Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Drowning New Orleans
Scientific American ^ | October 2001 | Mark Fischetti

Posted on 08/28/2005 5:00:35 PM PDT by gitmo

THE BOXES are stacked eight feet high and line the walls of the large, windowless room. Inside them are new body bags, 10,000 in all. If a big, slow-moving hurricane crossed the Gulf of Mexico on the right track, it would drive a sea surge that would drown New Orleans under 20 feet of water. "As the water recedes," says Walter Maestri, a local emergency management director, "we expect to find a lot of dead bodies."

New Orleans is a disaster waiting to happen. The city lies below sea level, in a bowl bordered by levees that fend off Lake Pontchartrain to the north and the Mississippi River to the south and west. And because of a damning confluence of factors, the city is sinking further, putting it at increasing flood risk after even minor storms. The low-lying Mississippi Delta, which buffers the city from the gulf, is also rapidly disappearing. A year from now another 25 to 30 square miles of delta marsh-an area the size of Manhattan-will have vanished. An acre disappears every 24 minutes. Each loss gives a storm surge a clearer path to wash over the delta and pour into the bowl, trapping one million people inside and another million in surrounding communities. Extensive evacuation would be impossible because the surging water would cut off the few escape routes. Scientists at Louisiana State University (L.S.U.), who have modeled hundreds of possible storm tracks on advanced computers, predict that more than 100,000 people could die. The body bags wouldnÆt go very far.

(Excerpt) Read more at sciamdigital.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: Louisiana
KEYWORDS: flood; hurricankatrina; neworleans
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-82 next last
To: gitmo

I can't believe all the people lined up to get into the SuperDome. This could be devasting folks.


21 posted on 08/28/2005 5:29:29 PM PDT by devane617
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: gitmo
Click on the thumbnail to open full picture in a new window.



This is a 1998 modelling a CAT 4 or CAT 5 moving through New Orleans in a very similar path.

22 posted on 08/28/2005 5:29:44 PM PDT by JerseyHighlander
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JerseyHighlander

Great find.


23 posted on 08/28/2005 5:32:54 PM PDT by wardaddy (dixie deadhead)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: devane617
I can't believe all the people lined up to get into the SuperDome. This could be devasting folks.

Yes indeed. It's like people never think about survival. As this article indicates, this has been anticipated for decades.

24 posted on 08/28/2005 5:34:20 PM PDT by gitmo (Thanks, Mel. I needed that.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: kittymyrib
Incidentally, this is the storm that Pat Robertson took credit for stopping, since he had asked all the audience of the PTL Club to pray and practically at that instant, the storm collapsed.

So God essentially just runs For/Against polls? "Cap'n, I canna give ye any more prayer! She's gonna blow!" - Scotty

25 posted on 08/28/2005 5:35:22 PM PDT by Hank Rearden (Never allow anyone who could only get a government job attempt to tell you how to run your life.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: devane617

I've had the same thought.


26 posted on 08/28/2005 5:35:47 PM PDT by Balding_Eagle (God has blessed Republicans with really stupid enemies.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: gitmo
The offshore rigs are in danger as well.

Not to mention the refineries, 8+ that will be out of service for q u i t e a while...increased fuel $ as well as - 1,000,000 barrels a day production. It will impact ALL of America. Look to 6+$ per gallon.

I've left already to Lafayette, and I went to Church for the 1st time in 3 years..pray for those who failed to leave, b/c they will be dead.

CAT5 = catastrophic damage

I've already lined up a job out here. Batten down the hatches..the storms here!!
27 posted on 08/28/2005 5:36:58 PM PDT by BayouCoyote (The 1st victim of islam is the person who practices the lie.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: gitmo

I was living in one of the areas hit by the hurricanes in FL last year, and can say for a fact it is a very scary situation. I did not want to leave my home, or my cats, so I stayed put. When you know for a fact that no 911 service rescue is available, and you are there for the duration, good or bad, it is enough to make long lasting memories.


28 posted on 08/28/2005 5:37:15 PM PDT by devane617
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: JerseyHighlander

Great post


29 posted on 08/28/2005 5:38:07 PM PDT by combat_boots (Dug in and not budging an inch. NOT to be schiavoed, greered, or felosed as a patient)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: dennisw
What's that Led Zepplin tune? "When the Levee Breaks"

I had the exact same thought listening to the mayor's speech earlier today.

30 posted on 08/28/2005 5:38:35 PM PDT by proud American in Canada
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SoftballMominVA
The tankers pull up, dump the MidEast oil and
Where does the Venezuelan oil dump?
31 posted on 08/28/2005 5:39:26 PM PDT by _Jim (Listening 28.400 MHz USB most every day now ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: gitmo

The Dutch deal with it.


32 posted on 08/28/2005 5:39:53 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kittymyrib

Closer to Texas? Bite your tongue!


33 posted on 08/28/2005 5:39:58 PM PDT by i_dont_chat (In gun-tote'n Texas)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: gitmo

The impact on the economy will be huge. The Mississippi could be blocked, so barge traffic will be affected. Expect the increased demand on rail freight to affect rates there. Then there is the oil impact. This could be a tremendous shock to the economy. Get ready for long lines at the gas pump, and higher prices for goods.


34 posted on 08/28/2005 5:40:18 PM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoftballMominVA

Actually the worst part wouldn't be a surge in oil prices, it would be the human tragedy of dead residents, guardsmen and so forth.

Oil scarcity and prices are an inconvenience not a tragedy.


35 posted on 08/28/2005 5:41:15 PM PDT by Androcles (All your typos are belong to us)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: 1rudeboy
The Dutch deal with it.

They get a lot of cat-5 hurricanes there?

36 posted on 08/28/2005 5:42:23 PM PDT by gitmo (Thanks, Mel. I needed that.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: gitmo

Let's see:

Massive disaster pending? check

Politicians delay evacuations until it's too late ? check

Desperate survivors huddled in famous landmark? check

Haven't we seen this movie before?


37 posted on 08/28/2005 5:43:53 PM PDT by Mountain Troll
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: gitmo

Can cockroaches swim?


38 posted on 08/28/2005 5:47:05 PM PDT by NaughtiusMaximus (The liberals promised to move to Canada but they lied . . . bwaaaaah.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: gitmo

No, but they reclaim land from the ocean. What's NO done lately?


39 posted on 08/28/2005 5:48:20 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: gitmo

...as well as MANY refineries in the NO area. Gas prices could quickly be much higher if the worst happens...


40 posted on 08/28/2005 5:54:08 PM PDT by WestTexasWend
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-82 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson