Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush will ask Congress for $1.5 billion to strengthen New Orleans levees breached during Hurricane Katrina, a project the city's mayor said would prevent another catastrophic flood.

Fortifying levees that were repaired temporarily after the storm struck Aug. 29 is critical to the next stage of rebuilding, Donald Powell, the federal reconstruction coordinator, said today in Washington. The money would go to reinforce levees with concrete and stone, close three canals in the city and add new pumps.

``It's important that people feel safe and move back into the area'' and ``businesses create jobs,'' Powell said at a White House news conference with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. ``The levee system will be better and stronger than it ever has been in the history of New Orleans.''

The Army Corps of Engineers project is designed to prevent another major flood should a hurricane with Katrina's force strike New Orleans again, Powell said. He said he's ``convinced'' that it would protect the city from another major storm surge from the Gulf of Mexico, although ``some flooding'' might occur even with the improvements.

Hurricane Strength

Powell declined to say whether the fortified levees would guard the city against major damage from a Category 5 hurricane, the highest ranking on the Saffir-Simpson scale based on wind speed. Many of the city's levees were built to withstand a surge of water from a Category 3 storm. Though Katrina came ashore as a Category 4 hurricane, it was weaker when it hit New Orleans.

The money comes on top of $1.6 billion already committed to repairing the levees, which keep the waters of the Gulf of Mexico from washing over parts of the city. Work is scheduled to be finished by June 1, 2006, ahead of the next hurricane season.

Congress has approved $62.3 billion to help the region recover and is debating additional measures to give local governments more leeway in spending the funds.

Nagin said permanent housing, stronger levies and tax incentives for rebuilding were the ``holy trinity'' of the reconstruction effort. ``Congress has moved from having a little bit of Katrina fatigue to now moving very quickly to address these three priorities,'' Nagin said.

Wide Effect

Louisiana and Mississippi were the hardest hit by Katrina, a storm Bush said produced the biggest natural disaster in the nation's history. Entire towns were wiped out, 80 percent of New Orleans was flooded and had to be evacuated and almost 1,000 people died.

Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, in testimony yesterday, asked Congress to rebuild and strengthen the levee system in New Orleans, restore housing that was destroyed, pass tax incentives for businesses and families, address the health-care needs of displaced residents and help students from schools that were destroyed.

Under the plan announced today, the 17th Street, Orleans and London canals will be closed to reduce the amount of land that a storm surge would reach.

Nagin appealed for New Orleans residents who evacuated the city to return.

``We now have the commitment and the funding for hurricane protection at a level that we have never had before,'' Nagin said. ``When you come back to New Orleans, come back ready to work.''

Senator Mary Landrieu said the White House knew the initial $1.6 billion amount ``was deficient.'' The additional money ``is an important step'' but ``we've got to go to a real Category 5'' hurricane-level protection, she said on CNN, describing the worst kind of storm.

``If the Netherlands can protect itself against the North Sea, most certainly the United States of America can protect its people from a lake and the Gulf Coast,'' Landrieu said.

The effort to respond to the disaster knocked most of the rest of Bush's domestic priorities off the congressional agenda and criticism of the government's slow reaction to the disaster sparked a decline in his public approval ratings that continued over the past two months.

U.S. Senate Republicans and Democrats have agreed on a $7 billion tax-cutting measure to help rebuild Gulf Coast regions devastated by hurricanes this year and may vote on it as early as today. The legislation creates a Gulf Opportunity Zone in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and provides tax breaks to help rebuild homes and businesses, stimulate hiring in the region and help communities restructure debt.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brendan Murray in Washington at brmurray@bloomberg.net; Roger Runningen in Washington at rrunningen@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 15, 2005 14:24 EST