Katrina - Has America Forgotten?

[T-man]

We spent 5 billion restoring the marsh.


In Iraq.



Don't you think we owe it to ourselves as Americans to restore the marshlands in our own country, an area that provides not only oil and gas, but 20 percent of the nation's seafood? I do, but of course, I am biased. I live on the bayou.

[gtalum]

No it doesn't. If you say that then you are saying everytime it rains it will flood.

No, I'm saying that there is a 100% chance that sometimne in the future New Orleans will flood in the path of a hurricane again. I didn't add a time condition to my statement.

[sunny]

[quote="melhow]Huh? It's not like asking for help rebuilding a town hit by a tornado, or a community affected by fire or localized flooding. You are asking people to fund the rebuilding of a city of millions that will more than likely face the same fate again and again and again. Would you invest in a company who goes bankrupt every couple of years? Not me. But like I said, I'm in FL not NOLA, so what do I know...[/quote]

And??? It's not like we asked for help only 10 years ago, is it? Why should we not be allowed to ask for help?

[MiamiensisWx]

Well, even if it IS doom and gloom, we won't go down without a wise, good ol' fight!

[CajunMama]

You haven't figured it out yet T-man? We're not important to anyone

[SouthFloridawx]

You haven't figured it out yet T-man? We're not important to anyone

When we need seafood and oil you are.

[HurryKane]

It should be obvious to any reasonable person that NOLA is not a safe place to live anymore.

You do realize that some sections of NOLA did not flood and are just fine, or are only* repairing wind damage, right? One-third or so of the residents are back and having a merry old time when they take a break from helping others rebuild.

Just curious, because I don't know...who paid to rebuild the parts of the Bay area that went kaboom during the '89 Loma Prieta quake?


* "only" being a relative term

[melhow]

You know you stand a much much higher chance of getting in a car wreck than NO does flooding again. Have you quit driving yet?

Car wrecks are two cars...15 tops, if there's fog or something. Last census of just NOLA proper was 484,674. That's bad odds.

[sunny]

You know you stand a much much higher chance of getting in a car wreck than NO does flooding again. Have you quit driving yet?

Car wrecks are two cars...15 tops, if there's fog or something. Last census of just NOLA proper was 484,674. That's bad odds.

Then you have a lot to learn about us Luzianne folks, don't you? We WILL beat the odds. And when it is said and done we will have something to be very proud of.

[Pearl River]

Mississippi and Louisiana are the 2 of the top 3 states when it comes to giving to help others. I believe Texas is #2. If it wasn't for the levee failure, N.O. would have made it with no problems, but they did fail.

Homestead stands as much of a chance at getting devestated again as does N.O. Everyone from Brownsville to Maine has that chance.

Let's not rebuild L.A. if there is a devestating earthquake there, or Ok. City if another F-5 tornado hits again. People that love those places will return and rebuild and it will be done with taxpayer money. Get over the fact that people want to return and live again in New Orleans. It's our home and heritage.

[SouthFloridawx]

It should be obvious to any reasonable person that NOLA is not a safe place to live anymore.

You do realize that some sections of NOLA did not flood and are just fine, or are only* repairing wind damage, right? One-third or so of the residents are back and having a merry old time when they take a break from helping others rebuild.

Just curious, because I don't know...who paid to rebuild the parts of the Bay area that went kaboom during the '89 Loma Prieta quake?


* "only" being a relative term

This is true. Let me ask you this question then. What if we did not rebuild around the areas that were damaged by flooding? What if they waited until the levee's were rebuilt to the proper specifications? All people who owned a home or business would have the right to come back in when the levee's were finished and rebuild.

[melhow]

Mississippi and Louisiana are the 2 of the top 3 states when it comes to giving to help others. I believe Texas is #2. If it wasn't for the levee failure, N.O. would have made it with no problems, but they did fail.

Homestead stands as much of a chance at getting devestated again as does N.O. Everyone from Brownsville to Maine has that chance.

Let's not rebuild L.A. if there is a devestating earthquake there, or Ok. City if another F-5 tornado hits again. People that love those places will return and rebuild and it will be done with taxpayer money. Get over the fact that people want to return and live again in New Orleans. It's our home and heritage.

