Major flooding in 1912, 1913, and 1927 destroyed millions of dollars of property. The river has always been a threat to the security of the valley through which it flows. The Mississippi River, which starts at tiny Lake Itasca in Minnesota, is the third largest drainage basin in the world covering 41% of the 48 continuous United States. The annual operations require a subsidy to satisfy the operating short-fall resulting from the labor intensive costs of daily operations of Administration, Fire Safety and Maintenance, as well as the reimbursement to the General Fund for an advance used for the early call of the $4,000,000 Fuel Farm Revenue Bonds. A hydrocarbon aviation fuel farm facility is used for on-site sales of all aviation fuels at Lakefront Airport. The New Orleans Lakefront Airport commercially operates with 3 fixed base operators, 13 office tenants, and 10 hangar occupants. The annual operations require a subsidy to satisfy the operating shortfall resulting from a substantial debt service requirement on the outstanding Marina Public Improvement bonds. The Belle of Orleans gaming operation is housed at South Shore Harbor and is the principal tenant in the harbor. The Marina operates with 447 open slips, 26 cover slips, marina center, fuel dock, and Harbor Master Office as well as related marina amenities. The South Shore Harbor Marina was officially dedicated September 19, 1987. The Orleans Marina currently operates with 355 open slips, 66 boathouses, a Harbor Master Office, as well as related marine amenities. These projects relate to land reclamation, commercial buildings, improvements (other than buildings), and infrastructure. The District's General Improvement Fund accounts for the capital funds for major maintenance or capital improvement of all physical property and plant owned by the Board that is not identified as directly related to flood protection. The District's Special Levee Improvement Projects Fund (SLIP) accounts for the capital funds for major maintenance and/or capital improvements of all physical property and plant owned by the Board that is identified as directly related to flood protection. The District's General Fund accounts for all operating funds for the daily operations of the Administrative Offices, Field Forces, Law Enforcement and support operations necessary to maintain the Board's level of services for flood protection and public safety. All residents outside of these levees evacuate. When a storm approaches it is responsible for closing the hundreds of hurricane protection floodgates and valves on levees surrounding the city. The governor appoints six of the board's eight members, and they serve at his pleasure. Orleans Levee District, a quasi-governmental body, is resposponsible for 129 miles of earthen levees, floodwalls, 190 floodgates, 2 flood control structures, and 100 valves. Floodwalls are concrete and steel walls, built atop a levee, or in place of a levee, often where space is insufficient for a levee's broad base. The base is commonly 10 times as wide as the height. Levees are earthen structures, made of clay (sedimentary particles smaller in diameter than sand and silt), in cross section forming a truncated triangle. The levee system in New Orleans is one of the most extensive in the world. The city of New Orleans averages 1.8 m (6 ft) below sea level, resembling a shallow depression surrounded by levees and water. Thus for any slow category 3, or category 4 or 5 hurricanes, the possibility exists for flooding the metropolitan area of New Orleans. The hurricane protection levees surrounding the city are designed to protect the city from a category slow 2 or fast category 3 hurricane. Finally, there several hundred thousand people that will not evacuate because of the difficulty of actually evacuating and finding suitable shelters. There are an additional 20,000 special needs people that cannot be easily moved. Many people, about 200,000, do not have automobiles or access to an automobile. Most of the land in the city is below sea level, with much of the northern half of the city more than 5 feet below sea level.Ībout one half of the population of the city can't and won't evacuate during a hurricane. The city is surrounded by a river levee system 25 feet high along its southern boundary, and by hurricane protection levees about 15 feet high along the remaining boundaries. In addition to its separation from the coast, the topography of the land in the city of New Orleans is adverse. Hurricanes with significant monetary or human loss are memorialized by retiring their name. Hurricanes have affected the Louisiana coastline with a frequency that peaks in September. Hurricanes are categorized by their windspeed in miles per hour (mph). As a result of its elevation near sea level, the Lake Pontchartrain Basin is quite vulnerable to tropical storms and hurricanes.
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