New Orleans may face extinction

[kc456 0]

"The scientists are now confronting the real possibility that New Orleans may be the first of many cities worldwide to face extinction."

"By collecting residents eye-witness testimonies and stopped clocks from their flooded homes Professor Ivor Van Heerden and his team pieced together a timeline of the levee breaches.

Their initial results suggest the levees were breached while the waters were still rising. They found faulty design in the levees and weakness in the soils underneath.

According to Van Heerden: "The system wasn't even capable of withstanding a Category One hurricane"."

"New Orleans' future is very hard to predict," says Van Heerden. "The big unknown is global warming. If sea level rises come up by another metre in the next 50 to 60 years, if we see far more of these major hurricanes we could well reach a point where we see we need to abandon these cities like New Orleans."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4673586.stm

Wow, the federal, state and city officials and residents who talk about rebuilding may be diluding themselves...

[Chicky 0]

I liken what happened in New Orleans to pouring soup on a counter and trying to contain it by setting up crackers as a barrier

While its a historic city and cool city, I think they aren't too smart to want to rebuild it all again. *shrugs* but what do I know.

[True Love at Last 15]

That may be true but this is our HOME. Surley you can understand why we want to rebuild. Can u imagine loosing everything u have ever known ? Its very hard for us here, and the only thing we can hold on to is the POSSIBILITY that we can call this HOME again someday.

[kc456 0]

It's definitely understandable that people want to rebuild, but the emotional argument has to be weighted against the science. The city is sinking, the wetlands that protect it are disappearing, and it may take up to 20 years to build a levy system that would protect it (if it ever gets done). Would it not be worse of a tragedy if the city gets distroyed again?

[LiszyandKenny 5]

it was a beautiful place

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Professor Ivor Van Heerden

Sounds Dutch. Folks better listen. The Dutch know their stuff when it comes to building on land that's under sea level. About a quarter of their country is...

[kc456 0]

Professor Ivor Van Heerden

Sounds Dutch. Folks better listen. The Dutch know their stuff when it comes to building on land that's under sea level. About a quarter of their country is...

The Dutch levy system can withstand a natural disaster with a probabily of occurence of one in 10,000 years (a direct hit from a category 5 hurricane). New Orleans's system was designed to only withstand category 3 (once in 100 years), but acccording to the article I posted it was either inferior or falling apart already...

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Professor Ivor Van Heerden

Sounds Dutch. Folks better listen. The Dutch know their stuff when it comes to building on land that's under sea level. About a quarter of their country is...

The Dutch levy system can withstand a natural disaster with a probabily of occurence of one in 10,000 years (a direct hit from a category 5 hurricane). New Orleans's system was designed to only withstand category 3 (once in 100 years), but acccording to the article I posted it was either inferior or falling apart already...

Which is why I said, folks better listen to the Dutch on this one.

[de_sjiem 0]

Professor Ivor Van Heerden

Sounds Dutch. Folks better listen. The Dutch know their stuff when it comes to building on land that's under sea level. About a quarter of their country is...

Actually i think it might be more than that.. The proper name for their country (Netherlands) literally means lowlands.. lol They have even built land that was previously completely under sea! (its called the Polder.. my aunt and uncle used to live there..) But yes.. They dont generally get hurricanes there.. But they do know alot about building dykes and reclaiming land from the ocean again..they've been doing it for centuries...

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Professor Ivor Van Heerden

Sounds Dutch. Folks better listen. The Dutch know their stuff when it comes to building on land that's under sea level. About a quarter of their country is...

Yup. The Dutch know a thing or 2 about living below sea level.

Around NO the ground is sinking because we stopped the annual flooding with the levies in the first place. I saw a great show on PBS about it. There should not be a city there. (blame the French)

[pedroh 21]

yeah.. listen to the masters of the sea, dutchmen..

besides.. if New Orleans is gonna be rebuilt as a chocolate city, i doubt it'll last

[Irisheyes 0]

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

There should not be a city there. (blame the French)

Sure, we can always blame the French!

[slim 1,525]

I honestly believe the govt. response (or lack there-of) was because they knew how many problems the Crescent already had.

They didn't react with as much strength as they could've because they already knew the city was in the process of being lost, Katrina just sped it up by a few years. They also didn't try very hard to save the people there for the same reason.

Those at the Super Dome weren't exactly the "model citizens" that the govt. likes to populate thriving cities with. So, they had the chance to let Mother Nature do some of the dirty work for them. The water "washed" out the hoods.

NO will be rebuilt, but it will be different. The Dutch will have a big influence in building the levees, but the city itself will be set up differently. It will be rebuilt as a more industrious port city, sans ghettos. As for mayor Nagin's proposal that the NO will be a "chocolate" city, I think he's mistaken. "President Bush doesn't like Black people." (Kanye West)

[kc456 0]

That's a pretty strong accusation. I tend to think that it was just general incompetence. Didn't Bush say "Noone could have predicted the breach of the levees?"

BTW, the Dutch sea wall system cost $5 bln to build, and I don't believe that US authorities (although they may proclaim it) would want to spend the money or the effort to build something similar.