New Orlean's future

[mystic]

Being a city below sea level, New Orleans always will be vulnerable to flooding from hurricanes. Hopefully, enough improvements can be made in the flood control system to protect the city from another Katrina. If not, the population may not return to its pre-storm level for a long time, if ever. As much as I like New Orleans, the location is not a good place for a large city. Given the costs of flood control improvements and rebuilding, would relocating the city to a safer site be a reasonable alternative?

[JSE]

New Orleans will be rebuilt. No questions about it. It's a national treasure in "many" ways. However, to what degree is unknown. A lot of people of relocating to other cities out of neccesity. They likely will have NOTHING to return to in NO. Just a condemned house and the land and FEMA or ins. will likely pay them out. I am betting a lot of those people will either relocate to higher ground in and around NO or move all together. There are 20k plus coming to the Astrodome right now and probably a few hundred thousand more have come already to Houston to stay with relative and friends. I bet some of them will never go back. What's there to go back to?

My point is this. NO will be rebuilt but I think many of the low lying areas will not be rebuilt to the extent they are now or were. This will happen either by choice or by Govt. intervention. I would actually like to see most of the low lying areas within the city (mainly north of the French Qtr) made into an area where no residential or commercial stuctures can be rebuilt. Make them a park or something. I agree that NO should be rebuilt but we need to do it in a way that makes sense and save future lives when the next Cat 4 or 5 hits. It's not if, it's when one hits. I would rather spend Govt. money relocating people to safer higher lcoations within the city or surrounding areas than to rebuild in low lying areas and have to do this all over again.

On a side note. My good friend here in Houston has 27 people in his 4 bedroom 2900 sq. ft. house right now. His entire family is from NO. All but one are here now. The one person missing is his eldely diabetic father who has not been heard from since Monday. No one know where he is or if he is alive. They are hoping he is at the SuperDome and will show up in Houston soon. But they don't know. My wife and I spent last night cooking big meals and feeding all his family. They are great people and have no idea when they can go back or if they can go back anytime soon. They assume their houses are gone. We'll be helping out again tonight. My wife and I make good money so buying and cooking meals is the least we can do. I can't even begin to imaging being in their shoes.

JSE

[mystic]

New Orleans will be rebuilt. No questions about it. It's a national treasure in "many" ways. However, to what degree is unknown. A lot of people of relocating to other cities out of neccesity. They likely will have NOTHING to return to in NO. Just a condemned house and the land and FEMA or ins. will likely pay them out. I am betting a lot of those people will either relocate to higher ground in and around NO or move all together. There are 20k plus coming to the Astrodome right now and probably a few hundred thousand more have come already to Houston to stay with relative and friends. I bet some of them will never go back. What's there to go back to?

My point is this. NO will be rebuilt but I think many of the low lying areas will not be rebuilt to the extent they are now or were. This will happen either by choice or by Govt. intervention. I would actually like to see most of the low lying areas within the city (mainly north of the French Qtr) made into an area where no residential or commercial stuctures can be rebuilt. Make them a park or something. I agree that NO should be rebuilt but we need to do it in a way that makes sense and save future lives when the next Cat 4 or 5 hits. It's not if, it's when one hits. I would rather spend Govt. money relocating people to safer higher lcoations within the city or surrounding areas than to rebuild in low lying areas and have to do this all over again.

On a side note. My good friend here in Houston has 27 people in his 4 bedroom 2900 sq. ft. house right now. His entire family is from NO. All but one are here now. The one person missing is his eldely diabetic father who has not been heard from since Monday. No one know where he is or if he is alive. They are hoping he is at the SuperDome and will show up in Houston soon. But they don't know. My wife and I spent last night cooking big meals and feeding all his family. They are great people and have no idea when they can go back or if they can go back anytime soon. They assume their houses are gone. We'll be helping out again tonight. My wife and I make good money so buying and cooking meals is the least we can do. I can't even begin to imaging being in their shoes.

JSE

God bless you for helping those in need! I agee that New Orleans is a National Treasure. From what I have read, engineers have long known the levees were inadequate to protect the City from flooding even from a Cat 3, but the Government thought upgrading would be too costly. I don't know how the cost of protection would have compared to the cost of the losses suffered.

[Pyrrho]

God bless you for helping those in need! I agee that New Orleans is a National Treasure. From what I have read, engineers have long known the levees were inadequate to protect the City from flooding even from a Cat 3, but the Government thought upgrading would be too costly. I don't know how the cost of protection would have compared to the cost of the losses suffered.

From a cost standpoint, I think most (or all) should simply be moved to higher ground. But, before people are flooded out, the government would have had a hard time getting people to move, as people would scream that this is America, and people should be allowed to live where they want, etc. But I don't think that others should have to pay for you to be able to live where you want, and consequently asking others to build a better levy so that someone can live below sea level is unreasonable. (Do you want to pay for me to be able to live in some unsafe place if I choose to live in some unsafe place?) Eventually, New Orleans will be claimed by the sea. (The same will happen to Venice, Italy.) Spending outrageous amounts of money can delay it, but it will happen. The question is, is it worthwhile to spend money this way?

I expect that money will be spent for this purpose, and then we will have another disaster in the not too distant future, with thousands dieing, and many more losing their homes. (And if it takes a long time for the next disaster, that will mean even greater loss of life and property, because people will be lulled into a false sense of security, and more will move into unsafe areas.) And I think this will repeat a few more times before people accept what will eventually happen.

[GMichael]

Did anyone see this headline? This in from CNN.

-- New Orleans hospital halts patient evacuations after coming under sniper fire, a doctor who witnessed the incident says.

[JSE]

From a cost standpoint, I think most (or all) should simply be moved to higher ground. But, before people are flooded out, the government would have had a hard time getting people to move, as people would scream that this is America, and people should be allowed to live where they want, etc. But I don't think that others should have to pay for you to be able to live where you want, and consequently asking others to build a better levy so that someone can live below sea level is unreasonable.

Exactly. Now is the perfect time to have these people relocate on "our" dime. It's a tragic event but it has also created a rare opportunity to fix a problem that will not go away. Pay these people for their homes and land and forbid rebuilding on the same ground in these at-risk areas. It's a hard decision to make but it will never be easier than now. Most of the people in these low lying areas will have to rebuild from scratch anyway. We just need to makesure it's in a safer location.

JSE