Sacramento Levees: Potential Flood Threat

capital of calcium is a city surrounded by water, with both the capital of calcium and the Ameri stub Rivers running by dint of it, as well as a vast set about of levees. Many populated beas argon above water solo be coiffure the levees be safekeeping neverthe littletocks billions of gallons of water. The capital of California levee organization has been the target of great(predicate) scrutiny in the aft(prenominal)math of the hurri tushe Katrina, because levee ills caused much of the devastation in newfangled Orleans. This testing brings up questions of whether or non the capital of California levee governance can be localisationed, if development in the ara should continue, and whether or non homeowners should be required to carry overindulge amends. The capital of California levee placement hides 2,600 miles and protects mess in swamp plain areas by holding digest water from the capital of California central valley field (Aston, 36). The levee sys tem was built in the 1900?s, primarily to protect 4 million acres of farmland. It was non built to protect an faultless city of 2 million, 500,000 of which are in glut plains (Aston, 36). The sackingramento levee system is the importation largest levee system in the nation, but it is in very distressing repair. The Sacramento levee system is actually in worse repair than the new-fangled Orleans levees during Katrina, and has received a grade of ?F? from The American Society of Civil Engineers (Ritter, 4A). callable to the reekingness in the levee, received regions ache been deemed unsafe by the Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA. oneness of these regions is the Natomas area, which could be under 20 feet of water if the levees failed (Ritter, 4A). on that point are umteen possible causes of fill up due to levee blow in Sacramento. An earthquake could cause the weak levees to collapse. ?A titanic quake, say 6.5 on the Richter scale, would ?liquefy? the levees? (Aston, 36). A very unyielding and wet winter, wh! ich would create a stack of snow in the nearby mountains, followed by a fewer warm take form days, and a strong spring storm, could get down to a greater extent water than the levees could handle, causing flooding. Levee also-ran could also be caused by settling, seepage or tunneling rodents. ?Levees are piles of dirt. They imbibe a tendency to fail. If good deal are living poop levees, many an(prenominal) feet below the water surface level, it is only a payoff of time til round of them flood? (Kollars, 2005). A levee failure in the Sacramento area could potentially cause great damage. The fiscal damage could be far greater than that in New Orleans, even though the loss of life would be less (Aston, 36), presumably due to macrocosm less densely populated. The American River alone would flood Arden, Cal Expo, and CSU Sacramento (figure 1), with damages in the millions of dollars. The Sacramento River would flood the Sacramento airport, Del Paso, and El Centro, stil l to hit a few (figure 2). These areas include many single family developments. The homes are dearly-won and, although most suck redress, a high character of homeowners do not carry flood indemnification. In fact, in Sacramento County as of 2004, only 15.4% of homes had flood indemnification come in of the 378,524 single family homes (Bernard). Since Katrina the number of homes with flood insurance has increased, but so has the number of homes in the area. Also, in most cases flood insurance in the Sacramento area would not be profuse to cover losses. The most insurance you can buy is $250,000 for construct damage and $100,000 for the contents of your home (Field, 36). Although this is sizeable, it is not nearly the kick the bucket of a California home, so in that respect would appease be a financial loss. scarf out insurance also does not cover the living costs crack your home is being re-built (Field 36). The logical course of action to keep on levee fa ilure faculty seem to be repairing the levee system.! The produce of California approved a $5 billion loan to scribble repairs on the levees, but it is not enough. Although the repairs and reinforcement are remediate than nothing, the whole system needs to be re-done if we indigence to turn in true trade defense from disaster. According to Jeff Mount, a geology prof at the University of California, Davis, all we are doing is ?putting band-aids? on the levees when we rightfully need to completely re-do the good system (Ritter, 4A). Repairing the levee system is not really a operable option. It is not doing enough, and the risk of levee failure would still be overly high. Given the state of the Sacramento levees, and the scrutiny of the levee system after hurricane Katrina, it is no surprise that flood insurance rates have increased for existing homeowners in this region and that future gimmick has been halted in somewhat areas (Ritter, 4A). However, crippled construction in areas where there is already development, such as Natomas, does not seem to be a very serviceable idea since there are already homes in the area, and hence the risk of loss already exists. Construction should be allowed to continue, if the homeowners bribe insurance for protection from a catastrophic flood. Although expensive for the homeowner, flood insurance forces them to have some measure of protection and it would be cheaper in the end if there was flooding. If the homeowner did not have flood insurance in the case of a flood, many would lose their homes as they could not afford to rebuild. This could be seen in New Orleans where some homeowners were paying the mortgage on their old home while trying to rebuild a tonic home. Many couldn?t do this and lost everything.

There is also an spare cost to the government when there is no flood insurance, as they moldiness help those who can?t help themselves due to wish of insurance. The federal government is requiring people who have federally okay loans to get flood insurance if they live in a flood-prone zone (Field, 65), and this should be blanket(a) requiring flood insurance on all loans in a zone like Natomas. In areas where there is no development, opposed Natomas, construction should be halted unless FEMA says there is necessary flood protection. halting construction in non-developed areas is just because it doesn?t add additional risk of loss in case of flood, and doesn?t cause developers to lose out on existing development. . Katrina taught us a lesson which Sacramento and the rest of the world should study and learn from. The levee system in Sacramento is the second largest levee system in the nation, protect people and property, but it is in poor condition. Everybody saw the demolition wrought by the levees collapsing in New Orleans, which was in mend repair than the Sacramento levee system. deluge insurance offers some protection from the results of levee failure, but it does not cover all costs, and the majority of homeowners do not have flood insurance. The government should allot much resources to building a new levee system instead of just repairing the old system. Billions of dollars spent right away would save tens of billions of dollars, as well as lives, in a flood?s aftermath. Works CitiedAston, Adam, Michael Arndt, and Tom Sawyer. IF THE LEVEES FAIL IN CALIFORNIA... Business calendar week .4047 (2007):36-. Bernard, Thomas. NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE PROGRAM. amends Information Institute. 01 Jan 2006. deuce-ace Media. 17 Oct 2007 . Brinkley, Douglas. Reckless Abandonment. The Washington blank space. 26 Aug 2007. The Washington Post Company. 17 Oct 2007 . Field, Anne. WHY YOU COULD SOON BE IN A FLOOD ZONE. Business Week 4066(200! 8): 65. Kollars, Deb. tempt Fate. SacBee. 30 Oct 2005. Sacramento Bee. 18 Oct 2007 . Kollars, Deb . Sacramentos flood peril is highest in U.S. . Sac Bee. 30 Oct 2005. Sacramento Bee. 18 Oct 2007 . Ritter, John. California races to repair levee system. the States TODAY November 27(2006 ): 4A. Storm Ready: Flood Depth and excreta Plan Maps. Sacrameto County Department of Water Resources. 18 Apr 2008 . Wolk, Lois. Flood indebtedness Agenda. California State Assembly. 25. Oct 2005. California State Assembly. 17 Oct 2007 . If you want to get a full essay, bon ton it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

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