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| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/31/2008 7:29:20 PM | dabearsuy, I know nothing about Bobby Jindal but he got my immedite attention and total respect when he annouced, "Anyone staying are on their own and if you get caught stealing or vandalizing an unprotected home or business, there will be no trial or jury or Judge. You will go straight to prison."
I like that guy's attitude!
LIB | |
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Souzou
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Joined: 8/23/2008
Msg: 52 | |
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/31/2008 7:51:38 PM | Yeah, he's a good guy when he's not promoting creationism in the classroom or refusing to veto an unpopular legislative payraise.
The mayor of the West Bank was also pretty amazing. He said that anyone seen outside of their house after the mandatory evacuation would be considered "suspicious." Basically said that those who stayed should consider themselves under house arrest. I hope everyone heeded his advice got out because that region worries me the most. Its actually where I was born. | |
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| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/31/2008 7:55:11 PM | yes you right there are weather issues all over . here where I live we lost 9 people when a tornado took our highschool out ....
you cant fight mother nature, just get out of her way .. stay safe . pray .... it will be your choice to move on or move away afterwards .
when I came from germany I did not even know what a tornado was . lord help me I learn with in 2 weeks of living here ...
all I can say is do the best . heat warnings , use common sense, dont take chances and try to play superman ......
instead of criticizing them folks down in new orleans , we better come together as one and give them all the help they need . who know next time it may be us , and we need help . Im sure they be there for all of us too  | |
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| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 9/1/2008 7:13:16 AM | That particualr storm has been moved down to a catagory 2...still lethal though.
New Orleans should never have been rebuilt at taxpayers expense. Far cheaper and better for all people to allow those who wished to throw their money away to rebuild on their own. The rest would have had the common sense to go live in a place above sea level.
Then again, we have the Dutch to look at...a lot of their country is reclaimed from the sea.
With global warming, perhaps a lot of areas are going to find themselves hip deep.
New Orleans can be the "guinea pig", or "model" of the future city...complete with dikes, levies, dams, and pumps...and the huge costs involved in trying to maintain these things for a foolish civilian population that has more balls than brains. | |
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| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 9/1/2008 7:34:57 AM | I keep seeing these statements about not using public monies to rebuild NO.
I guess what I wonder is if when people say this they mean that they approve of the feds neglect of replacing infrastructure that is deteriorating?
that we should stop fighting wildfires with public money?
should we have not used public money to rebuild after the earthquake in Cali? or the mudslides?
Or is it just where poor folks live that should be abandoned? | |
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| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 9/1/2008 7:37:37 AM | | I can see rebuilding once at taxpayer expense, but after that if they choose to stay, they should be on their own. | |
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Souzou
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Joined: 8/23/2008
Msg: 57 | |
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 9/1/2008 7:46:40 AM | By all means, lets close New Orleans for good. I hope you like paying $15+ for a cup of coffee. And I can't even speculate as to how high prices for gas and other commodities would climb.
MAJOR PORT CITY!
Levees and pumps are not "futuristic" features. Lots of cities in this country are protected by dams and other man-made defenses. Europe mastered such constructions ages ago. Sadly, the US is not the super-power, "ideal for all" that it thinks its is.
As for Gustav, so far so good. I checked in with my friends this morning and all are well including those who stayed in Louisiana (everyone I know is NOLA is long gone.) A few acquaintances almost became stranded in traffic but got to safety just hours before landfall. We've talked to my parents' neighbors and the house is still standing though alot of tornadoes have touched down in the area. And the Weather Channel is reporting that the Industrial Canal is letting some water over the top, but is still holding. Haven't heard anything yet about the levees but I'm hoping that because there's nothing bad to report.
Everyone stay safe! Hunker down and hopefully this will be over soon. | |
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| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 9/1/2008 7:52:03 AM | The US should have really involved Dutch engineers in the plan for New Orleans, as they have perhaps the best record of accomplishment at flood control of any nation in the world.
