Flooding I. New Orleans opus 862
| 13 June 2026 1340 Hours | | History, Behavior, Climate, Current Events, Custom, Environment, Geology, Population |
This is the first of four parts on the subject of Flooding.
In the 'pioneer days,' when people were choosing a town site,
The several criteria used to decide where to build often included:
Proximity to water, near a railroad, good grazing, nice vistas.
Beyond that, future challenges or dangers were often not considered.
Flaws we now see were often overlooked in those founding days!
New Orleans is sinking (subsidence).
They now say this existence has an end.
The city will eventually be gone under water.
Is it the soil? Is there no rock substrate?
What of the topography? Why is water seeping in?
This city is hit with a double whammy.
Not only is it sinking, but the ocean is also quickly rising.
Huge efforts have been made to modernize the 'defence.'
Almost all (99%) of the city's population risks severe flooding.
The city was founded in a bowl with no drainage.
It is below sea level and protected only by levees.
Pumping into Lake Pontchartrain or the Mississippi River
Is a limited solution against flooding.
The city is at a point of no return.
Is relocation the only real solution to this nightmare?
Again, the sea is rising and the land mass is subsiding.
The problems are defined as follows:
Pluvial or surface flooding overwhelms the drainage systems.
Fluvial or riverine flooding results from rivers destroying levees.
Storm surge and coastal flooding result
From hurricanes and tropical storms.
Coastal flooding results from high tides
Augmented by rising sea levels.
This latter type of flooding affects areas
Both inside and outside the levee system.
There are those who declare it all a hoax.
Some leaders are far from being empirical.
Many people have no idea of the word's meaning:
'To observe for evidence and thus to consider consequences.'
Will we ever free ourselves from this labyrinth,
This endless thoughtless maze?