5 Bold Ideas For A Hurricane-Proof New Orleans

[lurkey]

5 Bold Ideas For A Hurricane-Proof New Orleans from Popular Science Magazine, Feb 2006

Why just rebuild the Crescent City when we can reinvent it? Here, the complete plan for riding out a category-5 storm

By Michael Behar | February 2006


By now you know that engineers had long predicted the cataclysmic flooding that struck New Orleans. But what you might not realize is that Katrina—a category-4 cyclone when it made landfall in Louisiana on August 29—was not the worst-case scenario. That would be a direct hit from a category-5 hurricane, which would send a storm surge over the city's levees and submerge New Orleans in minutes. Anyone who had ignored evacuation orders would drown.

New Orleans needs more protection than levees alone can offer. But in Louisiana, a comprehensive flood-control program had been repeatedly rebuffed—by environmentalists who fretted over the effects on ecosystems, by fishermen who feared for their livelihood, by engineers dead-locked over competing proposals, and by administrators who dismissed the plans as too expensive.

Katrina changed everything. All ideas—no matter how costly or farfetched—are back on the table. In the end, officials might opt for a Band-Aid approach. They shouldn't. Relying solely on patched-up old levees is like asking the U.S. Border Patrol to fend off a full-scale military invasion.
Shielding New Orleans will require an arsenal of technologies that work collectively. We consulted experts from around the world to identify five innovative solutions that together could provide a category-5 strength defense. Although such a system would entail a ground-up reengineering of New Orleans and much of its nearby coastline, the payoff is a city more defensible against nature's wrath than any other. Here's our vision for safeguarding the city. Read more ..

[MiamiensisWx]

The article is wrong. The worst scenario would be a major hurricane - not necessarily a rare Category Five - moving west of New Orleans or a direct hit from a storm of any strength coming from the east-southeast.

[gtalum]

I like the floating houses idea. I was thinking a bit more grandiose, though, like floating city blocks.

[TSmith274]

That's an interesting article. Ultimately, restoring the coast coupled with improving the levees is the answer here.

[MiamiensisWx]

I agree, TSmith274.

[ROCK]

I think you raise the outlying areas and build a sea wall.....Galveston did in 1900 why not NO

[Pearl River]

ROCK wrote

I think you raise the outlying areas and build a sea wall.....Galveston did in 1900 why not NO

ROCK I agree with you. Something definitely needs to be done. There is talk about doing something like that. But between the clowns in Washington and morons here in LA nothing will ever get done.

[wayoutfront]

ROCK wrote

I think you raise the outlying areas and build a sea wall.....Galveston did in 1900 why not NO

ROCK I agree with you. Something definitely needs to be done. There is talk about doing something like that. But between the clowns in Washington and morons here in LA nothing will ever get done.

errrr they could move to an area thats not under sea level, thats just a thought

[CajunMama]

Easier said than done, wayoutfront. There's alot of factors involved. Family and employment for one. Plus if you've called that area home for years or generations you have a strong emotional attachment to the area. Financially many are not able to up and move to a new location. This may never happen again in our lifetime. Would you ask someone who has been thru an earthquake or tornado to move? It's just a fact of life that potentially dangerous weather is going to possibly affect you wherever you live above sealevel or below it.

[Dionne]

Of the "5 Bold ideas".....only one is reasonable. Dividing the city with new levees. The lower elevations flood first. New Orleans cannot be rebuilt to survive a Cat 5. Concrete and steel structures built well above elevation along the Mississippi coast were destroyed.

Stop for a moment and imagine the scenario this coming season when any hurricane enters the northern GOM.

We are not Gods. There are simply some things we cannot and should not try to accomplish.

The viable answer is to move inland 20-30 miles. Alot of people already know that. A building permit at or below sea level is like a well aimed shot in the foot.

[ROCK]

Of the "5 Bold ideas".....only one is reasonable. Dividing the city with new levees. The lower elevations flood first. New Orleans cannot be rebuilt to survive a Cat 5. Concrete and steel structures built well above elevation along the Mississippi coast were destroyed.

Stop for a moment and imagine the scenario this coming season when any hurricane enters the northern GOM.

We are not Gods. There are simply some things we cannot and should not try to accomplish.

The viable answer is to move inland 20-30 miles. Alot of people already know that. A building permit at or below sea level is like a well aimed shot in the foot.

agreed....you can't keep MN out forever. She will find a way.....

[SouthFloridawx]

Sorry if it is a little political but, it is going ot cost over 1 billion to create something to protect one of our cities whatever idea ends of being used well it think it's well worth it epecially if people are just going to keep rebuilding there. Here is the political part... if we have spent over 400 Billion rebuilding iraq why can't we spend some money on our own country... I'm sure there are other cities that could use over 400 Billion and put it to good use.

