With Gustav bearing down on the Gulf Coast amid ocean conditions that favor intensification, I can't help but wonder what will happen to New Orleans if NOLA catches the storm's eye. It's been three years, but Louisiana has a far more competent governor in Jindal as opposed to Blanco. The assistance will be smoother, but if Gustav mimics Katrina (and Hannah mimics Rita) will we finally just let NOLA sink into the marshes. This would IMO be preferable to sinking more money into a rat hole. But, for the record, I hope it makes a remote, harmless landfall in an area that needs the rain.
Sigh. We've been through this before. You have to have a city at the mouth of the Mississippi. Economics, transportation, energy, geography and a host of other reasons demand it.
I've been thinking about that jackass preacher on youtube praying so hard for Obama's speech to get rained on. Karma is a b****.
It's not just one preacher. This that whole wacked out group (based in Colorado) James Dobson's Focus on the Family.
I notice the "let NOLA die" crowd, like thumbs and Glenn Beck, tend to be conservatives who don't seem to feel the same way about other communities that are also constantly in harms way. For instance, small towns in the midwest and central US that get flooded. Or those places that are in Tornado Alley. Hmm, I wonder what is different about the people living in those towns and the majority of people who live in New Orleans, HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.............................?
What did the people of Haiti do to Obama too? Obama's a freaking jerk. Making it rain on people and such
Yeah there would have been damage from Katrina if we had the GOP Jindal as governor. What is sad is that that the city could be permanently saved with level 5 resistant levees. wouldn't surprise me if it is one month's worth of Iraq spending or less -- $10 billion
How dare you question why the US government is wasting trillions of taxpayer dollars on some sandy little ****hole full of ingrates instead of on it's own citizenry?!? We have to finish what we started! (whatever the **** that means)
tornado alley is not like the gulf of mexico's hurricane incubation capabilities. the combination of a poor government support plan, poor infrastructure, poor education, weak leadership and "readiness" factor, and the fact they built the city on former lakes/swamps says that this city is not naturally suited to succeed. like opening an ice cream stand in the desert, geographically, this city doesn't stand a chance. from a liberal's perspective, shouldn't the government be actively looking to prevent the large-scale loss of human life by refusing to dedicate funds to building a city that is DANGEROUS to its citizens? this is the way i see the argument - by preventing the rebuilding of the city, we protect millions of people from the dangers that they are not educated enough to see (lousiana's education system is something entirely different) - and we're also saving ourselves future multiplied rescue resources in bailing them out of a botched decision... i mean, really - they dug out swamps to build a city below sea level.
New Orleans is almost 300 years old and channeling the river for other communities and farm land is what has destroyed the protective barrier islands that previously sheltered the city from hurricanes. I say we blow up all the levees that line the Mississippi since they still flood all the time anyway. Mother nature always wins and it was stupid to put cities there. ITS DANGEROUS TO LIVE NEXT TO THE MISSISSIPPI!!!!!!!!
well, NOLA is one city built in a bad bad place to be....under sea level(significantly) in a area that WILL one day be reclaimed by the land and marsh around it. Tornado Alley is a area the size of several states...it seems pretty silly to say "lets just leave the whole middle of the country vacant because of tornados" The midwest flooding you *might* have a point....quite possibly the people there should probably move to higher ground if they keep getting flooded every year.
True New Orleans is a terrible place to building a metropolitan area but then again so is Phoenix, Las Vegas, LA, SF, Miami, heck considering Houston is mostly swamps too its not that great either.
Incorrect. The city has sunk. Even with the subsidence, the original areas of New Orleans (French Quarter, Garden District, etc) are quite capable of withstanding most flooding. As has been previously stated, the real issue with NOLA (and the entire LA coast) is the channeling of the Mississippi. The barrier wetlands have been ravaged, the silt from the river deposits miles out at sea now, and relentless oil/gas exploration has further contributed to lower coastal elevations.
Good point. Building cities whee this no water is not exactly wise. From NYT per google. Building Category 5 protection, however, is proving to be an astronomically expensive and technically complex proposition. It would involve far more than just higher levees: there would have to be extensive changes to the city's system of drainage canals and pumps, environmental restoration on a vast scale to replenish buffering wetlands and barrier islands, and even sea gates far out of town near the Gulf of Mexico. The cost estimates are still fuzzy, but the work would easily cost more than $32 billion, state officials say, and could take decades to complet http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/29/national/nationalspecial/29flood.html
