[laishly]

"Why did 'they' build a city in a spot 8 feet below sea level?"

There is some logical appeal to the question. The left wing MSM has also been saying that this catastrophe is due to humans interfering with the environment and trying to control the forces of nature. Well, the Dutch started doing this centuries ago--and on a far grander scale. No one is criticizing them nor did anyone make those kinds of remarks when the Dutch suffered catastrophic flooding from the North sea in the 1950s.

[webstersII]

"No one is criticizing them nor did anyone make those kinds of remarks when the Dutch suffered catastrophic flooding from the North sea in the 1950s."

Yes, but in this case NO has been sitting on a ticking time bomb for decades, knowing it full well, and they haven't been willing to do anything significant about it. They have wanted the federal gov't to come in and fix the situation instead of doing it for themselves.

[Publius6961]

Well, the Dutch started doing this centuries ago--and on a far grander scale.

Actually the Egyptians did, bigger and grander, a few millenia before.
Alexandria

Actually this is a fascinating subject, but perhaps more appropriate on a separate thread.
There are several dynamics at work. Yes, silt is getting carried out to sea, but also deposited in and around NO the whole time. The "filled-in" area is a long ways further into the gulf than it was 500 years ago. How the "new" land later settles and becomes lower than the river is a whole other dynamic.