Ok, then I propose that the people who return to NOLA with taxpayer assistance be landowners, not renters, so they have a vested interest in the property.

[CajunMama]

You know you stand a much much higher chance of getting in a car wreck than NO does flooding again. Have you quit driving yet?

Car wrecks are two cars...15 tops, if there's fog or something. Last census of just NOLA proper was 484,674. That's bad odds.

Well goooooolleeeee....i guess you've never heard of single car accidents...there are plenty of them. But it takes just the 1 car to cause and accident no matter how many are involved.

Oh and btw when people talk about NO they're not just talking about orleans parish...it's a generic term for the entire area, chalmette in st. bernard parish included.

[sunny]

Mississippi and Louisiana are the 2 of the top 3 states when it comes to giving to help others. I believe Texas is #2. If it wasn't for the levee failure, N.O. would have made it with no problems, but they did fail.

Homestead stands as much of a chance at getting devestated again as does N.O. Everyone from Brownsville to Maine has that chance.

Let's not rebuild L.A. if there is a devestating earthquake there, or Ok. City if another F-5 tornado hits again. People that love those places will return and rebuild and it will be done with taxpayer money. Get over the fact that people want to return and live again in New Orleans. It's our home and heritage.

Ok, then I propose that the people who return to NOLA with taxpayer assistance be landowners, not renters, so they have a vested interest in the property.

Then we should propose that everywhere. And by the way, I am a renter and returned at my own expense.

[T-man]

I own two homes here in Louisiana. I have homeowner's and flood insurance for each of them, pay taxes on each of them. I returned after evacuation on my own dime.

I would like to see some wrongs righted. It's gonna cost some money. Don't send it to me; spend it where it is needed most, restoring marshlands and barrier islands and protecting people living behind levees designed to withstand much greater forces than that which caused them to fail. That's all.

[JTD]

Brian Williams in New Orleans read a e-mail from a viewer in North Dakota saying that North Dakota had disasters that were just as major as the one in New Orleans.

THAT particular e-mail/comment has since circulated all over the internet. One clown not realizing I was New Orleans native sent a copy to me, and for obvious reasons I will refrain from telling you the reply they got. Suffice it to say the analogy was pathetic, the reasoning twisted, and the tenor BIGOTED in the extreme. A2K

A2K, I just want to make it clear that I posted that because I found it offensive as well and entirely off the mark. I hope that you didn't take it to mean that I agreed with it. Obviously from reading my posts, you must know I absolutely take the opposite position.

[Pearl River]

Most people that lost their home's were owner's, not renter's. Most of those home's had been in families for generations. Slidell was another place flooded. My dad lost everything HE OWNED house included, plus business property.

By the way. Actress Jayne Mansfield died in a 1 car accident is near the Rigolets between Slidell and New Orleans. That's a 1 car accident

[webke]

I have been reading the various posts and I think that many of us forget that many of the populated areas of the country can be affected by natural disasters. Eathquakes can affect the cities of California, the mid west, the Charleston SC area to name a few, tornados continually cause damage in the nation, and while the people that live there know that a disaster can happen at any time, they continue to stay an rebuild. New Orleans should be allowed the same chance as other affected areas. When the federal government provides assistance to any area the taxpayer is footing the bill, this time it happened to be a very large bill, but New Orleans deserves the chance to rebuild also. The next time it could be another major city, and I hope for that cities sake that the American public will provide the assistance they have provided to the people of New Orleans. The job I am sure can be done better than it has been, but that is how we learn to do it better next time. Let's not forget the anger and disappointment that was present in florida after Andrew.

[melhow]

By the way. Actress Jayne Mansfield died in a 1 car accident is near the Rigolets between Slidell and New Orleans. That's a 1 car accident

Not to get nit-picky, but she hit a semi. That's two cars (well, a truck and a car)

Point was initally anyways that comparing car wreck odds to an entire city is skewed.

BTW, I get that there can be one car accidents. Trust me, I and my numerous auto insurance carriers paid for a few in college.

[Steve]

>>It's like living at the base of a volcano that's venting steam and gas. Come on folks, don't kid yourselves.

