Life After People - San Antonio (Mission, Alamo: safety, title, land)

[majormadmax]

Just finished watching an episode of Life After People on the History Channel titled The Road to Nowhere (Season 1, Episode 9) which featured what would happen to San Antonio if people were to suddenly disappear!

It focused on the Riverwalk and Alamo, and I won't give out any spoilers here but if anyone has watched this series it is pretty much on par with what happens to everything else after humans are no longer.

Oddly enough, the show did say that longhorn cattle, armadillos and the Blue Lacy (or Lacy Dog) would thrive whereas regular dairy cattle would not.

The episode is available on iTunes and YouTube (oddly enough, with a British narrator*) if anyone is interested in seeing what would become of the Alamo city if we were to suddenly disappear from the landscape!

Cheers! M2

* - I originally included the link, but the forum software automatically imbeds the video and that would be a copyright violation per the TOS. Search on "Life After People The Road to Nowhere" to find it!

[majormadmax]

Since the History Channel has allowed the video to be posted on YouTube, I guess I can include it here...

[perticusrex]

cool thanks dude! my husband will really enjoy this...

[TrapperL]

They make a lot of assumptions that are just wrong. They never considered or talked about the Olmos Dam which doesn't allow for the type of flooding of downtown that they claim will happen. Even with the Olmos flood gates wide open there's just not enough flow capacity to have those types of floods. Old Oak trees are a lot like people, the older they get the more subject to disease they become. The oaks would have issues with parasites like mistletoe long before they would do the damage they claim. They make assumptions that the trees will be healthy and strong but without human help, this is just not true. Interesting flick though and well worth the watch, but it's pure science fiction.

[TXStrat]

I find that series really interesting. Will be interesting to see what happens to the Alamo City without people. Look forward to watching it.

[huckster]

Think the Olmos Dam will last forever? Of course not. It was just reinforced last year with what looked
like a temporary fix, with buried cement pulgs built perpendicular to the dam's sides and cables strung
and attached to the sides of the dam walls. This remedy will not last forever, it needs rebuilding again. Engineers determined that these cable supports will hold and keep it from collapse but is a band-aid approach
without an R&R (RIP out and Replace) . Nothing lasts forever that is suject to the elements.
The extra support project was televised on the news within the last 24 months, I cannot remember exactly when the news telecast was presented over the local airwaves.
The Detroit scenarion was a far worse one and I have experienced this one first hand and in person.
In the present day the worse part of urban decay as far as public safety is concerned, is bridges there. I have
seen the supports on bridges there, obviously completely unstable and incapable of support of traffic overhead. As in the bridge collapse in Minneapolis three years ago where three were killed. The climate at north end of this country IS extremely hard on bridges due to the use of Sodium placed by the state on highways to melt ice on the highways. The road salt and freezing temps
peels the industrial paint and the ice inserts itself in the tiniest of cracks and voids and begins the process
of accelerated decay. Rust , Rust of the iron beams is taken seriously, very. Many , many bridges in the north are way beyond out of time but are not replaced. Michigan is flat broke.
The San Antonio time sequence decay scenario was accelerated that was all. It would happen.
The Missions themselves were in utter ruin at the end of the last century, including the Alamo, some prior to rebuilding, collapsed. In fact they were barely saved and refurbished in time, the land under them was wanted for other purposes here in S.A. Haven't you ever seen pictures of these collapsed edifices, the San Jose ? Of course you have.
The film was accurate, an accurate portrayal. I know what happens in these situations. Take my word for this.
Read the book " Earth Abides" the precisely same scenario is presented in this book and it is an excellent
read. A pestilence kills off humanity except for a few survivors. Maybe twenty slowly find each each other in the L.A. area. It presents the story of the decay of civilization, structural degeneration and social over a lifetime of the author of this book. Firstly the taps stopped glowing water , lighting went out and canned
food became no good. A subsistence lifestyle had to be undertaken by survivors. Succeeding generations
merely refused to be taught for the most part to read and they were reduced to using sharpened quarters and half-dollars as arrowheads as firearms became unreliable. An old man by the end of the book, in the narrative
he is seen as sort of a seer , or wizard as he the only one left that can read and knows of the old technology that the grandkids cannot understand but know existed. He is prodded and poked for information and ideas.
A ver good book.

Originally Posted by TrapperL

They make a lot of assumptions that are just wrong. They never considered or talked about the Olmos Dam which doesn't allow for the type of flooding of downtown that they claim will happen. Even with the Olmos flood gates wide open there's just not enough flow capacity to have those types of floods. Old Oak trees are a lot like people, the older they get the more subject to disease they become. The oaks would have issues with parasites like mistletoe long before they would do the damage they claim. They make assumptions that the trees will be healthy and strong but without human help, this is just not true. Interesting flick though and well worth the watch, but it's pure science fiction.

[majormadmax]

Originally Posted by TXStrat

I find that series really interesting. Will be interesting to see what happens to the Alamo City without people. Look forward to watching it.

Yeah, I am kinda addicted to it as well! A different episode outlined what would happen to the USS Missouri in Pearl Harbor, having just been out to O'ahu several weeks this summer I was very interested in seeing what they predicted would occur to The Mighty Mo!

Much like all the other episodes, it wasn't good!

I did find their predictions on longhorn cattle, armadillos and Lacy Dogs engrossing as well.

I am sure some of their results are debatable, but that's not the point; it's the application of scientific theory based on known facts and for the most part I believe they are pretty accurate in their results.

It's like what George Carlin used to say, people shouldn't be worried about saving the planet; the planet will take care of itself. It's the humans that are in trouble!

Cheers! M2

[Buffyfan]

Go Lacy Dog Go!

[Merovee]

So Downtown is supposed to flood? Was it ever flooded in the past? Are we predicting future floods now? Based on what?

[majormadmax]

San Antonio, Texas "One of the most flood-prone regions in North America"

SARA manages a series of structural controls (dams and drainage systems) to help prevent and/or reduce flood problems. For example, the San Antonio River Tunnels (see illustration) proved invaluable as they diverted water safely underneath downtown during the 1998 and 2002 floods.



See also: San Antonio Flood of 1921 « Inside the Gates