New Orleans

[Sureshot]

I think Celine was more worried about her cheque.  Maybe she expected an award back in the post or something.

[Vladimir]

What he said is true though.   :-/

[TraderJake]

Kanye West? Eh, Not all of it, if any.

As for moving back from the remarks and towards recovery and rebuilding, I think that if they do decide to rebuild the city in the present location, which they will, that they should look to our European Friends as to how flood protection needs to be done, since they very much are the master. While Europeans may not have to deal with category 4 Hurricanes, they do have their fair share of land that is very much under water, such as that one country that is almost 50% below, what's it's name... Holland.. oh that's right. I think we have an administrator from there I hear. I also hear that in Holland that they have one of the most expensive flood protection works in the world there, called the North Sea Protection Works. You can see one of ASCE's Seven Wonders of the modern world below until the site realizes I am leeching from them.
[IMG align=right]http://www.asce.org/graphics/history/seven/neder.jpg[/IMG]

Anyways, I suppose my point is that a flood protection system for New Orleans, need to be built with the same precedence and prowess that the Zuiderzee Works were built with. Whatever is built to save New Orleans from the "big one" needs to be on the scale of the Protection Works of Holland, and must surpass the strength and durabilty of original levee system that existed. We need to take what we can learn from other flood prevention works and apply them in New Orleans with technologies that can withstand Hurricane strength winds and surges. This will not be a project that should be placed on the back burner, and politicans will be wise to look to the future, much like the Dutch did in the construction of the Protection Works.

On a side note, once reconstruction and flood protection works construction does begin, it will be a boon for the Civil Engineering Industry. It would be a great time to be in the construction industry. Kind of ironic, since it is such a tragic time.

[Sauza12]

Until some sort of GOOD flood protection is built in New Orleans, I don't think we should rebuild in the area under sea level.  This seems to be something of a taboo statement, but what point is there in rebuilding an area that could be destroyed again in just a matter of years?  Hurricanes tend to go in 10-40 year cycles of increased and decreased activity.  1995 was the begining of one of the increased hurricane activity period in the Atlantic region so we could see hurricane seasons with 20+ storms for a few decades to come.

That being said, why would we set up the pins just so Mother Nature can knock them all down again?  If we are so intent on rebuilding in that area, lets spend money on building protection first, and then rebuild the area.  I understand that the area that was devestated the most was an area that was filled with people living below the poverty line and they won't have anywhere to live, but that doesn't mean we should throw them back into a possibly deadly situation.  At the very least, we should build housing on the other side of the cresent shaped area that encircles the below sea level area of the city first.

I don't know.  I don't envy the people that have to make the decisions on this.

[Hydrobond]

Surprised this hasn't been posted yet.

http://maps.google.com/ma....158838&t=e&hl=en

Satellite images of NOLA's current condition.

[TraderJake]

I wonder if New Orleans will be the 21st Century Galveston Texas (in 1906 the largest city in texas until the most deadly natural disaster to hit the US destroyed the city.

Nowadays, Galveston is 15 feet higher than it was in 1906. I doubt that New Orleans would completely raise the city 15 feet or more to protect itself, but I am sure that they will be able to use the amazing amount of money being poured into the city to make one hell of a protection system.

I wonder when other vulnerable cities will start begging for the type of money that New Orleans is receiving.

[Vladimir]

I donated $507.69!   :gay: