Not Just New Orleans--Very Precarious in Most of SE La.

[Berwick Bay]

Most of you have already witnessed conversations about the future of New Orleans and its viability as a city (below sealevel, effects of coastal erosion etc...). But when talking about the La. Coast, its not just New Orleans. We saw the effects of Rita in low-lying Cameron and Vermillion Parishes in SW La. But that example is not as good as this one. I'm speaking of Terrebonne Parish in SE La. about 50-60 miles SW of New Orleans. Hurricane protection there is hopelessly out of sync with the present situation of coastal erosion and sinking land. And this is not Tampa Bay either, which hasn't seen a direct hurricane strike since 1921! Also, Houma-Terrebonne has a significant population (must be well over 100,000 people now). Terrebonne Parish will once again be "under the gun" this year, both in terms of potential strike by a hurricane, and the incredible storm surge which would likely result in the event of a tropical cyclone. Here's a good overview from today's Sunday paper.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/815141 ... wAll=y&c=y

[canetracker]

Fixing the levees and or adding levee protection to our many vulneralbe areas is a fix but not a permanent solution. Unless, we restore the loss of the coastal marshlands, we are in trouble. I fish quite often both in the marshes and out in the more open waters. I have personally seen how our protective marshlands are being eroded away. Until we stop hearing talk about marshland restoration and see some action, none of us in La. are really safe.
If we do see another major hit this year or in the years to come, it could devastate La. for many many years to come.

[MONTEGUT_LA]

I agree that Terrebonne Parish can be washed away. According to the surge map below, a cat 1 hurricane would put most of Terrebonne under water. With Hurricane Rita, we seen places that didn't flood before go under. Places, we would or may a say used to call high ground. If a major storm were to hit, my family who all live in southren part of the parish would have to find another to live. Rita put 3 feet of water in my home. Rita made lanfall some 200 miles away. There was people saying Rita was not going to affect us. Many of my friends and neighbors stay home to ride it out. If Rita would have made landfall in Morgan City, those who stay wouldhave lost not only their life but their children's life.
We are still trying to recover from storm.

View the map

[T-man]

Parts of lower Jefferson Parish are without the benefit of any type of hurricane protection. That's right, no levees, folks. Grand Isle, and parts of lower Lafitte are at the mercy of the rising tides. We don't have the population in lower Jefferson that Terrebonne Parish has, but as the crow flies, we are closer to the open water. I would have to agree that coastal restoration and the rebuilding of our barrier islands should be the first steps to saving our wetlands and providing the coastal communities with some small degree of safety.

[TheShrimper]

IF, IF, IF, I always hear this "if" factored into the equation. If "if" bothers you, you shouldn't be living where you may be in harms way. You accept the potential complications dealing with inhabiting flood prone areas. I am like you, where I live is 3 ft. above sea level. I am aware what will eventually happen, it's a given, it is going to take place. There should be no crying "if" it happens...no, when it happens. Quit crying, we all live where we choose to, and with that, we live with the consequences. "If" may not happen this year , 5, 10, 20 years from now, but it will and there shouldn't be any outcry from those affected.

[skufful]

IF, IF, IF, I always hear this "if" factored into the equation. If "if" bothers you, you shouldn't be living where you may be in harms way. You accept the potential complications dealing with inhabiting flood prone areas. I am like you, where I live is 3 ft. above sea level. I am aware what will eventually happen, it's a given, it is going to take place. There should be no crying "if" it happens...no, when it happens. Quit crying, we all live where we choose to, and with that, we live with the consequences. "If" may not happen this year , 5, 10, 20 years from now, but it will and there shouldn't be any outcry from those affected.

Yep, and don't expect the federal government to bail us out like all of the folks without flood insurance in NO. I can promise you that if a hurricane wipes out our area, we won't whine about the lack of flood insurance, we're not stupid.

[TSmith274]

I just wish I could articulate on a message board what I saw this weekend. The Empire jettie area at the GOM in Plaquemines Parish made me sick. Some may remember... I just finished rebuilding my place down there. So, I went fishing. It is truly sickening... the amount of costal erosion that has taken place in that area. It is truly an emergency for S. Louisiana. I just wish there were a way to make other people in this country understand the magnitude of the erosion on our coast. But, I cant do it justice.

[Berwick Bay]

Its a true state of emergency in almost all of SE La. (but like one poster said Lafourche may be somewhat better off) and in parts of SW La. You're right, I don't know how many people in the rest of the country realize just how "precarious" our situation is, here in La. Many think "well thats New Orleans, its below sealevel anyway". True, but Houma, La. is well inland (20-25 miles or so) and is not below sealevel. There's just no longer anything left beneath Houma to provide any protection. The marsh is mostly gone, and Houma has been sinking. The guy who runs the levee system there in Terrebonne Parish is recommending total evacuation of Houma, in the event of a near passage of a Cat 2 Hurricane!! Not Cat 4, Cat 2!. Worse, even after katrina, I don't know if the general population of Houma is really aware of the situation.

[Derek Ortt]

Terrebone took a direct hit from Andrew in 1992.

However, very fortunate for them was the fact that Andrew came in at a very actue angle (like Elena in Mississippi). Had it have come directly in, the surge would have been close to 20 feet (and it may have been the one to retain cat 4 status until landfall)

[zoeyann]

The good thing is people in the southern parts of Terrebonne now know how vurnable we are, and are taking measures to protect property. Houses are being elevated all over the place. It won't protect against everything, but with no levees it is everyones best chance against flooding.

[Dean4Storms]

This is true of anyplace that gets repeatedly struck by Hurricanes. If you live within 50 miles of any coast that is threatened by the Atlantic Tropical Hurricanes and it has not dawned on you that one day a hurricane could wipe it all away then you've been very naive'.

LA has brought many of its problems onto itself by neglect, politics and the borrowing of too much time.

[MGC]

TheShrimper is right. I'm currently in a lull at my place between major hurricanes. Don't know when the next one will hit but it will one day. I live here by choise and I don't cry when the wind and water does it thing....MGC