Quote:
Originally Posted by bobcat
gee like those crazy people that built a major city below sea level right next to the gulf of mexico and then insist on spending millions of dollars of taxpayer money to figure out why it keeps flooding ever time someone sneezes in that direction.
(yeah im never moving to new orleans)
|
Actually, New Orleans is built well inland, but the oil & gas industry has been busy chopping canels in the wetlands south of the city, and then the Army Corps of Engineers in its on-going war on the Mississippi River, severely restricted the flow of silt down into the Mouth of the Mississippi River (the mouth has actually moved well north of were it was in the 19th Century due to the lack of silt) that were the prime factors in the flooding...inadequate and out-dated pumps...certain home-owners associations that sued and won the last time that the Corps of Engineers tried to widen and heighten the levees in the area also played major roles in what happened. Not to mention the sheer stupidity of people building their homes and business at the foot of the levees, when simply walking to the top of the levee (all of 10 minutes) would have showed that the water was within a couple of feet of the top in clear weather, let alone when ole hurricane starts to blow!
Living right across the state line from New Orleans, I got to see ground zero of Katrina up front and personal...to add insult to injury, the Mississippi Gulf Coast got hit worse than New Orleans, had a sizable precentage of its federal aid redirected to New Orleans, and rebuilt faster than New Orleans. Even today, almost 5 years afterwards, there are portions of New Orleans that still have debris piles from Katrina....it does make one wonder just were all of that federal aid went....