If you don't believe me, do some research.
One critical error in Holland, and that raging North Sea would flood major areas of the country in hours. Much of the country is below sea level , and it's essentially as flat as a pool table, with little high ground.
They've done some amazing work, and have excelled in eliminating the danger they face.
The Netherlands has been struggling against floods since the first people settled there. Over 60% of the country lies beneath mean sea-level. Countless people have lost their homes and their lives to floods from the sea or the rivers that could not be held by the flood-defences. The importance of the protection has led the Dutch to dedicate a Department solely to the protection against floods. Furthermore, local waterboards are an extra layer of government specially dedicated to protection against floods and water management. This has resulted in a very high level of flood-protection. Flood-protection remains a continuous point of interest due to the vulnerability of the Dutch economy with regard to flooding.
Zuiderzee Works
The Zuiderzee Works (Zuiderzeewerken) are a man-made system of dams, land reclamation and water drainage works. The basis of the project was the damming off of the Zuiderzee, a large shallow inlet of the North Sea. This dam is called the Afsluitdijk. It was built in 1932-1933. The dam closed the Zuiderzee and separated it from the North Sea. As result, the Zuider sea became the IJsselmeer — IJssel lake. It is said that during the North Sea flood of 1953 the Afsluitdijk paid for itself in one night, by preventing flooding on the Zuiderzee coast. Following the damming, large areas of land were reclaimed in the newly freshwater lake body by means of polders. The works were performed in several steps from 1920 to 1975.
Delta Works
In the south-west of the Netherlands a flood defense system was built, called the Delta Works. The Delta Works consist of a series of dams and storm surge barriers. The Delta Works were constructed between 1950 and 1997.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_control_in_the_Netherlands
There's a HUGE amount of talent and technology there, easily the best in the world. | |
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| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 9/1/2008 10:07:44 PM | I'm with y'all jelunc, & Souzou. People who do not truly know the city have no clue of it's importance. They also don't realize that unless the wetlands are reclaimed the massive erosion will continue to eat away at the coast & put Baton Rouge as Gulf front property in a few more years & wiping out a lot of major industrial suppliers such as oil refineries, the American sugar industry, ...the list is soooo long.
Should taxpayers keep paying to replace the sandy beaches of the East coast? Should we not assist people after tornados? As jelunc mentioned with tounge firmly in her cheek, that we might declare "no live zones." Lets see, that would include all of California either for the wildfires/mudslides/air pollution/earth quakes/it's gonna fall off one day, problems they have. The San Joachin valley would have to be written off as a major breadbasket for the country's produce..but never mind the high food costs. Texas: hurricanes, tornados, drought, dangerous heat, etc....
Arkansas: tornados, floods, the New Madrid fault is gonna blow again some day so we have to include Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, & Ohio on that.
Mississippi also gets hurricanes, tornados, floods, ...as does Florida
All states that border the Mississippi River.
All states that border the East Coast.
Wyoming has Yellowstone which is a super volcano...that is surely gonna blow some day & the last time it wiped out Kansas & several other states.
Washington has volcanos! OMG! We know Mt. St. Helens is gonna blow again some day! Oregon & Idaho get earthquakes too.
Many states get killer blizzards,...
Why would anybody want to live anywhere in this great nation???? I guess it's just one of those things that makes ya go hmmmm.
For those who think life is safe... I have a surprise for you. It's not. It's not safe today, it wasn't safe yesterday, last week, or last millenium. It won't be safe tomorrow either. Staying hidden in your home won't keep you safe necessarily either. The sky can fall on you in the form of space debris or plain old meteors. Happens all the time... I had an airplane door fall half a block from my house once. It landed in the school yard where a bunch of students had just vacated only moments before. Oooops!
If a natural disaster that occurs in your area were to happen, would you think you should move? Do you think it would be nice if others lent a helping hand? If it wiped out major commodity or service suppliers vital to the well being of the entire nation, do you think the taxpayers should lend a hand to get those supplies/services back on line? It would be in our collective interests to do so. Or do you think it's better to b*tch, whine, & moan about the conspiracy to hike gas prices with the trickle down effect on every thing else in our economy? So far, it looks like some of you have opted for the very short sighted plan B.
OK..I'm down off of my little soapbox for now. | |
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| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 9/1/2008 10:29:12 PM | wowowow easy there yna6....
no need insulting anybody here . for people it is their home , and they happy there . it is their choice to live there or not , and by the way ... them people down there are workers too , so they also pay taxes ... I rather have them rebuilt 100x them feeding 1 person on deathrow.....
but , i like the way you think , the next time , lord forbit , there should be a disaster where you live .. I sure as hell hope you wont get no help .....
because you have more balls then brains living allll the way up there in the north ... now how does that make you feel ....
and by the way , every town , every city is some sort of guinea pig for something . improovements are beong done allllll over not only new orleans ....
and I personaly I did not think that fishermen , off shore workers , and anybody else that does a job down there are foolish people , in my book they are hardworking people with more back bone then you will ever have . majority are people that consider a handshake as a contract and still have values in their lives . god fearing people that will know , there will always be better times . I take them people over you anytime ...
that was just plain rude from you
and guess what ?????? Im not even from down there ... but I sure a heck value each and everyone of then people ...( and the food too ) lmao | |
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| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 9/2/2008 10:01:22 AM | Once again I see armchair politics, knowledge, experience at work here (pure b/s as usual with only a few using good common sense such as MG, souzou & lieb)... I was one of those who lived in the Gulfport area when Katrina hit & I did evacuate but returned to live there until August 1 of this year & I felt as if I'd abandoned my city as I watched Kustav move in closer - thank God it was not what was predicted.
I missed this thread prior to Kustav's landfall as I was more concerned with the safety of my loved ones than what was on pof but there are things here I want to address anyway as one who actually was in Katrina's path & knows the true before & after of it. I will not attempt to state anything regarding those (or their behavior) who were evacuated to other cities as I don't know what happened in those cities.
1. Everyone watched the same news & had the same opportunity to evacuate when Katrina was bearing down on us.
2. The politicians (& any who held power) in the state of LA did nothing without first having their "palms greased" - proven time & again over the years; it is truly sad that people died because of the greed of others. (I also feel the urge to point out that those same people are no longer in offices they had held for years & years so Katrina did a great deal of cleansing in a good way IMO.)
3. Those who committed crimes during or after Katrina (or while in other cities) did the same thing prior to Katrina, the rest of us respected the property of others - I can not tell you the number of times I'd spot something of value put in a place where it could be easily seen & was left alone for the owners to find but that was in MS of course.
4. In the defense of those who stayed, the news media sensationalizes to the point of causing complacency on the parts of the general public; I personally experienced 4 hurricanes & 6 tropical storms in the last 8 years & of those storms only 1 (Katrina of course) came close to deserving the theatrics the media laid on us.
5. The American people showed themselves for who & what we are - kind, caring people - I'm not talking about their $ but their time & kindness/concern.
6. Insurance companies used Katrina as an excuse to up the premiums for all - they paid out on less than 25% of the claims filed so if they told you Katrina is the reason they upped your premiums, guess again - they are one of the few unregulated industries in this country that do what ever the he!! they please when they please. And are you aware that there are people who STILL live in substandard housing because they are STILL fighting a battle with the insurance companies with whom they carried premiums for decades? Which came first the wind or the water is the issue... despite the fact that there has been numerous videos of winds ripping homes apart long before the tidal surge removed the coastline as we knew it.
7. The federal government did NOT rebuild the coast (at least in MS) those were SBA loans, people - LOANS get paid back remember...lol. I personally do not know anyone who actually received any money from the government other than SBA loans.
