The Last Puzzle Pieces

The reconstruction of New Orleans requires one final burst of political goodwill.

AT LAST, THE Federal Emergency Management Agency has produced what it calls the "advisory flood data" for greater New Orleans, and what most everyone else calls the "flood maps." These are documents informing the city's residents and former residents how far their houses lie above or below sea level, and explaining how the dwellings will have to be modified to remain safe -- and to qualify for federal flood insurance. They have been a long time in the making, not least because FEMA two weeks ago announced that before issuing the maps, it needed the Army Corps of Engineers to certify that it would improve the levees around the city, and the Army Corps in turn announced that the cost of doing so was higher, by several billion dollars, than previously estimated because levees had sunk and conditions had changed since the last time they were surveyed, more than 20 years ago. After a week or so of confusion, it became clear that this isn't a firm amount of money -- it has already been whittled down considerably -- nor one that needs to be spent immediately. So the maps, finally, appeared.

Their effect could be dramatic: Some inhabitants of the lower parts of the city may learn they have to raise their houses three or more feet off the ground if they want to qualify for federal flood insurance -- which could mean, in practice, that they are too expensive to rebuild. The result may well be that many people, instead of rebuilding in exactly the same place, will choose to live on higher ground. This is a better and safer outcome for New Orleans, but to make it work the city's inhabitants will need the compensation for their wrecked homes that Congress has only partially delivered. When they return from their recess, members should focus on making sure the necessary grant money, already in the pipeline, is available.

Still left for the future is the question of whether every single levee in every neighborhood of greater New Orleans needs to be reconstructed. In announcing publication of the flood maps, Donald E. Powell, the White House's Gulf Coast point man, made clear that maps would not be released for the lower part of Plaquemines Parish, which is sparsely populated, below sea level and very expensive to protect. A spokesman said he is still studying the matter, but -- again, if compensation is clearly available -- it may well make more sense to encourage people in such areas to move to safer ground.

The other missing element of the long-term solution is a comprehensive wetlands restoration program in the Mississippi River delta. This is not a matter the Louisiana congressional delegation can or should deal with on its own. On the contrary, the problem may ultimately require the cooperation of states farther upriver, for example, whose own levees may be contributing to the reduction in river silt and therefore to the sinking coastline. But just because it isn't on the table right now doesn't mean Congress should either forget about the sinking wetlands and barrier islands that once protected the Gulf Coast or agree to a half-baked plan to use coastal drilling revenue to fix the problem. It would be a pity to spend billions rebuilding the area only to discover in a decade or two that because of poor planning, conditions had changed, land had sunk further and the Gulf population had been forced to relocate again.