It's time to face the facts folks

[vbhoutex]

New Orleans will be back with all of it's beauty, grandeur, and charm. Every one has different views of this situation. One can take a positive approach or a defeated approach. This thread is about a defeated approach. I use a different avenue. I absolutely assure everyone that the entire Gulf Coast region will be back and will be better than before. Humanity will survive in this region and so will the wonderful life this region affords millions, daily, who, with pride, call this area of the United States home. And I am as proud as ever to call New Orleans home. It is the most beautiful city in the US and has been through trying times before in it's 300 year history. It will be back sooner than many think.

The MS coast is decimated also. It has been decimated before by Camille in 1969. I swore then that I could not see how the MS coast would ever recover. It did and then some. It will again.

NO, I realize is a different matter, a much different matter, but Sean's and other NO area members attitudes at least gives hope. There are some HUGE hurdles to overcome, but it can be done.

[NC George]

Almost half of US gasoline conversion from oil takes place in Greater New Orleans.

The 8 gasoline refineries that are out of comission right now represent 12% of total capacity, not 50%.

[charley]

Wrong. Miami could be susceptible to something very similiar if a Cat. 5 moved directly over it and then stalled. Miami is surrounded by the Everglades and Lake Okeechobee. We all SAW Houston flood in a Tropical Storm named Allison, GET REAL!

Lake Okeechobee is nowhere NEAR "surrounding" Miami! The levees in New Orleans hold BACK Lake Pontrarchain, and Lake Okeechobee is more than 50 miles away from Miami ~ absolutely no similarity here. There's no threat to Miami from the Lake. Check a map.

[Kelarie]

Eh, it "could" be rebuilt, and after a bazillion of our tax dollars, I bet they do just that. It's basically free money, and it's "owed", right?

Individual responsibility and accountability are long dead in the minds of many educators, politicians and those in the media. Just look at all the defending being done as to why people just didn't get out of there when they were warned to do so. They also now justify the looting and anarchy. They are trying to fan the flame of racial division for political gain as well. Unlike NO, their arguments do not hold water when tested.

So I think that they will rebuild, and that this will happen again.

Isn't the definition of insanity is when you do the same thing over and over and expect a different result?

You are exactly right. It is also called a learning disability.

[GalvestonDuck]

Eh, it "could" be rebuilt, and after a bazillion of our tax dollars, I bet they do just that. It's basically free money, and it's "owed", right?

Individual responsibility and accountability are long dead in the minds of many educators, politicians and those in the media. Just look at all the defending being done as to why people just didn't get out of there when they were warned to do so. They also now justify the looting and anarchy. They are trying to fan the flame of racial division for political gain as well. Unlike NO, their arguments do not hold water when tested.

So I think that they will rebuild, and that this will happen again.

Isn't the definition of insanity is when you do the same thing over and over and expect a different result?

Hey, now...we rebuilt.

So, I must be insane.

[arcticfire]

New Orleans will be rebuilt with the rest of the countries tax dollars. In a week or so when the humanitarian horror has abaited a bit the bleeding hearts will be out in force to spend the rest of our contries tax dollars.

I have no issue with them using gov money (something like 500million per day right now) to save lives and help people survive. Where I get really ticked off is this assumption the rest of the country should suffer because people of that city refuse to build it someplace above sea level.

[terstorm1012]

I agree with Sean. We will rebuild a city that is better than ever.

Giving up is beyond lame. Americans don't just give up. As I'm sitting here typing this I'm looking for urban planning jobs down South in Louisiana so I can help rebuild one of the greatest cities on Earth. It can, and will, be redone.

If the Dutch can live below sea level (and they've rebuilt and reclaimed their land after EVERY flood) then so can we. This is America. We can do it.

What also needs to be done is the reconstruction of the marshlands south and east of the city.

Galveston rebuilt. San Fransisco rebuilt. Chicago rebuilt. South Dade Co. rebuilt (and there too they considered walling off all of South Dade and just letting the Everglades reclaim it.) City after city in this great nation has seen catastrophe, and risen above the ashes or waters. The South was totally destroyed in the Civil War, and it rose again. So too will New Orleans.

