New Orleans Flooding May Last for Days

ap ^ | 8.30.05 | JEFF DONN, Associated Press Writer

[George from New England]

"Only an idiot would build in a swamp."

We'll idiots were put in charge of the pumps and backup systems and roofs that fly off pump buildings, etc.

There's no way anyone with intelligence managed this area. Keeping water out of NO was responsibility number one. NUMBER ONE. Maybe we need military in charge of this in the future.

[Galtoid]

New Orleans is the geographical version of the "perfect storm" of hurricanes. No other city is built in the proximity to water that it is on all sides. The levees are just not strong enough for such a hurricane like Katrina. The mayor knew Saturday that this is the one
big one that all native New Orleans citizens suspected would come sooner or later. Now they have to deal with the devastation, and I fear that the "evacuation" is too little too late.

[TheSpottedOwl]

I forgot all about that! I'll bet some parts could be raised, IF the government could just possibly do it without jerks running the show.

I'm going to try and find pictures of this.

[Jorge]

"Rebuilding below sea level is just nuts."

Building it there to begin with was..

Yes, it has actually all been sinking EVEN MORE over the years... and yet they still want to rebuild there?
Incredible.

I've been watching the coverage and hearing some of the personal stories of survival, and loss of life and more than once have just broke down crying. It's awful.

[ModelBreaker]

There's no way anyone with intelligence managed this area. Keeping water out of NO was responsibility number one. NUMBER ONE. Maybe we need military in charge of this in the future.

George, if I'm not mistaken, I think the Army Corps of Engineers is in charge of the levees. It certainly is in charge of making sure the Mississippi stays in it's current course. Building the city there was stupid. But it happened 300 years ago and the builders were French. Because of its location at the mouth of the Mississippi, its growth into a huge population and commerce center was inevitable, unless some government agency forceably prevented its growth.

Once a major population center was located 6-10 feet below sea level and that pop center was located right between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain (both of which are much higher than the city), and subject to periodic hurricanes, this disaster was inevitable. Folks have been writing about it for 50 years. It was only a question of when. Building higher levees would just put the disaster off for a while. The only really naive thing was thinking that we could make everything work out just fine there if we were just smart enough.

[Tall_Texan]

Try weeks. Or Months.

Agreed. Evaporation from the sun is about the only thing that could dissipate the water. Not even 1,000 looters told to bail water at gunpoint is going to help.

[uncbob]

Folks have been writing about it for 50 years. It was only a question of when.

They had a near miss last year

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

but what about what's left of the historical sites?

Build replicas....we're Americans, remember?

[TheSpottedOwl]

Ugh! Replicas? Haven't the historical sites weathered flooding before? After all the city was founded about 250 yrs ago. I'll keep my fingers crossed that they can be saved, and also for the residents.

[The_Media_never_lie]

Rebuilding New Orleans should be driven by logic rather than emotional affinity.

Sorry, but logic does not apply. You, me and the federal govt. subsidize insurance for ocean front vacation homes, allowing these risky ventures to be built more economically than can be rationally justified.

[chickenlips]

The toxic mix won't be nothing compared to the mold problems that are going to be found in all of these flooded buildings. It will take months to properly de-water NO. Making the buildings weathertight will be a piece of cake compared to getting the odors and fungus under control.

You want all of the polluted water to make it's way to the gulf and be dispersed. There is no way to treat it other than let nature work on it.

[chickenlips]

It will take a few months, but they can get the water out to the point it previously was and build there as they have in the past.

I would also hope that the codes there will be changed and that you would see a new type of architecture emerge that can better withstand events of this type. I think the insurance companies will force the changes.

[Liebenator]

They need to evacuate the city and move those people as far inland as possible before the next storm moves in. Next month is the peak of the hurricane season and the water temps in the gulf are still around 90. God help us all if those people are there through another one with so much of the infrastructure compromised.

As an aside, someone in their post before the storm said something to the effect that the mayor of the city formerly known as New Orleans did not want to order an evacuation and did so only after the President called him to do it. Is that true or bunk?

[Big E]

"Perhaps they should do like Chicago did in the mid 19th century - raise the city!"

I believe Galveston did the same thing after the 1900 storm.

[dufekin]

New Orleans did not flood during the 1927 disaster (the worst in American history until Katrina). The Mississippi flowed two hundred miles wide, but it all drained out the Achtafalaya basin, not past New Orleans. In a river flood situation (which would require FAR more rain than Katrina alone could dump), New Orleans basically cannot get flooded if the Mississippi river levees remain structurally sound. Any excess will overwhelm the system and flood the Achatafalya.

In any case, draining from Tennessee and Kentucky into Louisiana takes weeks or even months. It doesn't happen quickly as in most river basins. Let me state clearly: (non-tidal) river flooding does NOT affect the fate of New Orleans.

[Tall_Texan]

As an aside, someone in their post before the storm said something to the effect that the mayor of the city formerly known as New Orleans did not want to order an evacuation and did so only after the President called him to do it. Is that true or bunk?

That may be an oversimplification but Mayor Nagin was saying before the President spoke on Saturday that he didn't have the authority to order an evacuation. Once Bush publicly stated the area needed to be evacuated, Nagin somehow found the authority.

I think, in all honesty, that nobody wanted to take the political risk of calling for an evacuation if the storm happened to turn like Ivan did.

[dufekin]

Because of the toxic wastes, residents must carry away much soil after draining their property before rebuilding. Much of New Orleans originally was built on semi-dried swamp muck. If they go to -100 feet, they hit bed rock. Oh, yeah...anyone who works on the toxic waste dump probably will die because of the toxic. Cash-strapped residents can't afford protective gear.