nobody listens
Sep. 8th, 2005 04:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
angledgeIt's amazing the level of detail that storm modelers had right about the disaster that was waiting for New Orleans:
"If a big, slow-moving hurricane crossed the Gulf of Mexico on the right track, it would drive a sea surge that would drown New Orleans under 20 feet of water." - Scientific American, October 2001
"As the whirling maelstrom approached the coast, more than a million people evacuated to higher ground. Some 200,000 remained, however—the car-less, the homeless, the aged and infirm, and those die-hard New Orleanians who look for any excuse to throw a party.
The storm hit Breton Sound with the fury of a nuclear warhead, pushing a deadly storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain. The water crept to the top of the massive berm that holds back the lake and then spilled over. Nearly 80 percent of New Orleans lies below sea level—more than eight feet below in places—so the water poured in. A liquid brown wall washed over the brick ranch homes of Gentilly, over the clapboard houses of the Ninth Ward, over the white-columned porches of the Garden District, until it raced through the bars and strip joints on Bourbon Street like the pale rider of the Apocalypse. As it reached 25 feet (eight meters) over parts of the city, people climbed onto roofs to escape it.
Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste. Thousands more who survived the flood later perished from dehydration and disease as they waited to be rescued. It took two months to pump the city dry, and by then the Big Easy was buried under a blanket of putrid sediment, a million people were homeless, and 50,000 were dead. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States." - speculative description of a Category 5 hurricane striking New Orleans, National Geographic, October 2004
Does anyone think we will actually see a debate on whether or not to rebuild New Orleans?
EDIT: Hey look! URS helped run last year's Hurricane Pam simulation!
"If a big, slow-moving hurricane crossed the Gulf of Mexico on the right track, it would drive a sea surge that would drown New Orleans under 20 feet of water." - Scientific American, October 2001
"As the whirling maelstrom approached the coast, more than a million people evacuated to higher ground. Some 200,000 remained, however—the car-less, the homeless, the aged and infirm, and those die-hard New Orleanians who look for any excuse to throw a party.
The storm hit Breton Sound with the fury of a nuclear warhead, pushing a deadly storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain. The water crept to the top of the massive berm that holds back the lake and then spilled over. Nearly 80 percent of New Orleans lies below sea level—more than eight feet below in places—so the water poured in. A liquid brown wall washed over the brick ranch homes of Gentilly, over the clapboard houses of the Ninth Ward, over the white-columned porches of the Garden District, until it raced through the bars and strip joints on Bourbon Street like the pale rider of the Apocalypse. As it reached 25 feet (eight meters) over parts of the city, people climbed onto roofs to escape it.
Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste. Thousands more who survived the flood later perished from dehydration and disease as they waited to be rescued. It took two months to pump the city dry, and by then the Big Easy was buried under a blanket of putrid sediment, a million people were homeless, and 50,000 were dead. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States." - speculative description of a Category 5 hurricane striking New Orleans, National Geographic, October 2004
Does anyone think we will actually see a debate on whether or not to rebuild New Orleans?
EDIT: Hey look! URS helped run last year's Hurricane Pam simulation!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 02:25 am (UTC)I wouldn't go so far as to say they never should have built it there in the first place. They didn't know the dangers back then, and anyway it wasn't under sea level when first established, IIUC. And it's not like you can wake up one morning and say "hey, this whole city is below sea level, let's move it fifty miles inland." But I do think that for *re*building purposes it would make tons of sense to move it, and no sense at ALL to rebuild in the same place. alas.
Yahoo! news story
Date: 2005-09-09 04:06 pm (UTC)Re: Yahoo! news story
Date: 2005-09-09 04:13 pm (UTC)"How many of those people have been to New Orleans?" said Alec Phoenix, a New Orleans resident who is currently in Los Angeles. "To say the city should be abandoned because it's below sea level is an irresponsible statement."
I think this guy is a little unclear on the meaning of the word "irresponsible." He's probably blinded by his affection for what the city used to be, which I can understand, but yeesh.
I really need to make some Princess Bride icons.
Date: 2005-09-09 04:21 pm (UTC)"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
Re: I really need to make some Princess Bride icons.
Date: 2005-09-09 06:49 pm (UTC)