8. Why oh why the lie persists is beyond me but Katrina did NOT hit NO... it hit MS - the devastation in MS was beyond words yet you did not hear us whining & complaining...why? We were too busy getting back to the business of living is why. And, the breach that flooded NO was not due to bad corp planning nor construction but upkeep - why? see #2...
9. And btw, where I lived prior to moving to the gulf coast in 2000, I experienced at least 1 tornado a year & I'm 52 so the math would make that at least 40 tornadoes - well gee, potential natural disaster 40 times + & that does not even take into account the devastating icestorms that would come around about every 3 years & yes that area was declared a national disaster more than once, so......
10. That leads me to the fact that no one lives in any place where nature does not have the power to devastate you given the right conditions. At least with hurricanes, you can see it coming.
cata | |
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| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 9/3/2008 8:33:42 AM | "And, the breach that flooded NO was not due to bad corp planning nor construction but upkeep - why? see #2..."
Catabrie,
Do we have to keep beating this dead horse. The US Army Corps of Engineers, an entity belonging to the United States of America, has owned up to the responsbility for the levee failures as theirs, all theirs, and no one elses. Design, construction, maintenance -- everything. Complete total failure.
Isn't it bad enough that my country has failed this city, has drowned this city, has killed thousands of people, and wrecked the lives of countless others, must we now lie and try to blame the victims for this disaster.
I do not know who has begun this urban legend that the city of New Orleans is responsible for the maintenance of the levees there. The USA, through the Corps, has channelized the entire Mississippi River system, capturing all of the water from perhaps 40% of this continent and directing it to a choke point in New Orleans. It is not New Orleans' water, it is our water. We did it. We are responsible for it. And we failed them. Tell me, last year when there were the great floods in Iowa, did you see anyone telling the Iowans it was their own fault because they didn't maintain their levees? | |
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| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 9/3/2008 3:20:03 PM | Ok, Uptowner,
I attacked no one here (least of all a fellow Katrina survivor) but you seem so inclined, so okay, I'll play...
Just where in my statements did I blame the victims... If I placed blame, it is on the corrupt politico machine - are the corrupt politicians the victims here? Or are politicians who are corrupt also an urban legend? But of course, that must be it!!! LOL Just a sec, I need to put on my hip waders.
The opinions I expressed here were formed after reviewing numerous sources & first-hand experience. I'll show you some of mine, if you show me yours... but I'll go ahead & show you anyway, now where are your sources, please?
Here's just ONE of many for ya... http://www.iwr.usace.army.mil/inside/products/pub/hpdc/references.cfm This goes back for decades regarding the levees of LA, various state levee boards (or are such entities figments of my imagination?) & covers relevant levee issues which were actually published, which includes notations of the negligence & misappropriated monies by the state... but hmmm... I wonder how much went unpublished? Do you wonder about such things? Or do take one statement as gospel against decades of documentation?
Read ALL of this, then try to convince me that the corps has sole responsibility for the upkeep of the constructions which they build & that the political machine of NO/LA should be held harmless in this catastrophe. They diverted (& have been caught on more than one occasion doing so) But I'll tell you upfront that you'll have a tough row to hoe dear.
cata | |
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| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 9/3/2008 6:33:39 PM | Msg 61: catabrie
8. Why oh why the lie persists is beyond me but Katrina did NOT hit NO... it hit MS - the devastation in MS was beyond words yet you did not hear us whining & complaining...why? We were too busy getting back to the business of living is why. And, the breach that flooded NO was not due to bad corp planning nor construction but upkeep - why? see #2...
I had very dear friends who lived in Pass Christian, MS during Katrina. One couple came home to a blank concrete slab. The other couple came home to having had a 4' wall of water wash through their home, with the home still standing. I can (through photographs) confirm your description of the MS Gulf Coast post Katrina. The words nuclear blast zone come to mind.
