What if Hurricane Katrina had plowed Miami just like New Orleans? (Coral Gables: power lines, condo)

[MiamiVice1985]

What would Miami be like if the full force of Katrina had brought herself to bear on the lapping waters of Coconut Grove and proceeded to trudge through Coral Gables, Wetchester, all the way through to West Dade. What if the Army Corps canals that keep Miami dry failed and accidentally backflowed water from the everglades as a result of hurricane chaos? 8ft. of water covering 70 percent of the developed land in Miami....What if?

There are several things that make Miami similar to New Orleans...

1)The first and most obvious similarity is Miami's dependence on manmade structures to control the flow and displacement of vast amounts of water.

2)Like New Orleans, Miami is a party town. Tourism in New Orleans now takes place under the backdrop of the largest human disaster in American history, behind the Galveston, TX hurricane of 1900. New Orleans will never be the same.

3)Miami is fiercely segregated along racial and ethnic lines, not to mention that there is severe economic and social disenfranchisement, just like New Orleans. What if certain parts of Miami were flooded like in New Orleans? With the advent of manmade flood control structures, this is not only likely, but predictable.

4)Prior to hurricane Katrina, New Orleans was segregated just like Miami, and there were rising crime rates, just like in Miami.

If we are ever visited by another strong hurricane, god forbid, watch out, seek high ground, and be prepared. Also, see: Katrina example in New Orleans.

[rogerbacon]

First of all, Katrina DID hit Miami. It knocked down a large row of tall trees where I lived trapping people in my condo complex for one and a half days (you could walk out but cars couldn't go in or out). Halfway through the next day we had people with chain saws cutting the trees up to allow cars to get in our out. Notice it was PEOPLE, not government who saved the day there.
Katrina actually didn't 'hit' New Orleans. It makde land fall in Mississippi where the compentent governor (Republican Haily Barbar) was able to organize and coordinate an effictive response. New Orleans sufferend from the breached levies, as everyone knows, but it also sufferend from the inept mayer and govenor who stood around waiting for the federal government. Of course the media blambed Bush. That was the start of the "everything is Bush's fault" drumbeat. Well, who's fault was it that all of the school buses sat there and got flooded instead of being used to evacuate people?
Miami wouldn't fare as badly as New Orleans because no hurrican could keep the water in south Florida like happened in New Orleans. We may be low here but we're not below sea level. The other reason that I believe Miami would fare better is because, as bad a the people are here, they are not the kind of people that would sit around and wait for the government to come to their rescue. Maybe that's because we are used to Dade government and we already KNOW we can't count on them. Sure, there would be the usual looting, like we had after Andrew, but that would be about all. We'd rebuild after that. In fact, I doubt property values would even drop half as much as they did after Andrew.

[MiamiVice1985]

What if a hurricane hit South Florida somewhere "near" Miami, either by way of the everglades from the west or from the gulfstream as a strong category 4 or 5. (When Katrina hit us it was a Category 1, or was it a tropical Storm?)
The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 that hit the middle keys came with an 18 foot storm surge. Miami is only 8 or 10 feet above water. This county is a menagerie of drainage canals built to "tame" the everglades and make urban sprawl possible. So here's a scenario...

EQUATION...ADD THESE UP

--->10 plus foot storm surge from either the everglades or the ocean (1935 Hurricane that kit the keys was 18 feet)
--->Complete shutdown/failure of Army Corps drainage systems (probable-these systems were built in the 1950's and are poorly maintained)
--->Incompetent city/county leaders (100% certainty)
--->Lack of leadeship (obvious)
--->Culturally diverse areas fail to come together to facilitate evacuation/recovery (See:Language issues)
+________________________________________________

SOUND LIKE KATRINA???

[JacobMAX]

Probably would be a major chaos. With very bad consequences; would be difficult to rescue people, would take weeks to restore power/power lines, clean the streets,...

[305guy]

Originally Posted by MiamiVice1985

What if a hurricane hit South Florida somewhere "near" Miami, either by way of the everglades from the west or from the gulfstream as a strong category 4 or 5. (When Katrina hit us it was a Category 1, or was it a tropical Storm?)
The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 that hit the middle keys came with an 18 foot storm surge. Miami is only 8 or 10 feet above water. This county is a menagerie of drainage canals built to "tame" the everglades and make urban sprawl possible. So here's a scenario...

EQUATION...ADD THESE UP

--->10 plus foot storm surge from either the everglades or the ocean (1935 Hurricane that kit the keys was 18 feet)
--->Complete shutdown/failure of Army Corps drainage systems (probable-these systems were built in the 1950's and are poorly maintained)
--->Incompetent city/county leaders (100% certainty)
--->Lack of leadeship (obvious)
--->Culturally diverse areas fail to come together to facilitate evacuation/recovery (See:Language issues)
+________________________________________________

SOUND LIKE KATRINA???

People down here are battle-tested and so is our leadership. Hurricane Andrew is a great example of South Floridians coming together and it didn't matter what language we spoke, I remember people helping each other with chainsaws and taking away trash from other's lawns, getting ice and water for strangers and being very helpful towards each other. You saw very limited looting - NOTHING like NOLA during Katrina - mostly everyone was out there to help and aid others. We've been through many hurricanes down here and everytime one hits it has united us as South Floridians.

[nitokenshi]

Think about all the aligators and crocodiles that would be roaming the streets after the storm.

[MiamiVice1985]

I think Miami was A LOT different in 1992 than it i now. 16 years is a long time, especially for a city like Miami. I think that the changes this city has gone through since Andrew would hurt its chances for surviving a Katrina, not help it.

Example,

Remember the power outage that hit us a couple month ago? How did drivers take to those intersections that had lost power. 95 percent of those drivers blew past those intersections without stopping, yielding, nothing! I could not believe my eyes. How could people be so obtuse? The other 5 percent got hit.

Wilma showed us how well we prepare for hurricanes here in South Florida in the 21st century. Remember the gas lines? The police guarding the water sections at Publix? If we had a Katrina you might as well multiply these hardships by 10. Also, if it was not for ASPLUNDH, a nationwide tree removal company, there would still be crap littering parts of town.

[gbugmiami]

Ill never forgot the folks down on 152 whining to the news about 'wheres the ice, wheres the water!', like 24 hours after the storm hit. Lines for miles. Dude, you didnt have the brainpower to buy stuff to last you a DAY? And you are whining that the govt isnt providing it? Classic.

[tallrick]

I would think that Team Metro would promptly be out writing fines for anyone with "trash" in the yard...as soon as the water receeded. They did it to my parents and will be doing it again, unless the county building is blown away.

[MiamiRob]

Andrew was worse than Katrina in many ways and we will never flood like New Orleans since the city is above sea level. Remember Andrew was reclassified as a Category 5 hurricane and was only one out of three Cat 5's to make landfall in the US. Katrina hit us hard when it swept by and our home in the Cutler Ridge area was flooded! We lost our cars and a lot of personal belongings. People always complain about how Miami is not friendly and people are impersonal but we had nieghbors in our subdivision come door to door to make sure everyone was all right and asking if we needed water or food. Miami is not heartless!