News from Louisiana

[Blaise (imported)]

Softee,

Better look at this (http://www2.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/oldriver.htm), too.

The river (http://users.stlcc.edu/jangert/oldriver/oldriver.html) has been trying to correct itself since at least before 1962 and if it was left alone the marsh land that has been disappearing (http://www.nwf.org/nationalwildlife/art ... icleid=467) at a rapid rate WOULD HAVE BEEN THERE TO PROTECT NEW ORLEANS FROM STORM SURGES JUST LIKE IT HAS IN YEARS PAST.

You know, New Orleans is one of the oldest cities in America. This has not happened in the hundreds of years that it has existed. It has happened now because business, industry and goverment have combined to make money at the price of putting the poor folk in New Orleans in severe risk. The old river bed has been dredged and the natural flooding was eliminated that built marshland in the delta by delivering sediment every spring.

This is not the fault of mother nature. It is not an accidental catastrophe. It is a tragedy of neglect of the Earth and the greed of aspects of American society. In short, it is the result of interference with natural processes.

The American Indians have warned (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/st ... eearth.htm) us of this for years and years. Now we no longer wonder why the Sioux stuck needles in General Custer's ears after they slew him. It seems the officials of the U.S. government have had hearing problems since the mid-1800's. That didn't cure it, did it? I doubt if this will, either.

A-1

As someone who lived in New Orleans and loves the city, I tend to agree with you about this not being an accidental disaster. The city has been waiting for this disaster. I would like seeing a shift away from rebuilding except as a historic region. Business ought to relocate to Baton Rouge or the North Shore. Rebuiling a city below sea level in a hurricane zone does not make sense.

I cannot find my copy of an excellent recent book by a professor of journalism at New York University about the loss of wetlands. A-1 understand the importance of the river in restoring the ecology of the region. Marshlands are simply not proper places to build permnant homes.

[A-1 (imported)]

Softee,

To make it worse, I revise them until I am satisfied.

New Orleans is a magical, wonderful place. How I feel about this and the tragic loss of life to the wonderful people of New Orleans begs description.

America needs to get a little respect for others and diverse ways of life.

Tragedy after tragedy will follow if it continues to behave as it has in past times. It is a dichotomy how we have always tried to save the world but have ignored that which was in peril under our very noses.

We are in Iraq and our efforts to save those people are valliant but we have ignored our own people at risk.

A-1

[Blaise (imported)]

A-1

Your last post made great sense to me when I reread it. The connection with the Sioux made sense.

I am watching a report from a German television network that our local station is broadcasting. It is excellent. It is the most moving report that I have seen.

I have doubt about how well we planned for this disaster. However, I withhold judgment.

A young police officer reported being underarmed. He reports that the National Guard lacked firepower. Who knows what the truth is? We seem to plan better for Mardi Gras than we planned for this storm.

I am deeply impressed by the medical people. We had a discussion here about our bathrooms. Folks, be thankful for your restrooms.

[Uncle Flo (imported)]

I have called in the few favors I have left from the few contacts I have left ( I am a licensed inland waters pilot and master) and have gained some information. The news agencies report breaches in the New Orleans levy. The breaches are actualy in the floodwalls. A technical difference but, an important one. The breaches occured when the walls were "overtopped" which means that the water running over the walls scoured out the ground on the protected side undermining the walls and causing their collapse. The water was at least 10 feet higher than the walls. The USACE is supposed to be operating as a support orginization to FEMA and DHS in emergencies however they have been operating independently for lack of direction from those agencies. THE PLAN NOW is to leave openings in the floodwalls to allow water to drain out as rapidly as possible. The USACE is also inspecting the city's de-watering pumps. This doesn't look promising. The pumps were mounted 5 feet above the height of the walls or even lower in some cases. The pumps at maximum capacity can lower the water level by about a half-inch an hour or one foot per day. IMPORTANT FACTS: The river level at New Orleans is about one and one-half feet (guage) at normal levels. The mean grade of the city itself is MINUS four and one-half feet (guage). this means that the water level inside the walls will be about six feet after the water level is stabilized, or nearly a week of pumping if the pumps are all working. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: The USACE is ultimatly responsible only for the levy, floodwalls and navigation channels, the pumps and drainage canals are the responsibility of state or local authorities as are some flood controls operated by local levy districts. FOR YOUR INFORMATION: The city of New Orleans was NOT built below sea level. The marshy ground upon which it was built has subsided over the 200 plus years the city has been there. Sort of like Venice, another unique city (although Venice was built on pilings). Taken alltogether a gloomy but not at all hopeless picture. --FLO--