[inotherwords]

Technically New Orleans will not rise again. It's sinking a little bit more every year. It might be rebuilt but it will not "rise."

[terstorm1012]

metaphor. Way to be pedantic.

[arcticfire]

I agree with Sean. We will rebuild a city that is better than ever.

Giving up is beyond lame. Americans don't just give up. As I'm sitting here typing this I'm looking for urban planning jobs down South in Louisiana so I can help rebuild one of the greatest cities on Earth. It can, and will, be redone.

If the Dutch can live below sea level (and they've rebuilt and reclaimed their land after EVERY flood) then so can we. This is America. We can do it.

What also needs to be done is the reconstruction of the marshlands south and east of the city.

Galveston rebuilt. San Fransisco rebuilt. Chicago rebuilt. South Dade Co. rebuilt (and there too they considered walling off all of South Dade and just letting the Everglades reclaim it.) City after city in this great nation has seen catastrophe, and risen above the ashes or waters. The South was totally destroyed in the Civil War, and it rose again. So too will New Orleans.

Sea levels are only rising , you don't "reconstruct" marshlands. New Orleans has been being reclaimed by the ocean for decades now , it's only a matter of time till the ocean wins. Rebuilding is pointless and a stupid waste of everyone elses money. Rebuild the city up north , build a new port thats not supported by a city that can drown in a moments notice.

[ncbird]

All I have to say about the thought of NOLA being rebuilt is

[terstorm1012]

All I have to say about the thought of NOLA being rebuilt is

[themusk]

Sections of the city are in tolerable shape, and the port is of great value. New Orleans will live on. But I don't think it will ever be the city it once was. Many residents, after this experience, will never return, few tourists will return, and public and private financing to build in the devastated areas will be difficult to impossible to come by. The city will most likely be a much smaller port city, and perhaps "little New Orleans" neighborhoods, full of former NO residents trying to preserve New Orleans culture, will appear in cities around the country.

Note: this is not what my heart wants. This is what my intellect tells me. Indianola this is not, but Galveston it is.

[ncbird]

themusk I for one hope what you say turns out wrong. Not that you are wrong, but I want to hold hope for what was such a beautiful and cultural city (At least what I saw of it). I for one would love to be able to one day take my grandchildren there and show them the wonderful culture of the area and its people. I truely hope they get all the experts together and come up with a way to rebuild the great city of NOLA with some kind of protection from flooding so this never happen again.

[Thunder44]

Some people never learn. It's like people who live in flood prone or quake prone areas. Too much human pride and not enough respect for mother nature. NO will probably be rebuilt again as long as these people are determined to live there. But only to suffer death and destruction again and again. If you build a city below sea level along the coast you are asking for a disaster, period.

[SouthernWx]

What happens if it's Houston or Miami with a direct hit with this power and magnitude? Do we shut them down, as well?

I agree with your statement 100%....

Katrina and New Orleans is catastrophic.......IMO a large 150+ mph cat-4/5 into Miami-Fort Lauderdale would be even worse; at least on an economic level. I'm not joking when I state a direct hit by a large cat-5 into Miami-Fort Lauderdale could jolt the U.S. economy into a depression......100+ billion in damage would likely force many leading insurance companies into bankruptcy.

A hurricane the size and intensity of Katrina slamming into Tampa Bay or Houston-Galveston would also cause extreme damage and suffering in those metro areas....possibly as bad as what we're witnessing in New Orleans. We've been very fortunate in this country for a very long time......because the extreme intensity hurricanes (145 mph+) have all managed to avoid direct hits on major population areas.....at least since the rapid population buildup along the U.S. coast began in 1970. IMHO, what we're witnessing in New Orleans and Gulfport/Biloxi today is only a preview of what we'll someday witness in Houston/ Galveston, Tampa Bay, and Miami-Fort Lauderdale

PW

[caribepr]

Sections of the city are in tolerable shape, and the port is of great value. New Orleans will live on. But I don't think it will ever be the city it once was. Many residents, after this experience, will never return, few tourists will return, and public and private financing to build in the devastated areas will be difficult to impossible to come by. The city will most likely be a much smaller port city, and perhaps "little New Orleans" neighborhoods, full of former NO residents trying to preserve New Orleans culture, will appear in cities around the country.

