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I note that New Orleans is not a "coastal community," but a largely-below-water-level city in a bowl. It's what, 60 miles from the actual Gulf? The lake is one major problem with storm surge. I gather the Mississippi levees are pretty trustworthy. People have always made settlements by rivers for every reason, back in time. New Orleans grew from there. Unfortunately, it hardly needs a direct hit to flood- a storm surge from the lake was what killed the levees in 2005.
I hear people who love N.O. saying, "Look at the Dutch, their whole country is below sea level." Yes, and they are protecting their entire country, not one city, and at tremendous cost.
People will always live on or near coastal areas. It does appear that some small settlements on river floodplains are moving to higher ground, when destroyed by river flooding (like the Midwest floods).
Living in a city that sits in a bowl where you look UP at boats, well, that's unique in the U.S. I don't know what the answer is.
Let me say this- I live in a coastal state (Georgia) and I love the beach. We go to Tybee at least 5 times a year. It is about 4 hours away. And that is as close as I care to be to the beach. Because I don't like having to "run and rebuild" every 5 years. Why people choose to put themselves in harms way is beyond me.
But even if one makes the choice to live in a coastal area, why would one also make the choice to live in a costal city that is 10 feet below the water that surrounds it? And then depend on walls built by the government to protect everything you own and your very life?
That makes no sense at all to me.
New Orleans wasn't built 2 years ago. The city has been around for hundreds of years and has families that have extremely deep roots in the area. I think it's kind of odd that you expect those people to just up and leave because of a hurricane or two.
I have lived in North Carolina all my life and we have weathered Hazel (1954), Fran (1996), Bertha (1996), and Floyd (1999) to name a few. And no one had to tell us to get the heck out when one of these storms were coming this way. My parents and grandparents did it when I was too small to do it for myself and I have been doing the rest of the time if I thought it was necessary to leave. I am lucky to be fair enough inland that most of the time we don't get hit like you see on the news but Floyd nearly drowned all of us. If you live here you have to respect the weather variables and understand that your safety and that of your family is your responsibilty and not the newscasters and FEMA works and the like. No one can make you leave. But believe me when they tell you to put a toe tag on or write you SS number on your arm in case something happens to you so they can identify your body after the storm it doesn't take much urging to leave. I am home and I love it here so I have to deal with the occasional storm. I just leave and let it have at it if necessary. We got hit so many times between 1996 and 1999 it was almost a way of life. You learn to deal. But just know that the hurricanes are going to keep coming and going. You have to learn to deal with it or leave when you are told to leave.
I found this map again by doing a search for "map of states with most disasters." The last time I saw it was when someone posted it on a thread, but I was not able to find the thread today. Probably just didn't search the right way.
Wasn't New Orleans originally built by the French MANY years ago? I wonder if they even realized it was below sea level back in those days.
Tonight they showed pics that were taken when Katrina hit. They showed many buses nearly covered with water and they asked Mayor Nagin why they weren't used to transport people out of the city. He said that he figured if the people would just go to shelters, the government would come in and rescue them. Seriously, you guys in N.O. need a new mayor. I'm not saying that to be cruel. It's just that you need someone who is responsible enough to look out for his people.
I think with a little historical digging you will find that at one time NO was on the coast but as erosion to its toll on the mid west, the delta was filled in with what the mid west lost. I remember something about this from attending erosion control meetings in MO during the '70's. Maybe tomorrow I can dig up some info on this.
The French Quarter which I understand to be the original New Orleans did not flood this time or when Katrina hit. I could certainly be wrong, since I am posting from memory. As one poster put it, they have a warning before hurricanes. If people want to live that way it is all right with me as long as they foot the bill. I just don't think you should live like that and then fuss at others because they do not come and bail you out. It was your choice to be there. And I am sorry that you have to go through this, but after one time, you would think people would learn.
There is a group of apartments in Charlotte that we see in the news all the time. They seem to not be able to survive a big thunder storm, let alone the 7+ inches of rain we got with Fay this year. This time the city closed the apartments down and just told everybody to go somewhere else. One man was interviewed on TV and mentioned that he had lost everything 3 times now. The poor man is down now and I don't want to add to his misery, but can you read between the lines here. His things were in his pickup and he knew it was a flood prone area??? They are helping the people relocate, but you ought to hear the complaints because they have to leave.
There are many places along the Mid Atlantic coast that people are not being allowed to build back when a hurricane knocks the home down. It is just an unsafe place to build and it is forever costing the government and insurance companies. Our county will not give a building permit so a home can be built in a floodplain. It is just crazy and if people are not responsible enough to do this on their own, our county government will not let them. I am the first to say less government, but builders build the homes sometimes and unsuspecting people come along and buy and the next thing you know they are under water and then the house gets mold. It is just better not to put a home there in the first place.
Some disasters cannot be foreseen, but sometimes you can prevent your misery. For instance, when building inside a forest, be sure to have your home far enough from the trees so they cannot fall on your home. This will also help to prevent getting your home burned during a forest fire.
We used to live by Reddies River, but my parents built high enough on the side of the hill so a flash flood, which happens quite often in the mountains, would not take our home with it. So one day our mother called us to watch a flash flood. We stood on our front porch and watched a wall of water about two stories high come down what we called the creek and take everything in its path. I cannot describe to you how horrible it was. There was a steep bank beside the water and the flash flood came up to almost where the road was. Even though we were high on the hill, it was really scary to watch.
So if you go camping in the mountains during rainy weather, do not camp right beside the stream. Get uphill at least 20 feet.
we did "up and leave" after katrina. not by choice. my husband's job was gone, my business was wiped out. every day we are devastated not to be home. our family is there. we are alone. our children are no longer around their grandparents. this is not the life we wanted. we miss the food, the culture, the music and our family. also, prior to the summer before katrina, we had never evacuated before. it hurts our heart every day not to be there. how do you quantify that?
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U.S. Disaster Maps