I also lived in New Orleans for many years & can say that the Corp. of Engineers are partly to blame for poor (aka lack of) planning. However, it is also very much the problem of a lack of maintenance over the decades. That falls back on the City/Parrish goverment officials as well as the surrounding cities (Algiers, Gretna, etc.) and parrishes (Jefferson, etc..). The money just kept evaporating into thin air as it is wont to do all across Louisiana (other states are not exempt from this phenomenon).
By tomorrow sometime, the eye of what's left of Gustav will pass over my house or very near to it. I am hopeful we don't see any serious flooding or tornados. I do not live anywhere near the Gulf coast any longer, but here I am concerned about a hurricane... Whadda ya think folks? Should I abandon my home because the hurricane is coming? I'm only about 500 miles from the coast line. Is that too close? | |
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| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 9/3/2008 7:03:35 PM | Katrina Report Blames Levees
Army Corps Of Engineers: 'We've Had A Catastrophic Failure'
NEW ORLEANS, June 1, 2006
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A new report released by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers June 1, 2006, admits failures in the hurricane protection system during Hurricane Katrina. (AP)
(CBS/AP) A contrite U.S. Army Corps of Engineers took responsibility Thursday for the flooding of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina and said the levees failed because they were built in a disjointed fashion using outdated data.
"This is the first time that the Corps has had to stand up and say, `We've had a catastrophic failure,"' Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, the Corps chief, said as the agency issued a 6,000-page-plus report on the disaster on Day 1 of the new hurricane season.
Many of the findings and details on floodwall design, storm modeling and soil types have been released in pieces in recent months as the Corps sought to show it was being open about what went wrong. But the final report goes into greater depth.
The Corps, Strock said, has undergone a period of intense introspection and is "deeply saddened and enormously troubled by the suffering of so many."
Katrina damaged 169 miles of the 350-mile hurricane system that protects New Orleans and was blamed for more than 1,570 deaths in Louisiana alone.
Robert Bea, a University of California at Berkeley engineer and Corps critic, called Strock's comments and the report signs of "a leadership in growth."
"They're catching up with the 1,000 years of progress of the Dutch," Bea said, referring to the Netherlands' long, and mostly successful, history of battling the North Sea.
The much-anticipated report, prepared by the 150-member Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force, assembled and headed by the Corps, is intended to serve as a road map for engineers as they seek to design and build better levees and floodwalls.
Serious work began on New Orleans' hurricane protection system in the 1960s after Hurricane Betsy flooded the city in 1965. But over the decades, funding slackened and many parts of the system were not finished by the time Katrina hit.
The result was a disjointed system of levees, inconsistent in quality, materials and design, that left gaps exploited by the storm, the report said.
Also, engineers did not take into account the poor soil quality underneath New Orleans, the report said, and failed to account for the sinking of land, which caused some sections to be as much as 2 feet lower than other parts.
Four breaches in canals that run through New Orleans were caused by foundation failures that were "not considered in the original design of these structures," the report said. Those breaches caused two-thirds of the city's flooding.
Thursday's report urged the Corps to shift its formulaic cost-benefit approach on how it decides what projects are worthwhile. The agency was urged to look at potential environmental, societal and cultural losses, "without reducing everything to one measure such as dollars."
The report did not directly address questions raised in other studies regarding the Corps' organizational mindset.
Last month, a report by outside engineers said the Corps was dysfunctional and unreliable. That group, led by experts from the University of California at Berkeley, recommended setting up an agency to oversee the Corps' projects nationwide
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Let's see. CBS/AP -- a Lt. Gen. making the statement. Pretty much ices it, doesn't it? Check out the paragraph about the "cost-benefit" approach, and "societal and cultural losses". This is a polite way of saying that New Orleans was too poor and black to justify spending a bunch of money getting it right the first time.
By the way, this is old news (love that oxymoron), check the date. And I don't see where I attacked anyone. Don't you think the hundreds of thousands of people who virtually had their lives destroyed get tired of hearing about how it is their own fault?
