Flood Barrier USA

Floods in Drought-Stricken States

Author: Donna Conneely

Repairs and improvements made after Hurricane Katrina were sorely tested last month when Hurricane Isaac swept inland on the same path taken by Katrina in 2005.  There were many tense hours as the storm approached, and officials worried that levees and fortifications would be overwhelmed.

Ultimately, the fortifications held up, but not before more than 3,000 residents around Lake Ponchartrain were evacuated as waters swept over the flood barriers into residential neighborhoods. Flood-waters were three feet deep in some areas, leaving cars stranded and houses filled with muddy, polluted water. Many homes were simply washed away completely. Almost half of Louisiana residences were left without power in the aftermath of the storm, and there were several deaths attributed to the hurricane.

Hurricane Issac weakened as it pushed inland, but nevertheless brought flash floods and wreaked devastation along its path.  As it moved inland, the storm also brought some hope of relief to drought-stricken areas that have been scorched by blazing cloudless skies all summer. However, in order to help farmers, the rains needed to come softly, over several days. Instead, Isaac cruelly dumped the rain in sheets — all at once.

When heavy rain strikes the dry parched ground of drought-plagued farmland it does not soak into the ground to nourish the plants but sweeps swiftly over the hard-baked earth, damaging what is left of the crops. Hurricane Isaac, which arrived late in August, showed up with hard rains just as crops were almost ready for harvest. This delayed the harvest, and in many cases reduced the yield because of the damaging impact of floods and the torrential rainfall.

In the year 2012 more than 60% of the contiguous US was stricken by drought conditions.  Isaac was at first welcomed by local farmers, then cursed for the destruction of crops with no relief from the rain, which slipped away almost immediately into stream and rivers. In the long run, Hurricane Isaac brought only more headache, property destruction and hardship, without any benefit to farmers and ranchers.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 25th, 2012 at 2:08 pm and is filed under Flood Protection. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.