President Bush Asked For Money To Rebuild Levees

President Bush asked Congress for more money to re-build Levees in New Orleans. They are to be built safer than ever before. They will be as high as 17 feet in some areas, and built to withstand hurricanes as bad as Katrina.

The $1.5 billion would be used to:

• armor the levee system with concrete and stone
• close three interior canals (London, 17th Street and Industrial)
• build state-of-the-art pumping systems for water to flow out of the canals into Lake Pontchartrain

It will take about two years to rebuild the levees. FEMA cannot spend money on levees, so discussions are taking place on how to reallocate money from FEMA and where the money is coming from to do the work.

Tags| New Orleans, Levees, FEMA, Congress