WATER HAS STOPPED RISING IN NEW ORLEANS!

[Roland99]

From a press conference shown on WWL with a Gen. from the Army Corps of Engineers:

The water is no longer rising. There has been equalization with the lake (which has dropped 2'). The plan is to wait for more slings to carry the 3,000lb sandbags (they drop the sandbag *and* the sling together...that's why they stopped dropping sandbags yesterday...ran out of slings) and drop them into the breach. They will also drop 1200 sandbags weighing 20,000lbs each into the breach along with those "jersey" barriers.

There are also plans to drop sheet pilings at the entrance to the canal at the lake to keep more water from coming into the canal.

[Massacure]

1. 20,000 pound sandbags? Ah ha!

Bush, in his infinite wisdom, did not invade Iraq for oil. He invaded them for their sand!!!

[Coexist]

8. The man is a genius!

LOL!

[Squatch]

11. MOA(S)B

Mother of All Sand Bombs

[SoCalDem]

12. Shock & Plop

:)

[Roland99]

16. LOL!

[KittyWampus]

24. thanks for the one laugh I've gleaned all day!

:loveya:

[Roland99]

29. Still makes me laugh!

[SoCalDem]

31. with Cap'n Les Nessman at the controls

:)

[Roland99]

33. Does he have the tape outline of a cockpit up there?

:D

[GumboYaYa]

2. Thank god they figured out to use sheet pilings.

That should work.

[gasperc]

3. thank god

much more could have been done sooner but that's a battle for a different day

[Swamp Rat]

4. thanks for the info!

[SlipperySlope]

5. What happens when floodwaters upstream in the Mississippi drain back down?

[shraby]

13. I've been wondering that for a couple days

myself. The Ohio must be getting a lot of water too to add to the mix.

[Roland99]

17. We got a fair amount of rain but it's all gone now.

I can't imagine it would affect the Mississippi much.

[tk2kewl]

6. If the lake fell 2 feet that means...

that 35,126,784,000 cubic feet of water have flooded into the city. The lake is 630 square miles in area.
:wow:

for a comparison...

if the BOTH of the towers of the former WTC in NYC were hollow and filled with water they would hold 136,800,000 cu ft. So it would take 514 towers full of water to equal what has been dumped over those levees.
:wow:

[KittyWampus]

26. I"m amazed at your mathmatical prowess!

Kudos!

:yourock:

[tk2kewl]

27. just some simple arithmetic.

But a WHOLE HELLUVA a lot of water!

[spuddonna]

7. God, I hope they're right...

The local reporters at WWL were saying a friend just left his house this morning because the water was still rising. This situation changes so fast...

[dr.zoidberg]

9. Finally, something good has happened.

Hopefully we'll get more good news as the day progresses.

[tk2kewl]

14. not sure you could describe it as "good"

since the water has equalized with the lake, it just means it has gotten as bad as it could possibly get.

[crispini]

10. "There has been equalization with the lake."

Welcome to Atlantis.

[MnFats]

15. so it's as bad as they said it could get, right?

now how do they get that water the hell out of the bowl?

[gkhouston]

18. no, it could still get worse.

aren't there levees between NO and the Mississippi that are looking a bit wobbly? That would be worse. Much worse.

[Roland99]

21. Haven't heard about the river levees.

[Roland99]

19. How? This is how. I posted this a while ago but it's been ignored

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4526273

[MnFats]

23. sorry. I'm at work and trying to be covert.

should be working but I keep having to update myself. It ain't easy here but I can't turn it off. My heart is with those people. but no one can know what it's like unless they're in that hell.

[Roland99]

28. I know what ya mean.

[Botany]

22. In other words

the water in NO is the same depth as the water in the lake.


I still have the picture * talking away about WW II in San Diego as
NO went under water. Fucking clueless asshole ...... can you
imagine if Clinton had done that?

Cuff Love!

[Sgent]

20. They better work fast

They have 6 hours until the tide comes in -- about 2 feet.

[trekbiker]

25. huh?? that's like saying the fire's stopped after the house has burned

N.O. is basically destroyed. by the time they drain it (many months from now) half the cities building will have to be torn down and rebuilt.

[Hubert Flottz]

30. They won't drop the sheet piling they will drive a wall of sheet

piling that will overlap the ends of the hole they are trying to plug. If they work around the clock the Corps of Engineers can drive a sixty meter long wall in a week or two. They will drive the sheets down to solid rock, so the water can't undermine the coffer dam they are installing. First they will drive a row(straight line)of H beams about 30 feet apart, from one end or the wall to the other. Then they will place steel beams horizontally from one driven H beam to the next to make a template to drive the sheet piles against in order to hold the sheets straight or plumb.

They can use a hydraulic vibratory hammer and drive the H beams(soldier piles)and the sheets both, with the same pile hammer. The vibratory hammer will drive the beams and sheets very FAST! They will bring in a 4100 or 3900 Manitowoc crane, or a big steam rig, on a barge that has pilings(spuds)that drop down on the corners to the river bed and they'll drive those down to hold the crane barge in place. They'll bring a couple more barges in full of sheet piling and equipment and it won't take long to build the coffer dams.

Still it will take a week or two, to totally stop the water from being able to pass through the levee. Once they have a water tight seal on those holes they can start to dewater(pump out)the town. They can't pump the water out now anyway, until the water level in the River or lake goes down some. The Corps of Engineers should have everything but the sheeting already on barges in the area, because they drive piling quite often normally.

Knowing Bush he'll have to wait and bring in Brown and Root to drive the steel on a no bid contract.

[DoYouEverWonder]

32. I heard some of the water is flowing out

of the levees in the industrial area, which is also helping. So the water came from the lake, went through the city and is now going out into the river to the sea. As long as the river levees hold, maybe some of the water will start to go down. At least it's not rising at the moment.