Replies

When Lake Ponchatrain lowers to a more natural level, the levee breaks will allow the flow of water back to the lake thru the canals. Recognize that the ocean storm surge from Katrina was huge. About 200 miles out from NO to the SE, swells were reported at 40 feet,with wind at 63 kts at buoy 4040. At the time reported the eye of Katrina was 80 miles from the LA coast and winds were reported at 73 kts, with gusts to 83 kts at buoy BURS1 at the southern tip of the LA coast. The National Buoy Center is located at the Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis. It was evacuated before the storm hit and their website has been down since then.

"When Lake Ponchatrain lowers to a more natural level, the levee breaks will allow the flow of water back to the lake thru the canals"

Now someone is coming to a key question I've wondered about. If that long-named lake is open to and drains freely into the Gulf of Mexico, why is it also staying so high? It does have a quite large "drain opening" into the Gulf from my analysis. Is it probable that the big Miss. River is somehow feeding into both the city of New Orleans and the lake as well? Perhaps since Katrina has basically stopped up it's drainage area into the delta? Or am I wrong in saying the lake is in fact high? Can anyone help me understand this?