Uh, the river DOES "...carry that load out into the Gulf"--why do you think the isthmus got built in the first place. Add to that the fact that they dredge the river regularly to KEEP the channel open deep enough for ocean-going vessels, so I still don't see silt deposition being of any signficant consequence.
The problem is that with the isthmus "channelized" south as far as it is, the silt is deposited over the "Gulf abysss" (or whatever the name is for the demarcation between the continental shelf and "deep water", and so is lost to any possibility of "marsh-building".
"I could have stayed at home and watched my roof blow off," said one of the refugees, Harald Johnson, 43. "Instead, I came down here and watched the Superdome roof blow off."
Hats off to the FReepers who posted their prayers on these live threads before landfall and after, that God would somehow nudge the hurricane to the east enough to spare NO. Looks like, so far at least, their prayers have been answered.
Good for NO, but bad for Biloxi-Gulport though