Running Out of Time

When the Corpse wasn't ready with this project by June 1 no one was surprised.... but, at the same time, no one was worried yet. Now that we're coming to the end of July it's not quite as amusing when they keep mucking it up.

Federal engineers announced earlier this month that the 17th Street Canal floodgates and pumps would not be functional on July 7, making it the second missed target since work began in late winter. Initially, the 11 gates and first set of new pumps to move storm water around the gate structure were to have been ready by the June 1 start of this hurricane season. Until the gates are ready, the corps plans to drive sheet piling to block storm surge if necessary.

Along with start dates, the corps also has provided target dates for steadily increasing pump capacity at the canal to reduce the prospect of internal flooding from rainwater if the gates are closed against a storm surge in the lake. But all those dates have come and gone, and, at least for now, corps engineers are saying only that their tentative long-term goals are to have 5,100 cfs capacity available to drain the 17th Street Canal by the end of October -- just a month before the hurricane season ends -- and 7,300 cfs by the start of the 2007 season.

Just how much of that planned capacity will be available at any time during the height of the current season, generally considered to be August and September, depends on a number of variables that are not yet known, corps pump specialist Jim St. Germain said Tuesday.

"We're meeting with our contractors on a daily basis going over all the new modifications," he said. "These are construction dates that depend on everything coming together. And when we feel we have solid dates, we'll put them out there."

Related: Roll Out the Beryl