Water Flowing over New Orleans Levee

[wrc fan]

Here is a good article on Flood Control. I hope it gives those here who think rebuilding is a good idea, a realistic view of what kind of protection the city will need, and how much it will cost to protect NO.

link

Well the $8 billion that it cost the Netherlands would be cheaper than buying each resident of New Orleans a new house...

 

[jywv8]

The only alternative to a levee is to raise the ground level, usually with fill from elswhere.

Perhaps they should consider a landfill. After the big Chicago Fire of 1871, much of the debris was pushed into Lake Michigan, creating a huge landfill for what is now Grant Park -- one of Chicago's best features.

 

[Maedus]

The only problem about citing the Dutch levees as some type of solution to New Orleans is that while the system of levees and flood control that the Dutch have instituted in their nation are impressive engineering feats that have allowed them to claim miles of land from the ocean in order to expand their nation, they are operating in a totally different region with totally different challenges and benefits. One of the advantages that the Dutch have over New Orleans is that the Dutch do not have to deal with enormous hurricanes that would dwarf their entire nation in size that would bring the water over from the ocean over their levees as well as dumping up to feet of rain within the levees that would effective turn the Netherlands into a lake. The Netherlands does suffer fierce storms from time to time and for the most part, their levees are capable of handling these storms, though there are undoubtedly situations that could probably cause the Netherlands to flood (and hopefully they never happen).

Also, as to global warming causing hurricanes, every hurricane specialist I have heard dismisses the idea that global warming is causing bigger hurricanes and seem almost insulted when asked that. According to hurricane specialists, hurricanes are seasonal and we are simply entering a hurricane season that will last for the upcoming years.

 

[Whyren]

Also, as to global warming causing hurricanes, every hurricane specialist I have heard dismisses the idea that global warming is causing bigger hurricanes and seem almost insulted when asked that. According to hurricane specialists, hurricanes are seasonal and we are simply entering a hurricane season that will last for the upcoming years.

That plus the fact that as technology improves, our ability to measure and observe the formation, power, and effect of hurricanes improves. It's not necessarily that they're becoming more powerful, but they could simply be being measure more accurately. But winds are not always the best indicator always. According to what I've heard, Rita at landfall had a lower pressure than Audrey and even the 1900 Galveston hurricane, yet Rita was only a Cat. 3 with 125 mph winds (as hurricane categories are based on wind speed). The same argument can be made for tornadoes as there seem to be much more of them in the past several years: this may also result from better detection. There are likely less powerful tornadoes as tornadoes are measured by the amount of damage they cause. Whether or not global warming exists, I don't know. But there are other ways it could be explained.

 

[Apple Hobo]

Also, as to global warming causing hurricanes, every hurricane specialist I have heard dismisses the idea that global warming is causing bigger hurricanes and seem almost insulted when asked that. According to hurricane specialists, hurricanes are seasonal and we are simply entering a hurricane season that will last for the upcoming years.

The National Hurricane Center's FAQ discusses this and shows how global cyclone seasons are dynamic and cyclical. We could be dealing with busy hurricane seasons for the next 25-40 years.

Unfortunately, the natural-fibers enviro-blowhards of the world seem concerned only with their anti-Bush global warming agendas, so I'll personally stick with the NHC's observations on this matter.

 

[Prelude2Tragedy]

Im doing this as my essay topic in my argument class. Needless to say i am getting all kinds of grief from my classmates. Anyways I thought i'd leave everyone with this quote. Haven't we learned anything from the Swamp King in the holy grail. "When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up. And that's what you're going to get, Lad, the strongest castle in all of England. " Its funny in the movie, how funny will it be in New Orleans when it gets flooded again in the future, and we spend billions to fix it and it floods again. New Orleans is only "sinking" lower below sea level and every inch it lowers makes it incredibly more dangerous.