September 1, 2005
There Was a House in New Orleans
Otis Redding will have to change the title of his signature tune to the "House of the Rising Flood." New Orleans Faces New Threat from Breaches in Levees. After hurricane Katrina, 80% of New Orleans is under water, some by as much as 20 feet. Basically, the entire city is flooded, and until the dikes are rebuilt the work of pumping the water out cannot even start.
This is a disaster of the first order. The scope is just unbelievable. But the sad part, really, is that it is a man-made disaster. That's because for 300 years New Orleans -- like most of Holland -- lies below sea level, and has been protected by an intricate series of levees holding the ocean and Lake Ponchetrain away. That, in turn, means that the Mississippi River can no longer flood into the delta and deposit sediments and nutrients. So over the years, New Orleans is also sinking further down as the old alluivial sedimentation compacts.
As Mike Tidwell explained Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast --
Civilzation did not make the hurricane. But it is the urbanization and engineered river flow that allowed New Orleans to exist in the first place that has produced its current devastation.
Posted by glenn
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