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And what if they failed?

03/02/2010

The News Star Editorial Staff
 
If 1927 seems like a long time ago, how about 1932? Or '83? Or '91?
 
Those were flood years — big flood years — and there are plenty of people here who might well remember water rising in the streets of Monroe, especially in the latter years.
 
Folks in outlying areas might have fresher memories of how it feels to watch the water rise and the fields disappear under a deep blanket of water. It has happened in recent years with advancing hurricanes.
 
Remember the last time you visited a zoo and pressed against the snake's cage? A sign might've warned you not to tempt the glass' strength. What would you do if the glass broke? That's what such signs usually read.
 
What would we do if our levees failed? It's a question that everyone in the Tensas Basin Levee District might ask themselves.
That's why flood scares like those this area weathered in recent months, unnerving though they may be, provide helpful reminders about the value of our levees. What would we do if the levees failed?
 
Fortunately, U.S. Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-Quitman, is asking similar questions in Washington. On one hand, he is fighting decertification of our levee system, which would make it necessary for anyone with a federally backed mortgage within the 100-year flood flow to buy expensive flood insurance.
 
On the other hand, Alexander is pressing demands on federal officials to prioritize funding for levee protection. Among his recent efforts has been one to rally fellow congressmen for what his staff calls a "crusade to bring critical attention to the levee certification issue."
 
This congressional district is fortunate that Alexander is pressing the issue because too few people in Washington are fully intent and effectively engaged in issues surrounding the levees. Yet, as Alexander noted to Congress, 800 parishes and counties in the U.S. are protected by levees. In many cases, those levee systems have been degraded, neglected at the peril of those who live nearby. What would residents of those parishes and counties do if the levees failed? Are we pressing too hard on the glass that protects us?
 
The problem is greater than one parish or county or district itself can solve. For example, to meet certification requirements in the Tensas Basin, more than 100 miles of levees would have to be improved at a cost of millions of dollars — money this impoverished region simply does not have.
 
The problem is permanent and national; the need imminent. Levees must be mighty fortresses. Yet the Obama administration seeks to cut funding for the Corps of Engineers, which historically has maintained levees. Where was the stimulus money for that? And who, besides Alexander, is asking such questions?
 
The editorials in this column represent the opinions of The News-Star's editorial board, composed of President and Publisher David B. Petty, Executive Editor Kathy Spurlock, Managing Editor Ken Stickney and community representatives Don Coker, Laura Kilpatrick Marchelos and Annmarie Sartor.