Scientists Give New Orleans One More Chance

[icymist]

HURRICANE KATRINA

Scientists Give New Orleans One More Chance

By Volker Mrasek

Even before the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, scientists were clear on one thing: New Orleans can only be saved through an extensive program of coastal protection measures. If not, future storms threaten to sink the city for good.

John Pardue reckons the wetlands of Louisiana's Gulf Coast have "another 10, 20 or 30 years, then they'll totally have disappeared." The director of Louisiana State University's Water Resource Research Institute paints a truly bleak picture: "New Orleans lies directly on the coast, and even relatively weak hurricanes will bring massive destruction to the city."

Hurricanes like Katrina and Georges (September 1998) veered off to the east when they hit land. Their course changed when they touched the land's rough-textured surface, which consists of a mosaic of waterways, grassland and sandbanks. That deprived them of their energy and the hurricanes then began to abate. Were these extensive wetlands to disappear, it would only be a matter of time until a hurricane struck the then unprotected city of New Orleans head-on.
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