Note: this is not what my heart wants. This is what my intellect tells me. Indianola this is not, but Galveston it is.

Funny you should mention tourists. I've met some here in only the last few days who can't wait for things in NO to be back to *normal* so they can go to Mardi Gras. People are funny...while reality and desire may have a stretch of land between them, desire can make a lot of things happen when reality seems to have no bearing. All of these prognoses...in the midst of what I can only term insanity (based on very skewed sanity of a political stripe where I will not go here), will shift and change and be re-formed as time goes by.
If at the bottom line, your anger is that your tax dollars will be spent rebuilding what you believe untenable to build...stop paying taxes on such things...god knows what your tax dollars are paying for right this minute that you might quibble with if you broke it down...but that would be...research...and work. Never mind.

[jpigott]

What happens if it's Houston or Miami with a direct hit with this power and magnitude? Do we shut them down, as well?

I agree with your statement 100%....

Katrina and New Orleans is catastrophic.......IMO a large 150+ mph cat-4/5 into Miami-Fort Lauderdale would be even worse; at least on an economic level. I'm not joking when I state a direct hit by a large cat-5 into Miami-Fort Lauderdale could jolt the U.S. economy into a depression......100+ billion in damage would likely force many leading insurance companies into bankruptcy.

A hurricane the size and intensity of Katrina slamming into Tampa Bay or Houston-Galveston would also cause extreme damage and suffering in those metro areas....possibly as bad as what we're witnessing in New Orleans. We've been very fortunate in this country for a very long time......because the extreme intensity hurricanes (145 mph+) have all managed to avoid direct hits on major population areas.....at least since the rapid population buildup along the U.S. coast began in 1970. IMHO, what we're witnessing in New Orleans and Gulfport/Biloxi today is only a preview of what we'll someday witness in Houston/ Galveston, Tampa Bay, and Miami-Fort Lauderdale

PW

i'm not quite so sure a cat5 into Mia-Ft.Lauderdale would be as bad from a damage standpoint simply b/c the Atlantic coast is less prone to storm surge damage compared to the Gulf coast. I don't know if the surge would come far enough inland to have the same kind of effect on downtown Mia/FtLauderdale as the levee break in NO has had.

[mahicks]

Personally I think that no rebuilding on the coast should be done below the surge line.

I agree, but not for the flooding.

I agree because it would give us back a piece of mother nature that our parents and grand parents only speak of........A scenic coastline.

[Indystorm]

New Orleans will be back with all of it's beauty, grandeur, and charm. Every one has different views of this situation. One can take a positive approach or a defeated approach. This thread is about a defeated approach. I use a different avenue. I absolutely assure everyone that the entire Gulf Coast region will be back and will be better than before. Humanity will survive in this region and so will the wonderful life this region affords millions, daily, who, with pride, call this area of the United States home. And I am as proud as ever to call New Orleans home. It is the most beautiful city in the US and has been through trying times before in it's 300 year history. It will be back sooner than many think.

Sean, glad your home Uptown is fine. Have you heard about St. Charles Avenue by Tulane and the beautiful oaks by Audubon Park?


I agree Sean, what a bunch of hyped defeatism. If Hiroshima and Nagasaki, two much more contaminated and devasted cities could be rebuilt after WW2, so can New Orleans. New Orleans is not completely destroyed or flooded, the media is making it seem as if the entire city is gone and that is a LIE. I have some extended family involved in the Coast Guard rescues and the report is that those places moslty on the east side that are severly flooded are the main trouble spots and that the rest of New Orleans is mostly a matter of regaining Civil Control. Of course the media draws numbers of viewers by finding and focusing on the bad and so the American public is left with thoughts that the city is GONE. They must shoot these Thugs and Troublemakers on the spot and regain control, the problem is POLITICAL CORRECTNESS!

My home sits fine with little or no damage. Both of my vehicles are fine, but stuck in a private, enclosed garage that requires electricity to get the vehicles out. It just requires patience.