Cool cross section of NOLA+levees for those wondering about 'the bowl'

[Richardo]

Pretty cool graphic from today's Houston Chronicle. Sorry about the width.

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. It was a stupid place to build a city, really. Still, now that it's there,

I hope they manage to get through the hurricane without flooding the place and destroying everything.

I feel bad for the people there.

And very cool graphic!

[RPM]

3. agreed - how'd it get underwater anyway

did it start that way - if so, how?

[BikeWriter]

5. Subsidence for one. They've been pumping ground water...

from underneath it for over a hundred years.

[Richardo]

6. Plus no silt is being redeposited like it used to before the engineering

...of the river. Now it just shoots out into the Gulf.

Oh well, can't have an omelette, etc etc.

[BikeWriter]

7. It is a damn shame. I hope they re-engineer the levees...

after this.

[Rabrrrrrr]

11. Shoots into the gulf and is filling it up and killing shit for a hundred

or more miles into the gulf, too.

(of course, that's not just from the silt, but also the poisons and shit in the river water, but the amount of silt that's flowed into the gulf is staggeringly obscene).

[Rabrrrrrr]

12. Here's a graphic

From http://www.fourwinds10.com/news/04-environment/B-plants-animals/2005/04B-03-19-05-earths-dead-zones-growing.html

[LynneSin]

9. Barrier islands and deltas were not meant for development

I know that NOLA is NOT a Barrier Island but all those barrier islands on the east coast were never meant for development. Those islands were formed after thousands of years of bad weather battering on the coast and more of protection of the inland. Many of those barrier islands are wetland environments with an environment that keeps the sea water separate from the fresh water.

Maybe this is my rant and I mean well, but I get tired of my tax dollars rebuilding stuff built on land that really isn't suitable for buildings like the barrier islands of the East Coast. Sure the view is pretty and the real estate market keeps going up in price. But if you choose to build there then my tax dollars shouldn't be used to rebuild - especially on those barrier islands.

I do feel bad for NOLA, they haven't had a hit like this in ages and the levees really have worked for over 100 years

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. There is much of me that agrees with you LynneSin!

We shouldn't be building in places that just weren't meant for structures. And I, too, get sick of my tax money going to rebuild the homes of assholes who build in stupid fucking places. Like New Orleans, and those cliffs in CA that keep falling down, and other places.

But on the other hand, one could extend that argument to include anyone that builds in a place that has earthquakes, which takes out a lot of currently inhabited areas. And any place that has tornadoes, which takes out the midwest. And places with Volcanoes. And places that get hurricanes. And places that flood (such as along rivers, like the Mississippi, etc.).

In some regards, we weren't meant to build anywhere, and nowhere is truly safe from disaster.

But, I think we could draw a line at stupid places - like building your city in a bowl on the ocean; or building on an island/cliffside that is designed by nature itself to constantly erode and be destroyed.

[Dover]

2. Thanks! Great visual of the problem...n/t

[BikeWriter]

4. That's a cool craphic, Pard!

Let's hope it's not all flooded.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. What a beautiful graphic, my dear Richardo....

Thank you for continuing my education! It really pulls into focus all the bad things that could happen there...and why...

:hug: