Interesting New Orleans info I discovered last night...

[baimun]

I couldn't get over the "10 feet below sea level" thing. I kept thinking "why the FUCK would you build a city like that?"

I found the answer.

It wasn't like that when they built the city.

The foundations of the city were built on the silt and such that flowed down the mississippi. As the edges of the river have been walled off by population, less material has flowed downstream. Cap this off with the walling off of the lake and rivers there... New Orleans has been sinking a fraction of an inch each year.

It was not a matter of "IF"... It was a matter of "WHEN".

The levee walls were designed to hold a category 3 hurricane... not 4... and one particular disaster video that someone mentioned, ended with potential disasters and wrapped with "If a hurricane of signifigant force ever hits New Orleans....." [img]confused.gif[/img]

It's just sad.

<font color="#cd6600" size="1">[ September 01, 2005 10:53 AM: Message edited by: Axis Bold as B?im?n ]</font>

[Joranthalus]

you just found this out? I'm supposed to be the bubble boy around here [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

[-megalithanod]

And to think Kartina was a category 5

[chaserfan]

when the storm first started the high waves where bashing OVER the walls and washin out the land from the back side. therefore the walls would not be stable with the land washed out from behing and was expected to crumble when the full force hit. They said they never counted on the land being washed out from behind before the storm really got going.

I think its time to reshape the US and just plow LA off. Seriously, not to be mean, but almost everything is gone for those folks. Help them to start over somewhere safer. I know not practical, but will it happen again?

[baimun]

Jor... while I'm usually filling my head with useless information, I had never paid any attention to the foundation of New Orleans.

I knew it had a lake and river... with levees... but usually that's to prevent flooding if the river or lakes rise.

When I found out how far BELOW the water level was, I was just stunned. How the hell did any insurance company insure ANY structure in that city????

"Yeah... I'm gonna build a house on this ice shelf... I hope to have the house completed by February. What's that? July? It gets how warm?"

[baimun]

Chaser... I said the same thing.

Going back and rebuilding inside the hole is pretty dumb.

Make new shores, make a floating city like Venice... but forget about draining the hole out.

[Spore]

"New Orleans is sinking man, and I don't wanna swim..."
- The Tragically Hip

[chaserfan]

it only makes sense to omit it from the states. there is so much damage I dont see how they can level it all out, remove the debris, WHERE DOES ALL THAT GO?, house all the people temporaraly and rebuild. now that this has happened, wont it have damaged the land to make it even farther below sea level? I cant fathom how theyre going to do all this. we'll probably be dead before its all done

[Andyman]

This is just a dress rehearsal for when half of California falls into the sea.

Remember what I said about the planet Earth being able to take care of herself? We won't kill the planet, she will kill us first. [img]wink.gif[/img]

[chaserfan]

yeah its wiping things away. after this, I wouldnt be shooked if something like it happened to California.

makes you think of the song by Tool