blueeyes_austin wrote:They just had a meterorologist on WWL describing the situation. Turns out the flooding from the 17th Street Canal breech was being sucked out through the breech in the industrial canal and out into the River/Gulf.
That's now stopped, and the remaining water is collecting down in a low area in the CBD, where the Superbowl is.
Sounds like Uptown and the Quarter may be saved after all. If the can keep Orleans eastbank in decent nick, that would be a HUGE step towards recovery.
I honestly think you are missing the big picture entirely here. Looters and lawbreakers have probably broken windows in most buildings in those areas, others have damage and broken windows from the hurricane. Doors likely have been broken open in many cases. These places will be empty for months, and little air will cycle through the buildings without powered ventilation. In two week's time the mold spore counts will be absolutely through the roof. Nature will rapidly start to reclaim the city as it's own. And that's in the places that haven't seen street flooding.
The places that have been flooded, even just a few inches into the buildings, will likely have to be stripped to the frames or torn down to rebuild. Many if not nearly all of the other structures will as well. The flooded steel-framed skyscrapers, many of which have huge numbers of broken windows, will have to be stripped to bare metal, and rusting will have to be stopped or cut out of the structural steel before the buildings are refurbished.
Every single home or business or other building in the city will have to be thoroughly inspected, one by one, before being reconnected to the city utilities. Many businesses if not most will not attempt to rebuild. Many, if not most of the residents won't return if they have no real prospects for employment, or if their families choose not to return, or they have nothing to return for other than the hoped-for revival of the city. For the forseeable near-term future, New Orleans will be a ghost town or close to it.
New Orleans can try to reclaim the atmosphere it had, but it can never be close to the same.