Nagin: Entire City Will Soon Be Underwater

[kevin]

Hadn't given much thought to chemicals. Sorry about that. This will just complicate matters so much if its deemed toxic...

[TSmith274]

Yeah so..they flushed it into the waters that came right back into the city??

Ah, good point. Ya got me there.

[oneness]

You don't solve one catastrophe by creating another. (The red tide is a mirobiotic bloom, and you might just fertilise and magnify it a million fold)

[Spinner]

Wasnt trying to get you..just sucks a whole bunch. Ive been reporting a lot of the news Ive been getting from here and other places to the message board I run.

Members are from the hard hit areas..and they are ok. They left before hand but I really dont have anything good to tell them and it sucks.

[scostorms]

Ok, it's a little late. Is the city still filling up? I heard an additional 12 to 15 feet would come once the pump failed, and it did. Did the 12 to 15 feet come?

[artist]

It will be years before New Orleans is ever livable I am afraid - not a year but years.

[jasons2k]

Ok, it's a little late. Is the city still filling up? I heard an additional 12 to 15 feet would come once the pump failed, and it did. Did the 12 to 15 feet come?

Last I heard this morhing is that it is still filling up, but has not reached the additional 12-15 feet yet. The public water system is reaching the breaking point of recovery and may be 100% lost.

[Praxus]

I have to ask, is it worth rebuilding at the same location ? Couldn't this happen again quite easily, especially with the active hurricane cycle
presently ocurring ? Seems to me that they either need to spend billions upgrading the levee system to withstand another hit, or else rebuild on higher ground.

[djtil]

have to ask, is it worth rebuilding at the same location ?

considering 99.9% of the city isnt going to be "rebuilt", including the massive levee system, yes...the cleanup will be done in the same location.

[djtil]

not a year but years.

months.

[Persepone]

interesting read...

as for the future, left on its own she is right, nola would have no chance to economically get itself back.....but the fed govt isnt going to let nola die....washington will provide the funds to clean the city and rebuild the infrastructure and the spirit of the people will take care of the rest.

Not necessarily true.

"Washington will provide the funds..." No, Washington does not provide the funds. Taxpayers do. And to many it simply will not make sense to do so--or not for the city as it exists today. And I think they will let their lawmakers know this.

No, I don't think that means it will not be rebuilt "at all" but what is rebuilt will be very different, probably.

If NOLA is rebuilt, it will be because of the "spirit of the people" but from what we, outside the area are seeing on TV, that requires work. As harsh as it sounds, I had New Orleans on my vacation destination list--but even if we could turn the clock back and it were completely restored, etc. I'm sad to say that I have absolutely no desire to go there. And I think that I will not be alone in this. New Orleans did a terrible job with its tourists and just stranded them. Out of state students at Tulane and other universities were left without guidance, direction, etc. The just-arrived Freshmen were especially at risk. There would have been time to get these people out of the city had the evacuation been declared earlier.

As for New Orleans citizens, there seemed to be no effort to bus people out of NO before the hurricane struck. Apparently if you had medical issues, if you were poor, if you did not have a car, money to find shelter somewhere else, etc. there were no provisions to evacuate you. While the Superdome was the "shelter of last resort" there were no other resorts other than a car and cash. And note that there were no rental cars, etc. out of NOLA...

Rebuild a death trap with tax dollars? That will take some thought... But perhaps it is not a good idea. Perhaps some portions should be preserved sort of like a National Park or something--but not as it is today.

[shaner]

I have to ask, is it worth rebuilding at the same location ? Couldn't this happen again quite easily, especially with the active hurricane cycle
presently ocurring ? Seems to me that they either need to spend billions upgrading the levee system to withstand another hit, or else rebuild on higher ground.

Well, don't be so hasty. We're talking about a 400 year old city here. It's like saying L.A. or SanFran shuoldn't be rebuilt after a massive earthquake. The slightly positive thing about this is, they get to do it right this time.

[djtil]

again..this term "rebuilt"....in reality its "repair"........i could buy into this question of whether nola will be rebuilt...like its a serious question with 2 possible answers....if the levee system had been destroyed....but it wasnt, its 99.99% untouched.

the waters going to be pumped out, and in 2 weeks the question of "will nola be rebuilt" will sound foolish.

[MKT2005]

Any information on high high the flood waters are now in the city.

[krysof]

again..this term "rebuilt"....in reality its "repair"........i could buy into this question of whether nola will be rebuilt...like its a serious question with 2 possible answers....if the levee system had been destroyed....but it wasnt, its 99.99% untouched.

the waters going to be pumped out, and in 2 weeks the question of "will nola be rebuilt" will sound foolish.

Building is worthless, what if another hurricane comes there again, even in the same year, what is the point of rebuilding NO if it could happen again, just more money down the toilet, and the levee system has had serious problems, it was most definetely not untouched. If they want to rebuilt this city, they should do it somewhere above sea level or really improve the levee and pumping systems.

[cancunkid]

This got me thinking about chemicals we don't even think about that are highly toxic. I did a anywho search on New Orleans and got 270 hits under photography. Not something the average person considers toxic but the chemicals used to process photographs is highly toxic. I studied photography at a local college that after just a week of doing color processing (far more common and toxic than B & W) they shut it down because the toxic reading in the building were too high. Think about that list of things you are not supposed to dump in your trash at home. Heck just the batteries in peoples home ugh I would not want to have to wade into that water now much less a month from now. It is just horrible the long term effects people are looking at

[Mattie]

Well at least there is "good" news on the horizon. It is being reported that the flooding has stopped - water is not rising in other words - but on the backside of the guy from civil defense or wherever were these words - "there is another breach in the levy at such and such location". . .

[scostorms]

Like it has been mentioned, in 100 years (or even less) southern Louisiana will be gone into water. With last years, and this years, massive hurricanes, what is worst rebuilding in an unsafe city, even said the most unsafe city in the USA. I don't see the worst in wasting all the money to rebuild, to have it ruined again in future hurricanes. It is just plain stupid, so it's 400 years old. Cities don't last forever. Same for L.A. like someone mentioned, I don't see why after the next 9.0+ to devastate the area that they should even rebuild. Tornadoes, fine go ahead, but a constant cycle of mass disasters to take out whole cities every now and then is just too much. Rebuilding should be illegal. All those people are unsafe, even if they talk about evacuations it will just cost too much to rebuild. Same for New York City, I ain't living there with an increasing threat of Hurricanes. You'd never get out in an evacuation, and a lot of those houses are dodgy in the city.

[New Englander]

CNN just said the water is still rising

[gatorcane]

CNN just said the water is still rising

It's going to completely submerge it looks like