Marking the 19th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, as well as the fourth year since Levees.org Founder Sandy Rosenthal’s book was published, Mango Publishers announces a new Second Edition of Words Whispered in Water: Why the Levees Broke in Hurricane Katrina.
The second edition, to be released in July, 2025 with pre-orders starting in February, will have a new cover and forward.
Hard cover copies of the first edition have sold out, according to Mango, though audio and kindle versions of the first edition are available on Amazon.com and in some bookstores.
“Since 62 percent of the nation’s population lives in counties protected by levees, this story is still relevant as we experience more frequent and more rapidly intensifying hurricanes,” said Rosenthal. “We’re talking about 201 million people.”
Words Whispered in Water has won multiple awards, been reviewed by Publishers Weekly and featured at the Louisiana and New Orleans Book Festivals.
Iam a native and landowner from south Plaquemines Parish. That area was wiped out for hurricanes Betsy, Camille and Katrina. the main reason is that the EastBank river levee was not repaired after hurricane Camille. I served as storm surge protection for communities on the populated west bank. The USACE is allowing the east bank to erode and crevasse in many areas. The land there is privately owned and being allowed to contribute to “land loss” and the owners have not been contacted by the USACE. Does the USACE have the power to do that. The CPRA has refused to support any storm surge protection projects which were submitted for inclusion in the 2023 master plan. They claim that the river is building land at the crevasse outfall bays. That new land is old land that belong to property owners and was allowed to erode and be washed away. This is easily determined by a simple calculation based on the change of depth, width and length parameters. Thousands of cubic yards of private property have been lost. The fresh water has killed all the EastBank oyster reefs. The state has not confronted the USACE with that issue. The crevasses are causing the saltwater wedge problem harming the communities and families. Hot water heaters are being changed. Providing storm surge protection with a repaired east bank levee solves several issues. The 3-billion-dollar Mid Barataria Sediment Diversion will not produce nay land in the first 20 years of operation. The USACE permitted it. The hurricanes that came into the gulf this season is a hint to our future. Build levees first with the available funds and stop using computer models that cannot produce accurate results. What is their source of input. Is AI? Artificial!!! not factual. The Delft3D model used to determine the diversion results did not build and land above for sea level for the first 20 years of operation. That 3 billion dollars could build many higher levees and other elevated structures that the world is now planning to protect their countries from sea level rise. Are we the levee experts? Claims of SCIENCE by some are not factual. I am reorganizing a group Called Common Ground that I started when the USACE CWPPRA was formed. I am trying to have a voice for the people of Plaquemines Parish. My family came from Spain to organize the control of the mouth of the Mississippi river in 1768. That was 8 generation ago. I do not have a web site. I am 81 years old and trying to fight the powerful groups like the Mississippi River Delta group from Nicholls college, the RorR group, CRCL, the Pontchartrain group, EDF, Audubon Society and all the others that are in control of our future. I can send you a before and after photo of my home in Buras for Katrina. My grandmother’s home and my parents’ home. The storm surge from Breton Sound caused all that. I had to move upriver but rent my property for income in Buras. So, people are still there that need protection. We don’t need any diversions.
The USACE are protected by eminent domain and an act from the 1920s. We don’t have money to sue them.