MartiniPundit

New Orleans in Ivan’s Path

Paul over at Wizbang writes about what could happen to New Orleans in the case of a direct hit:

For those who don’t know, New Orleans is a bowl and, for all practical purposes, an island. We have Lake Pontchartrain to the north and the Mississippi river to the south. The east and west are water too.

Most of the city is below sea level. Over the last century we have surrounded the city by 10-12 foot earthen levees and installed some of the most massive pumps in the world. We can, unlike most cities, laugh at 24 inches of rain in 24 hours.—As long as it comes at the rate of an inch per hour. We simply pump the water out and go on with our lives.

Within these earthen walls live about a million people. In the city itself especially, many of the residents are poor and lack adequate transportation to evacuate. We have always known there was a fatal flaw in our hurricane defense. If the fabled “Big One” ever hit New Orleans we were in big trouble.

The scenario goes like this:

The tidal surge will top the levees and the bowl will fill from river to lake. The studies say that if we took a direct hit from a category 4 or 5 storm, a city of one million people could be under as much as 30 feet of water. According to the experts there could be over 50,000 dead. What’s more, since we would have to pump the water out the bowl, they say the city could be underwater for as long as 10 months.

He’s praying.  Maybe we all should.

1. I was in NOLA in the 90s for Jazz Fest when a sudden storm hit the city.  They were hit by something like 15 inches of rain in a few hours. The pumps on the levee broke because it was just coming too fast.  I watched the entire city fill with water (up to my chest!)in about an hour and it took several days to clear out.

   After living that, I’m terrified of what could happen in one of my all time favorite cities during a really massive storm. 

   My thoughts are with them.

   Posted by  on  09/15  at  09:52 AM

2. As are mine.  One wonders what was going through the heads of those who started a city with a below sea level location.  I forget who was first, the French or Spanish (I think the Spanish) but they really could have chosen better.

   Posted by David  on  09/15  at  10:43 AM

3. Glad to see the Big Easy was spared.  What would we be without that big debauched party just before Lent.

   Posted by David  on  09/16  at  09:52 AM

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