[Blaise (imported)]

Uncle Flo,

Thank you for your explanation. I lack your expertise, but my understanding of the situation mirrors what you report. You explain how the breeches in the levee happened.

The breeches are not on the Mississippi River. The river is at a low seasonal level. In Baton Rouge, where the surface if the river averages about 30 feet above sea level, it was last week four feet above sea level.

You are right. New Orleans was not built below sea level. Where I lived in the city, I was probably above sea level. I am not absolutely certain. Thank you for correcting my intemperate remark.

The geography of South Louisiana has intrigued me since my childhood. It is utterly fascinating. Whether we are wise to build a major city where flooding is a prevailing problem is a good question. I would like to see a shift northwest of the city. We all knew that we could not take a hit from a Category 4 or 5 storm.

My impression is that Jefferson Parish has handled the current problem better than Orleans Parish did. Of couses, that parish is west of New Orleans and was west of the eye of the storm. It also has less complext social problems.

Thank you for the helpful and careful post. I need to be more careful.

Ted

[Blaise (imported)]

Moving much of the commerce of New Orleans north and leaving the city for cultural and shipping concerns might make sense. We need to rethink how to live in our region.

[Uncle Flo (imported)]

As I understand it the reasons for building New Orleans where it was built are good ones. As a city of commerce it was well located being accessible for water transport and being located in a marsh to allow for defence. The first time I visited New Orleans I was mesmerized. I'd been many places in the U.S., but I'd never seen anything to compare with this. I'll be heartbroken if the city can't regain it's unique character. --FLO--

[An Onymus (imported)]

I tend to agree with Old Softee about the idea of relocating most of the metropolitan area of New Orleans to a higher and more stable site. I'm not sure of the exact depth of recently-deposited sediment below New Orleans, but the city probably sits on something like 20,000 feet of waterlogged sediment, the upper part of it unconsolidated and subject to settling. Maybe the city of New Orleans could be reestablished as a historic area of a couple of square miles, with a population between fifty and a hundred thousand (small enough to evacuate on short notice), and everything around it could be made into some type of national wildlife refuge and park or something of that type. Presumably, a better levee system could be built which would prevent the occurrence of another flood like the one induced by Katrina, but the city is going to keep sinking, and the fact that it is below sex level, is going to keep being a problem. Conceivably, it would be a prime target for terrorists, if they could figure out how to plant enough explosives to cause breaches in the levees similar to the ones produced by the hurricane.

Of course, we know that, the way the government does things, they will probably try to restore New Orleans to be approximately the way it was before Katrina, even though the problems involved in having a city of that size there, are obvious.

Glad to hear you're okay, Softee. The stories about storm damage have really been horrific. I guess it has been important in New Orleans the past few days, to have both an AK-47 and a rowboat.

[Uncle Flo (imported)]

The objection I have to your suggestion is that a city is an organic thing. Creating an historic area of even 100,000 people is going to result in a static instalation with all the cultural value of Disneyworld. A horrifying prospect, no? --FLO--

[JesusA (imported)]

The objection I have to your suggestion is that a city is an organic thing. Creating an historic area of even 100,000 people is going to result in a static instalation with all the cultural value of Disneyworld. A horrifying prospect, no? --FLO--

Think "Colonial Williamsburg".... Tour guides to point out the happy slaves dancing in 1840's New Orleans? Somehow I doubt that any project in the Big Easy would ever be as sanitized as Disneyland, try as they might.