Okay, so that's a problem here. What about Seattle and the threat from both volcanic activity and potential tsunamis? And then let's move onto Los Angeles, the rest of coastal California and add in earthquakes. Then let's talk about the Rocky Mt. states and their propensity to burn in thunderstorms. And okay, what about the midwest and tornado alley? The river floods, severe weather sometimes takes out a subdivision or two. Gulf Coast? Outside of SE LA, everyone else is at a threat from hurricanes as well as giant meteors falling into the gulf and causing tsunamis from that. Ditto for the entire Eastern Seaboard. And what about the lovely state of Florida? You've got wildfires, you've got hurricane threats, you have severe weather issues as fronts often stall across the I-4 Corridor, you have threats from tsunamis and certainly from giant meteors. And while we're at it, everything from Little Rock to practically Nashivlle (centered around Memphis, TN) is on a major fault - the New Madrid - which if it breaks, will pale anything that happened from Katrina.

So if we get rid of the population in all these areas, maybe most people can move into Colorado and Wyoming if we can find a way to irrigate those areas so that the potential for wildfires is lessened. What do you think?

Hey Melhow:

>>Not so sure about that:

It's all relative
1947 - $100,000,000
1965 - Some billions, what 20? And houses back then were still made of cypress and other materials that didn't rot like sheetrock and cheap lumber does.
1995 - $1 billion

Katrina? Officially in the $70 Billions. Unofficially? Who knows.
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Generator Power: That's all I've got to say. Here's to hoping that people CHOOSE to leave NOLA on their own for higher ground. Here's to hoping that folks on the MGC make plans for another 30FT surge. Don't build anything on the shoreline that you can't stand to lose one day.

We can't find our culture in other southern hamlets or cheezy "new south" metropolises. We don't import culture, we are culture. Better than abandoning a city that gives more back than probably every other city represented on this forum combined is to protect it. New Orleans, whether you are a native or not, is all of our city. It's America. If we can protect oil fields in foreign countries, we can protect America. And what can't be protected, increased flood premiums will be in effect. I already paid $1,750 for last year's coverage. I'm sure whenever we fix the house, it's gonna be higher.
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Melhow: Ok, I'll use Homestead as an example. You know what homestead isn't? It's not below sea-level.

You know what else Homestead isn't? It's not on the map if not for Hurricane Andrew. It's just another suburban area in a homogenous country. It's not the City of Miami. It's not Charleston. Hell, it's not even Metairie.

>>Sun, I hope that the NOLA taxpayers like yourself are ready and able to fund the effort.

Well we already pay more than our fair share and have sacrificed out livelihoods and coastline to supply you people with energy. What does Largo, FL do for the rest of the country? This isn't some sleepy vacation spot where your state won't even allow you to drill for oil because your beaches might get spoiled. You don't really give much back to the rest of the country. We provide massive amounts of energy and massive amounts of seafood. And we suffered because in part, when the oil was pumped out on land, the ground sunk. Also as canals were cut criss-crossing the delta, they allowed saltwater intrusion which killed the marshes and the protection they afforded. We are a working coast, not a vacation coast. And the same problem is happening all up and down the bayou communities of Terrebonne, Lafourche and St. Mary Parishes. As the salt water continues to infuse into the bayous, whole communities are being slowly wiped out. If you drive down some of those highways, all you can see are the trunks and branches of oak trees that have stood forever. Now they're poisoned by the salt and are either dead or near dead. It doesn't stop there, but I'm going to.
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>>Not exactly. New Orleans has a 100% chance of flooding again. It's just a matter of when.

And Sarasota will one day be wiped off the map from a Cat 5. So will Bradenton. Maybe you'll expect us to be as sympathetic as you were then? Thing is, we probably will be.
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>>Most people that lost their home's were owner's

Check. And all our stuff. Check. And in my case, I've been fortunately able, on my own dime, to spend all of 2 weeks with my children since September 6th when they flew to New York.

Thanks for all the kind words and understanding out there. I'm not wishing this back on any of you and won't beat you down when it happens. But if you're trolling, and it ain't for shrimp, then you know what you can kiss.

Steve