Re: A Fatal Incuriosity

El Castor <justuschickens@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:597ji1lu5iebr3h16ce29nfr4vfauc4fvk@xxxxxxx:

> "Peter Vos" <pvos58@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>>
>>Jerry Okamura wrote:
>>> If Maureen Dowd was really interested in the plight of the
>>> people she says she is concerned about, she would have
>>> asked some very basic questions that have come up as a
>>> result of the tragedy, instead of throwing rocks over the
>>> wall. First and foremost is, why have a city built in an
>>> area that can be flooded, because if it cannot be flooded,
>>> there would have not been the catastrophy we have seen.
>>> Second, and most important, is what good is a mandatory
>>> evaculation order if people do not have to obey a
>>> mandatory evaculation order, and the City did not have the
>>> means or the will to get the people who had no way to obey
>>> the mandatory evaculation order. If there were no people
>>> left in the city when it was flooded, the catastrophy
>>> would not have been nearly as bad as it was.
>>>
>>
>>nothing like blaming the victim.... by the way ... you
>>realize that New Orleans has been subsiding for some time
>>and the feds wouldn't fund the studies to explore ways of a)
>>restoring the wetlands and b) ways of mitigating the
>>subsidance?
>
>>The next time a typhoon hits Hawaii, I don't want to hear
>>complaints from all the people who didn't use the Interstate
>>to evacuate.
>
> There have been studies of New Orleans for years -- dating
> back to the days of FDR -- when he authorized the
> channelization of the Mississippi -- the process that began
> the destruction of the Louisiana coast. And you do realize
> that in 1967 a flood gate was designed and funded to prevent
> storm surges from entering Lake Pontchartrain? And did you
> know that construction of the gate was blocked by the usual
> environmental lawsuit?
>


Mitigate the subsidence, What a wonderful phrase by those with
no engineering common sense.

River deltas always have land that subsides. Take your pick, the
Mississippi, Nile or even the swamps of Venice. When the silt
compacts and squeezes out the water in the layers below, the
land sinks, and provides a nice place for the flood waters to
drop the suspended mud.

When you make it impossible for the annual floods to drop their
load of mud, the land will still sink, but nothing will be
available to fill in the hole (except water). Take your pick on
how you prevent the mud deposition on the city; you can use an
upstream dam like Aswan, or a channelized Mississippi river that
shifts the mud rapidly past the city to drop in deep water Gulf.
Both the Mississippi and Nile deltas are shrinking, but from
(many) various and different causes.

The only thing that man has been doing to make things worse is
to prevent the annual floods from replenishing the mud, and
building navigation shortcuts that let Gulf waters erode the
unstable delta swamps. The mere presence of the city is an
invitation to disaster. But note that the area is doomed
naturally. The Mississippi normally shifts its mouth every few
thousand years. The delta has become so long, it is actually
easier for the river to flow down the Atchafalaya, but the
presence of all those good Democrat voters (living and dead)
requires that the river come to New Orleans even if it wants to
go elsewhere. But FDR wanted to reward New Orleans hense the Old
River structure.

New Orleans was founded on a very small "island" in a vast sea
of swamp. This was the original French Quarter. Subsequent
expansion required advertureous individuals building homes in
the swamp. There was often just a little too much adventure
present because the swamp was below water levels. You can dig
down over 1000 feet and not find stable soils, it is all muck.

(and as for mandatory evacuation, In many areas, the escape
routes will be under water 24 hours BEFORE the hurricane makes
landfall!!)
.

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