Smart Levees

With Hurricane Katrina foremost on our minds and on TV, it's worth exploring to see what smart preventive technology could be 1) used to rebuild New Orleans or 2) installed around the country in areas that lie in flood plains or at risk of rising ocean levels.

California is experimenting with "smart" levees> These intelligent barriers are wired with nervous systems of electronic failure sensors that sound alarms if a weakening levee threatens to open a breach, giving crews time to make emergency repairs.

Couple that capability to surveillance cameras and motion sensors and authorities can monitor the conditions around the potential breach. ..It would warn authorities if terrorists try to send an explosive-packed rowboat up to a levee.

ETA : Now 2005;

Level: Intelligence Level (1) Adapting: Modifying Behaviour to React to/Fit the Environment

Status: working commercial version

What do you think of this smart technology ? Pros or Cons? Impacts?

Walter Derzko

Expert and Guest Speaker on the Smart Economy and author of an upcoming book on the Smart Economy

Next we will look at smart flexible concrete that bends under stress

Comments

[Walter Derzko]

re: EXPLOSIVE RESIDUE FOUND ON FAILED LEVEE DEBRIS

Updated story Monday Sept. 12, 2005 @ 8:23 AM
see http://www.halturnershow.com/DiversFindExplosiveResidueOnRupturedLevy.html

EXPLOSIVE RESIDUE FOUND ON FAILED LEVEE DEBRIS! Ruptured New Orleans Levee had help failing By: Hal Turner September 9, 2005 3:36 PM EDTNOTE: This story has been UPDATED as of Saturday, September 10, 2005 @ 11:40 PM EDT The updated info is incorporated into the story and appears in bold typeSECOND UPDATE: Monday Sept. 12, 2005 @ 8:23 AM ABC News Video with Ear Witness to Explosions and states emphatically "They blew this levee" Click the link below the story New Orleans, LA -- Divers inspecting the ruptured levee walls surrounding New Orleans found something that piqued their interest: Burn marks on underwater debris chunks from the broken levee wall! One diver, a member of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, saw the burn marks and knew immediately what caused them. When he surfaced and showed the evidence to his superior, the on-site Coordinator for FEMA stepped-in and said "You are not here to conduct an investigation as to why this rupture occurred, but only to determine how best to close it." The FEMA coordinator then threw the evidence back into the water and said "You will tell no one about this."At that point, the diver went back down to do more inspection of the levee. On the second dive, he secreted a small chunk of the debris inside his wet suit and later arranged for it to be sent to trusted military friends at a The U.S. Army Forensic Laboratory at Fort Gillem, Georgia for testing. According to well placed sources, a military forensic specialist determined the burn marks on the cement chunks did, in fact, come from high explosives. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity said "We found traces of boron-enhanced fluoronitramino explosives as well as PBXN-111 embedded in the debris. This would indicate at least two separate types of explosive devices." The levee ruptures in New Orleans did not take place during Hurricane Katrina, but rather a day after the hurricane struck. Several residents of New Orleans and many Emergency Workers reported hearing what sounded like large, muffled explosions from the area of the levee, but those were initially discounted as gas explosions from homes with leaking gas lines. If these allegations prove true, the ruptured levee which flooded New Orleans was a deliberate act of mass destruction perpetrated by someone with access to military-grade UNDERWATER high explosives. More details as they become available .

[Walter Derzko]

Explosive found on levees

What I had privately feared has been confirmed in the media.

One blog reader emailed me the following news item:

New Orleans real estate

EXPLOSIVE RESIDUE FOUND ON FAILED LEVEE DEBRIS! Ruptured New Orleans Levee had help failing By: Hal Turner September 9, 2005 - 3:36 PM EDT

New Orleans, LA -- Divers inspecting the ruptured levee walls surrounding New Orleans found something that piqued their interest: Burn marks on underwater debris chunks from the broken levee wall !

One diver, a member of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, saw the burn marks and knew immediately what caused them. He secreted a small chunk of the cement inside his diving suit and later arranged for it to be sent to trusted military friends at a The U.S. Army Forensic Laboratory at Fort Gillem, Georgia for testing.

According to well placed sources, a military forensic specialist determined the burn marks on the cement chunks did, in fact, come from high explosives. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity said "We found traces of boron-enhanced fluoronitramino explosives as well as PBXN-111. This would indicate at least two separate types of explosive devices."

The levee ruptures in New Orleans did not take place during Hurricane Katrina, but rather a day after the hurricane struck. Several residents of New Orleans and many Emergency Workers reported hearing what sounded like large, muffled explosions from the area of the levee, but those were initially discounted as gas explosions from homes with leaking gas lines.

If these allegations prove true, the ruptured levee which flooded New Orleans was a deliberate act of mass destruction perpetrated by someone with access to military-grade UNDERWATER high explosives.

[Walter Prochorenko]

Has anyone ever explored the idea of sending someone to the Netherlands to study they incredible and effective system of dykes? Basically the whole country is below sea level and their dykes have been protecting millions of people for hundreds of years.
I think that "experimenting" with smart levees is just that - experimentation - and if there is a chance that it could cost lives then it's not such a bright idea.
Why reinvent the wheel?
I'm all for innovation and new ideas but let's channel these to areas that would not cause potential disasters. I'm sure the Corps of Engineers would agree with me at this stage.

[Ken Hudson]

Perhaps it would be smarter to rebuild New Orleans above sea-level. Otherwise all of these technologies reduce risk of the unexpected. The ability to move resources in place seems paramount. These smart technologies allow for adequate preparation time.

I look forward to your new blog and this topic, a new one for me.

Ken Hudson