But, the lesson is here; that the worst hasn't happened yet, and will happen again. It may not happen in my lifetime, but it may happen next month, or next year. What New Orleans is going through was predictable. Lots of folks predicted it.
I talked about it this past June, in this post: The pertinent quote is here.
Here's the scenario: A big hurricane hits the coast of Louisiana somewhere near the mouth of the Mississippi and comes up the river, bringing a storm surge and torrential rains. Or, it comes in near Lake Borgne, sending a storm surge into Ponchartrain. Either way, New Orleans is screwed.Here is a webpage that FEMA has had up for awhile, and it is still available. Click on the link and look at the pictures that FEMA predicted. This ain't rocket science folks.
New Orleans is below sea level, surrounded by water. When the levees break, the city floods. Period. End of story. You can't stop water from flowing downhill. This was a near miss. One of these days, the big one is coming.
Certainly, other parts of the United States have areas that are prone to disaster, and I am not one of those who quakes at every disaster prediction. California has earthquakes, the Pacific rim has volcanos. Almost every place else has tornados. The east coast and Gulf coast are prone to hurricanes. When it is your time to go, Providence will find a way to collect you. For all I know, I might get run over by a garbage truck tomorrow morning. That isn't the point. Everyone dies.
So, to everyone reading this little missive, pray for the survivors, pray for the lost and the dead and the homeless. Give generously. But ask yourself, do you want to live in a city that will certainly flood again? Do you want to invest time, money and energy in a place that will take it all away simply because water flows downhill?
You bring up an excellent point. That's not how it's going to work, though, because as a rule, people cannot detach from their stuff that much to see the big picture.
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Scroll down (it's like the 6th item) until you see "show word verification for comments" ..choose 'yes' and then save your settings and republish and you're good to go.
I went to Tulane, and thus lived in the city for four years, though I'm a northerner.
ReplyDeleteI've always thought that the city was a tragedy waiting to happen -- and its destruction truly _will be_ a tragedy when it does happen. Beautiful city (though a bit smelly when the wind is blowin' off the ol' bayou....)
I'm not a drinker, or even a heavy party-er but I love Bourbon Street, and Mardi Gras... and a lot of lesser-known places and events that the tourists miss. A lot of memories.
I've spent the last couple days wondering just how different things are going to be after they dig out. At least there's still a city to go back to (or will be, anyway).
As to the "would you want to live ina city that you know will flood" question... I ask myself that same question every time a hurricane hits Florida. When the same areas get hammered year after year after year, who would want to live there? And yet they do.
Maybe the Federal Government should only give disaster money if a disaster happens in a place where it's NOT totally expected. Make people think twice about throwing good money after bad.
So... who wants to start toe pool on which city is completely destroyed first? LA to a major earthquake or NOLA to a hurricane?