[originaltext]W: New Orleans is all about attitude. From its music to its stree

W: New Orleans is all about attitude. From its music to its streetcars and riverboats, it oozes charm. It’s a city that moves a bit slower, saving its energy to party a little harder. It is also a city that flirts with disaster nearly every hurricane season.
M: It’s going to happen. We can’t continue to beat the odds. We’ve beaten the odds for a long long time now.
W: I understand that as the Jefferson Parish emergency manager you know much more about the catastrophe. So could you tell me more about it?
M: Yes. Of the 1.3 million people living in metropolitan New Orleans, I’m responsible for nearly half a million which, during hurricane season, leaves me with many sleepless nights. And I’m keenly aware there is little I can do to keep people from falling victim to a natural disaster, or to save my city.
W: So the possibilities play out in your mind over and over again?
M: I mean, very, very rapidly, within a 10-hour period, you know, the metropolitan New Orleans area is totally devastated. Gone!
W: Several expert studies and computer models show New Orleans even more vulnerable than anyone previously thought.
M: Some say levees and floodwalls designed to protect the city from moderately intense hurricanes might be over-topped and fail in just such storms. The way it’s described, we describe it here is, Lake Pontchartrain has now become Lake New Orleans.
W: I can’t believe it!
M: In 1998, Hurricane George brushed New Orleans, going inland to the east in Mississippi. A fairly powerful storm, it was not on the order of Betsy, which in 1965 killed 61 people in New Orleans, flooded the city, and led to the construction of the floodwalls, but had it struck, the death toll from George might have been horrific.
W: Stop for a second. The greatest disaster that any of us have looked at in the United States was 9/11, 2001. About 3,000 people died.
M: And Forty-four thousand if George makes the direct hit on New Orleans. I estimate most of the dead would be people who, for whatever reason, did not or could not evacuate. Left trapped in the city as the water rises.
The problem is population has mushroomed. Evacuation routes are limited. And New Orleans is like a bowl.
The city sits below sea level, on three sides there’s water: the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Pontchartrain, and the Mississippi River. Jackson Square, the cathedral and just about everything else in New Orleans would be underwater, 12 to 15 feet of it. In the storm’s aftermath, water would sit in the city for an estimated six months. Pumps needed to get the water out would themselves be under water. And it would take up to 120 days to rebuild them.
W: In this worst-case scenario, the vision is chilling!
M: Yes. While we’re rebuilding the pumps, we’re getting everybody who’s still in here, and who’s alive, out. And we’re gathering the casualties, we’re gathering the fatalities, and getting them out of here.
W: So what shall happen when people are waiting for rescue?
M: For months, no drinking water, no sewer system, no electricity. By that time, every building in the city having been submerged to one degree or another would have to be structurally analyzed. W: Any ideas or plans to save New Orleans from this doomsday vision?
M: The levees and floodwalls surrounding the city can be raised higher. That would cost billions of dollars and take years to complete.
W: Is there any other better way?
M: Another thought? Wall off a portion of New Orleans. The area behind the barrier would include the government center and French quarter. This is the one agency in government that not only is allowed to pray, it’s demanded. We’ve got calluses on our knees in this business. For now, the only hope is to escape the city.
11. How does the man feel about the city of New Orleans?
12. What do we know about the man in the interview?
13. What’s happened to New Orleans during the hurricane season according to the man?
14. What will happen when people are waiting for rescue?
15. What does the man suggest the residents do at the end of the interview?