Posted on 08/30/2005 6:02:47 AM PDT by janetjanet998
20 feet high in places..2 huge levee breaks
The population of New Orleans (proper) is ~500,000 with approximately 100,000 who stayed in the city during the storm. Official reports say that 10,000 of these are in the Superdome.
That leaves 90,000 people in the city right right now. Using the 80% underwater figure, that leaves 72,000 people without good shelter. They are likely to be in locations with contaminated water (up to 20 feet deep) and where you have to assume there is little to drink and eat. Many of these could be stranded in flooded homes.
This constitutes an immediate urgency for massive evacuation to dry land and emergency shelter. Hopefully, FEMA and the state emergency agencies are on top of it now.
I mean it is so RARE for a hurricane to hit that area we should all give generously so they can rebuild
AND they should also remember to BUILD UNDER SEA-LEVEL AGAIN because no hurricanes ever hit that area.
Before applying too much sarcasm one should stop and consider the facts behind the situation. New Orleans grew up where it did because that was the best location for a port to serve the mouth of the Mississippi River, not because someone saw Bourbon Street in a crystal ball.
New Orleans has been vital to the economic well being of the heartland. Despite its image as a party zone, it is more blue collar and hard working than many of the countries large cities which are equally exposed to natural disaster. The devastation at the mouth of the Mississippi will be felt by the driver at the gas pump, the farmer in field and the shopper in the grocery store.
Economics determined the location of New Orleans, not foolishness on the part of her residents.
Building a city below sea level, or building a home in a flood plain, defies logic. Sooner or later it's gonna getcha.
I'll only dignify this statement by pointing out how idiotic and moronic it is.
They will, and we will give it. We are suckers.
While the world calls us war mongers we send them money.
Thank you for saying that. I have been appalled at some of the posts on these threads. We're talking about fellow Americans who are, through no fault of their own, suffering through a terrible disaster.
The Mississippi delta is sinking and New Orleans was once on somewhat higher ground. Destruction of the swamplands has also made things worse.
Here's the thing I could not figure out. After the eye passed the NO area the news people were all talking about how N O "dodged a bullet". I always figured that the problems were really going to occur when the Mississippi River started rising from all of the rain-no way the levees could restrain what was going to happen. You have all of the water that was going to be dumped up the Mississippi river from the rains, in addition the Ohio River was going to get inundated with water-and of course subsequently that water would end up in the Mississippi.
I know its bad, but I cant help remembering that old country song" How high's the water Momma"
It seems like it will be a long time before anything can even start to be repaired. With the economy in the shape it is in, how can any of these people survive without going somewhere else to work or live?
Same place where the much of the U.S. Tresury is--out taking care of the rest of the world and neglecting the USA.
My tagline says it all.
Can we get back our $15 billion to Africa and use it to repair New Orleans?
91 percent of Gulf oil production and 83 percent of gas production is out cold. It'll be awhile before this is back up.
How about the billions our government just handed over to the oil companies? They should have a vested interest in this area?
At least N.O. has an excuse...
Wow I didn't hear about that...can you point me to that story?
I'm sure major changes will come out of this. The Loma Prieta earthquake resulted in the relocation of highways, the reinforcement of housing built on land fill, and a number of other measures that have made SF/Oakland much less vulnerable.
Katrina will probably result in many places being declared off-limits for housing (as along the Mississippi flood plain), a massive rebuilding project, and possibly a system of dikes or flood barriers. If nothing else, the port is too important to abandon. It will involve Federal money and work, but in this case, I think it's called for.
For one thing, NO - well, all of LA - is so corrupt that maybe getting the mitts of the local politicians off of the rebuilding effort would be a good thing. Not that this would prevent corruption, but it might make it a little harder and maybe a little more actual work on the problem at hand would get done.
You know if you were talking about the government paying for someones vacation house they built 5 years ago on a barrier island (the name should tip you off!) I would agree. However NO is a vital sea port and historic center. It is a vital link in the Mississippi transportation system between ocean and barge traffic.
It was called the Energy Bill:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1459387/posts
Oh yeah, I remember the threads on that...many of the posters aruond here were praising it for the "jobs it created."
Keynesian "conservatives" abound!
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