[gtalum]

errrr they could move to an area thats not under sea level, thats just a thought

Since it's utterly unrealistic to expect most of New Orleans' and southeastern LA's population to move elsewhere, this idea must be discarded and others must be created.

[Derek Ortt]

How about do the intelligent thing, like Galveston did in 1900, where Houston became the major city. Make Baton Rouge the major city, with New Orleans a scaled down version of what it once was. A full reconstruction, IMO, is the stupidest thing in human history, as it will just be destroyed again in the future.

For those wondering, when Miami experiences its turn, I do not want it to be rebuilt eithe to current standards. Any reconstruction would have to be outside of the surge zones (I.E. Miami Beach and about a mile from Biscayne Bay), and be built to the Cyaman Code

[Pearl River]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. if Louisiana received it's share of the offshore oil royalties that other states receive, there would be no need for the government to fund any projects. LA could receive 2-3 billion dollars annually to repair coastal erosion and levees. It would not cost the taxpayers a penny.

Also, it's not just N.O. You have Plaquemines, St Bernard Parishes and the areas north of Lake Pontchartrain that also flooded. The infrastructure is not in place to handle that many people in Baton Rouge or other Parishes.

[ROCK]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. if Louisiana received it's share of the offshore oil royalties that other states receive, there would be no need for the government to fund any projects. LA could receive 2-3 billion dollars annually to repair coastal erosion and levees. It would not cost the taxpayers a penny.

Also, it's not just N.O. You have Plaquemines, St Bernard Parishes and the areas north of Lake Pontchartrain that also flooded. The infrastructure is not in place to handle that many people in Baton Rouge or other Parishes.

you got casinos, tourism...where does that money go??

[Dionne]

There isn't very much money (tax base) being created at this time. In Mississippi the casino money goes into education, The local income from tourism and it's tax base stays in the local and state funds. I recently visited a casino on the coast. It did not appear they were generating enough money to break even. Any possibility of taking oil royalty money and rebuilding the coast ....simply will not happen. There isn't enough money. Example....look at the Permanent Fund in Alaska.......30 years in the making and barely 1 billion. It's going to take billions to just get back on our feet. We have 2 homes and a small business in southern Mississippi......with insurance and savings.....we managed to put things back together. Now we're broke.

[Pearl River]

ROCK wrote

Pearl River wrote:
I've said it before and I'll say it again. if Louisiana received it's share of the offshore oil royalties that other states receive, there would be no need for the government to fund any projects. LA could receive 2-3 billion dollars annually to repair coastal erosion and levees. It would not cost the taxpayers a penny.

Also, it's not just N.O. You have Plaquemines, St Bernard Parishes and the areas north of Lake Pontchartrain that also flooded. The infrastructure is not in place to handle that many people in Baton Rouge or other Parishes.



you got casinos, tourism...where does that money go??

More than likely in the politicians pockets I don't know exactly, but I do know this. The state has to payback FEMA $152 million dollars as their portion of the Katrina cleanup and payouts to families.

[Recurve]

1. Close MR GO.
2. Flood gates where the drainage canals meet Lake Ponchartrain.
3. Coastal restoration. The canals dug for oil and gas companies helped destroy the wetlands that protected much of SE LA.
4. Elevated housing, as in the Keys and barrier islands, where housing was totally destroyed.
5. Well-built, engineered levees.

The best solution, though I haven't heard much about it, would be to fill the drainage canals that bring sea level deep into mid-city. Almost no flooding occurred at the lake levee. The canals bring sea level deep into some neighborhoods -- it's as if the Galveston sea wall had canals running through it into the neighborhoods. The canals are there to receive the water pumped from low areas, but they expose those areas far from the lake to storm surge.

To those who say "move New Orleans," get over it. It's a port city. Ports are at sea level, and often wind up lower than sea level over time because of subsidence. Remember, New Orleans is 90 miles upriver from the mouth of the Mississippi, and was protected by miles of dense coastal marsh. All of America has benefited from the oil, gas, and commerce that New Orleans made possible for the last 200 years, and it has suffered loss of its coastal marsh protection because of it. A big part of the Katrina disaster was because of the MR-GO breach, and the fact that the 17th street canal couldn't be closed off at the lakefront.

I was there for Mardi Gras this year. The city is coming back, though some areas are much worse than others. Don't write off New Orleans. The Katrina damage is widespread, but it didn't touch everything, and we aren't going to start erasing cities because they are vulnerable to natural disasters. I stayed at a house in New Orleans that's 12 feet above sea level -- higher than my elevation in Key Largo. I'd frankly feel safer living there than here if the levees are rebuilt and maintained and the erosion of the marsh is stopped and replenishment started.

Good luck to everyone who's suffered from Katrina.

[Dionne]

Recurve.....I'm impressed. Obviously you have done your homework.