The NO politicians may be inept and corrupt -- but that had nothing to do with the levee failures as that wasn't there job. A basic concept of military command: you can delegate all the authority you want -- but the responsibility never moves from the primary obligor. That's the second lesson at officer's school. And yes, the US Army Corps of Engineers is a military component. They understand -- it was their responsibility -- it was their fault. I disagree with you about the duties of the levee boards, I think they had nothing to do with it, but it is all irrelevant now. The Corps has admitted that the levees are their responsibility. There is really nothing to debate -- the US Army Corps of Engineers has admitted the entire fiasco was their fault. | |
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| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 9/3/2008 8:15:19 PM | "But I'll tell you upfront that you'll have a tough row to hoe dear."
Not really, check it out:
Army Corps Is Faulted on New Orleans Levees
Panel Says Studies Foresaw Failure, Urges New Scrutiny
By Joby Warrick and Peter Whoriskey
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, March 25, 2006; Page A06
An organization of civil engineers yesterday questioned the soundness of large portions of New Orleans's levee system, warning that the city's federally designed flood walls were not built to standards stringent enough to protect a large city.
The group faulted the agency responsible for the levees, the Army Corps of Engineers, for adopting safety standards that were "too close to the margin" to protect human life.
The American Society of Civil Engineers said the levees' collapse was predictable and that the Army Corps of Engineers failed to anticipate their breakdown.
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The most important thing to remember about the drowning of New Orleans is that it wasn't a natural disaster. It was a man-made disaster, created by lousy engineering, misplaced priorities and pork-barrel politics. ..." The Federal Emergency Management Agency (fema) was the scapegoat, but the real culprit was the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which bungled the levees that formed the city's man-made defenses and ravaged the wetlands that once formed its natural defenses. Americans were outraged by the government's response, but they still haven't come to grips with the government's responsibility for the catastrophe.
Time Magazine August 13, 2007
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And for your journalistic balance --the Corps response (which does not question the engineering criticisms, simply the size of the storm and its effects on the city, and an analysis of the effects of MRGO)
WASHINGTON, Aug. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- TIME magazine's August
13, 2007, cover story, "The Threatening Storm," contains many errors and
misrepresentations of facts with respect to the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, Hurricane Katrina, and ongoing efforts to improve hurricane and
storm damage reduction for southeast Louisiana.
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New York Times
By JOHN SCHWARTZ
Published: July 11, 2007
Asked to explain its failure to protect New Orleans from flooding, the Army Corps of Engineers produced an answer yesterday: Bit by bit over some 50 years, the corps made a series of decisions based largely on dollars, politics and scheduling that inadvertently left the city’s hurricane protection system substantially weaker than it should have been.
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Washington Post, New York Times, Time Magazine, American Society of Civil Engineers - and not one word about any levee boards or Louisiana politicians -- total agreement - it was the Corps. | |
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| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 9/3/2008 8:17:15 PM | No Aurora, there is no place where Mother Nature does not exist & I do hope that you & yours remain safe through the fallout of Gustav.
Semantics, Uptowner, simply semantics. I have not said that the corps had no accountability for the levees. What I did say is that the palms of those corrupt politicians had to be greased & virtually millions were put forth for those levees, so where did all that money go? Are those who stole the money intended to correct the known levee issues blameless? I think they bear the brunt of the blame because it was their actions that caused the problems to go uncorrected. Had that money been spent as intended rather than stolen, would the death toll have been so high? Well, we'll never know now will we? And none of this in any way places that blame on the general citizenship of LA or NO (those who've had to pay the price for that theft) but squarely on the shoulders of those who stole it - the politicians.
You have your opinion & I have mine. But I took exception to your statement that I was beating a dead horse & repeating a urban legend while I know the facts prove otherwise. Peace?
cata | |
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| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 9/4/2008 5:57:23 AM | I'll feel free to squarely place blame on the citizens of New Orleans who are rebuilding without taking the time to RAISE the level of land up to at least sea level on their own property.
I'll also blame Ray Nagin for not requireing raising the level of land up prior to starting construction anywhere in New Orleans.
