Lenient Rule Set for Rebuilding in New Orleans

In a highly controversial step, Fema are offering government aid in the rebuilding of New Orleans' battered housing as long as the houses are built at three feet off the ground. This represents a significant reduction in the height that residents feared the houses would have to be off the ground.

There were rumours that Fema would demand at least ten feet between any structures and the ground.

However, it's not clear what scientific methods Fema used to come up with the figure of three feet.

The lesser requirement assumes that the area's damaged levee system will be solidly reconstructed. To that end, federal officials also announced Wednesday that most of the system's 36 miles or so of flood walls — which sit atop levees in places where massive earthen structures are not practical — would be replaced. The cost for that and other levee improvements is $2.5 billion, which the Bush administration said Wednesday that it would actively seek from Congress.

Some experts were critical of the decision. "It's wacky," said J. Robert Hunter, a former director of the federal flood insurance program. "Three feet — where did that come from? Why are we building up three feet, when the water was up over the roof?

"What's that three feet going to do?" Mr. Hunter asked. "Instead of coming up with real science, they're making it up. Which means that people are going to be at risk, they're going to die again, and taxpayers are subsidizing unwise construction with very cheap insurance."

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Tags: New Orleans, Katrina, flooding, Fema, rebuilding, three, feet, ten, height, requirements,