as an access trail to places like eagle creek, mississippi. martin? >> reporter: yeah, we just want to show you one other thing before we get rolling. thats look at the scene behind us. it looks like an idealic canal, perhaps, north o...

The ship there of the coast guard against the pier its tied up. normally it would be tied up where the white circles are out there. because the water is so high, they cant tie it up there because it would buck in this way towards the coastline. so instead theyve tied it up over there. now the guys say when they were working here the other day, putting out the sandbags, over here, you cant see the fence. you can see the back end of the fence over here. if you come to the left, the fence is underw...

show you its powerful punch in many forms. right here the pace of change is slow yet certain. last night we showed you the spillway from above a helicopter ride. the gates open toded to the gates open toded t divert wr away from mississippi. now the water is rising slowly as you see it. you see the rails that go up behind my shoulder. nose are normally dry. thats the edge of the river. its rising more slowly than the engineers originally predicted. the folks were told by the mississipp...