Shoulda, coulda, woulda...WON'T. The new levees aren't rated to protect against a Cat 5. Of course, they can't be...nature dictates that a Cat 5 storm would litereally obliterate man-made objects with ease.
Until New Orleans is brought UP to sea-level, this WILL happen again...and we'll all foot the bill. If they want to keep a city shaped like a tureen...they need to FILL the bowl. They need to expand the wetlands to protect it. But they won't do it.
Who cares how historical a city is...Atlantis is VERY historical...but because "The Sea Swallowed It" nobody can even find it...one direct hit by a Cat5 (Katrina was a Cat 4)and the same will be said for New Orleans. All that will be left is a soup bowl filled with sharks. | |
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| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 9/4/2008 6:29:36 AM | bigshrek?
it might be time to educate yourself in a number of areas...
are you aware of what wetlands are about? the topography of the region?
about what services the port serves?
NO is not just about Mardi Gras, the region is not just about New Orleans proper.
LOL, the story of Atlantis may or may not be based on fact, so, historical it is not. | |
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| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 9/4/2008 7:01:02 AM | Yep, i'm aware of the topograhpy, that's why I called it a BOWL..New Orleans looks like a golf divot...or to be more precise, like a drunken golfer had a bad day and knocked about twenty chunks out of the same hole. The majority of the city is 16 FEET under Sea Level. If that simple fact does not change, New Orleans will drown again and again and again...and it will be paid for by YOUR taxes. How many times will we have to rebuild it before they fill in the divots? If naught else, require that EVERY home be built on stilts if they won't raise the land up.
There's many other ports in the Gulf Coast, each can do what New Orleans does if built up to the same size...Mobile, Alabama is doing just that, as after Katrina they ended up with many of New Orleans contracts that they could no longer service. Cities like Pensacola are trying to make their ports more functional so they can get a little of that Money Pie that will be available now that oil drilling around Florida has been made possible. Natural ports are everywhere along the Gulf Coast...if New Orleans the City dissappeared, boats would still drive up & down the Mississippi.
I live on the Gulf Coast. I've never been to Mardi Gras, because I hate crowds, so I prefer to go almost any other time of year...especially to enjoy the food. But NO has always been something that could be obliterated by it's own folly...expecting the levees to protect it from Mother Nature without taking Further Precautions is a lot like peeing in the wind. Sooner or later you're gonna get WET. | |
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Souzou
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Joined: 8/23/2008
Msg: 75 | |
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 9/4/2008 9:35:11 AM | I can't believe someone just compared New Orleans to a MYTHICAL city. *sigh*
Also check your facts. The "majority" is not below sea level. 51% of the city is above sea level. If you average the whole city together, its only one to two feet below sea level. The very lowest areas are 16 feet below sea level, but that is the extreme not the majority as you incorrectly suggested.
Insurance companies are requiring that homes be rebuilt on stilts if owners want to claim insurance money. The problem is that the insurance companies are being so bad about paying out, that few people are able to afford the cost of raising their homes.
And guess what...New Orleans is a city of taxpayers and taxpaying corporations. We have a claim on public spending. NYC needs protection from terrorists, California needs protection from wildfires, we just want someone to built some non-sucky concrete walls.
Any coastal city would be obliterated by a Category 5 hurricane. A large part of Mississippi was just concrete slabs after Katrina. The disaster of Katrina was the large number of people who stayed behind in the flooded city. Gustav has shown that people have learned their lesson. The levees held and while more work is needed, the Army Corp of Engineers seems to have gotten their act together. People evacuated and I think only two looters were arrested this time around.
I talked to evacuees from all types of life and everyone was cheerful and so excited to go back to the city they loved.
As for port cities, if another city wants to step up and try to win recognition as a more successful Mississippi port...go for it. Their hasn't been any competition yet so until that day arrives, New Orleans is providing a wonderful service to the country. Try to be grateful. | |
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