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Pumps keeping up with New Orleans flooding: FEMA

WASHINGTON
Mon Sep 1, 2008 4:19pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Waves from Hurricane Gustav caused some flooding over the tops of levees in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, hard-hit during Hurricane Katrina three years ago, but city pumps were able to keep up with the flow, an Army Corps of Engineers official said on Monday.

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Maj. Gen. Don Riley, deputy commander of the engineers, told a briefing by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that the levees in the greatest danger were in the southern part of Lafourche Parish southwest of New Orleans and closer to where Gustav came ashore.

"The only ones that we think are in the greatest danger are in south Lafourche Parish," he said.

He said that although waves washing over the tops of the levees in New Orleans and high water pressing the walls raised the potential for problems, officials were "confident in the resilience" of the levees rebuilt after Katrina.

"There's no question they have a safer system now than they did during Katrina," one official said of the levee system.

Up to 50,000 National Guard troops have been authorized by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to help in the aftermath of the hurricane, Maj. Bill Etter of the National Guard said.

"We've seen a very well-prepared nation for Hurricane Gustav," a FEMA official said.

(Editing by Peter Cooney)
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