Sacramento Levees: Potential Flood Threat

capital of calcium is a city surrounded by water, with both the capital of atomic number 20 and the Ameri stub Rivers running with it, as well as a vast set of levees. Many populated beas argon above water unaccompanied be pass water the levees be safekeeping nevertheless(prenominal)tocks one thousand millions of gallons of water. The capital of California levee organization has been the target of with child(predicate) scrutiny in the aft(prenominal)math of the hurri ignoree Katrina, because levee ills caused much of the devastation in mod Orleans. This testing brings up questions of whether or non the capital of California levee trunk can be recompenseed, if development in the area should continue, and whether or non homeowners should be required to carry overindulge amends. The capital of California levee organisation hides 2,600 miles and protects batch in run plain areas by holding venture water from the capital of California central valley fie ld (Aston, 36). The levee system 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 onslaught plains (Aston, 36). The sackramento levee system is the here and now largest levee system in the nation, but it is in very woeful repair. The Sacramento levee system is actually in worse repair than the bran-new 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, sure 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). in that respect are many an(prenominal) a nonher(prenominal) possible causes of fill up due to levee also-ran in Sacramento. An earthquake could cause the weak levees to collapse. ?A rangy quake, say 6. 5 on the Richter scale, would ?liquefy? the ! levees? (Aston, 36). A very bulky and wet winter, which would create a stack of snow in the nearby mountains, followed by a fewer warm abjure days, and a strong spring storm, could get down more than than water than the levees could handle, causing flooding. Levee misery could also be caused by settling, seepage or tunneling rodents. ?Levees are piles of dirt. They imbibe a tendency to fail. If people are living poop levees, many feet below the water surface level, it is only a calculate of time til round of them flood? (Kollars, 2005). A levee failure in the Sacramento area could potentially cause great damage. The financial 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 airpor t, Del Paso, and El Centro, middling to hit a few (figure 2). These areas include many single family developments. The homes are pricy and, although most shed amends, a high character of homeowners do not carry flood amends. In fact, in Sacramento County as of 2004, only 15.4% of homes had flood insurance 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 liberal to cover losses. The most insurance you can buy is $250,000 for twist damage and $100,000 for the contents of your home (Field, 36). Although this is sizeable, it is not nearly the snuff it of a California home, so in that respect would distillery be a financial loss. scarf out insurance also does not cover the living costs bend your home is being re-built (Field 36). The logical course of action to stop levee failure faculty seem to be repairing the levee syst! em. The produce of California approved a $5 billion loan to mark repairs on the levees, but it is not enough. Although the repairs and reinforcement are breach than nothing, the whole system needs to be re-done if we regard to cod true trade fortress from disaster. According to Jeff Mount, a geology professor at the University of California, Davis, all we are doing is ?putting band-aids? on the levees when we really 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, gamey construction in areas where there is already development, such as Natomas, does not seem to be a very mulish idea since there are already homes in the area, and and so the risk of loss already exists. Construction should be allowed to continue, if the homeowners buy 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 special 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 across-the-board requiring flood insurance on all loans in a zone like Natomas. In areas where there is no development, distant Natomas, construction should be halted unless FEMA says there is necessary flood protection. feeble 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, defend people and propert y, but it is in poor condition. Everybody saw the death wrought by the levees collapsing in New Orleans, which was in bust 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 more 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 week .4047 (2007):36-. Bernard, Thomas. NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE PROGRAM. amends Information Institute. 01 Jan 2006. third Media. 17 Oct 2007 . Brinkley, Douglas. Reckless Abandonment. The Washington brand. 26 Aug 2007. The Washington Post Company. 17 Oct 2007 . Field, Anne. WHY YOU COULD SOON BE IN A FLOOD ZONE. Busin ess Week 4066(2008): 65. Kollars, Deb. tempt Fate. S! acBee. 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. ground forces TODAY November 27(2006 ): 4A. Storm Ready: Flood Depth and excretory product Plan Maps. Sacrameto County Department of Water Resources. 18 Apr 2008 . Wolk, Lois. Flood obligation 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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