IN HARM'S WAY

[sunny]

This is the first page of a special report on New Orleans and hurricanes. Very interesting. I am attaching the link to the rest of the report - it's long. nola.com

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/?/washingaway/part1.html

IN HARM'S WAY
By John McQuaid and Mark Schleifstein
Staff writers

On the night of Aug. 10, 1856, a powerful hurricane struck Last Island off the southern tip of Terrebonne Parish. The sea rose in the darkness and trapped hundreds of summer vacationers visiting the popular resort. Wind-driven waves 8 feet high raked the island and tore it in two.

LAST ISLAND'S WALTZ
As hotel guests waltzed away the night, gale winds began whipping outside. The next morning, the guests awoke to a hellish fury.
Click for photos/maps
By morning, everything standing upright was broken, splintered and washed away, including all of the island's trees, its casinos, a hotel and the summer homes of wealthy New Orleans families. More than 200 people died. Many were crushed and others drowned after being struck by wreckage in the maelstrom.

Claire Rose Champagne's great-great-grandmother Amelie Voisin and a baby daughter were among those lost in the storm. Other family members survived and eventually abandoned Last Island — today the Isles Dernieres archipelago — for Dulac, a fishing village 30 miles inland up Bayou Grand Caillou. But there was no escape from the storms, which have followed the family inland over five generations.

In 1909, Champagne's fisherman grandfather was out at sea when another hurricane lashed the Louisiana coast with 110-mph winds that propelled a 10-foot wave of water through Dulac.

"My grandmother and (her) children were left at home and saved themselves by climbing into the attic of the house," she said. "Forty people tied ropes to the house and to two oak trees, then all stayed in the attic — women and children and some men. After the hurricane the government sent some tents for people to live in." Her grandfather made it back alive, but about 350 people along the coast died in the storm.

Hurricanes are a common heritage for Louisiana residents, who until the past few decades had little choice in facing a hurricane but to ride it out and pray.

Today, billions of dollars worth of levees, sea walls, pumping systems and satellite hurricane tracking provide a comforting safety margin that has saved thousands of lives.

But modern technology and engineering mask an alarming fact: In the generations since those storms menaced Champagne's ancestors, south Louisiana has been growing more vulnerable to hurricanes, not less.

Sinking land and chronic coastal erosion — in part the unintended byproducts of flood-protection efforts — have opened dangerous new avenues for even relatively weak hurricanes and tropical storms to assault areas well inland.

"There's no doubt about it," said Windell Curole, general manager of the South Lafourche Levee District, who maintains a hurricane levee that encircles Bayou Lafourche from Larose to the southern tip of Golden Meadow. "The biggest factor in hurricane risk is land loss. The Gulf of Mexico is, in effect, probably 20 miles closer to us than it was in 1965 when Hurricane Betsy hit."

These trends are the source of a complex and growing threat to everyone living in south Louisiana and to the regional economy and culture:


The combination of sinking land and rising seas has put the Mississippi River delta as much as 3 feet lower relative to sea level than it was a century ago, and the process continues. That means hurricane floods driven inland from the Gulf have risen by corresponding amounts. Storms that once would not have had much impact can now be devastating events, and flooding penetrates to places where it rarely occurred before. The problem also is slowly eroding levee protection, cutting off evacuation routes sooner and putting dozens of communities and valuable infrastructure at risk of being wiped off the map.

Coastal erosion has shaved barrier islands to slivers and turned marshland to open water, opening the way for hurricane winds and flooding to move inland. Hurricanes draw their strength from the sea, so they quickly weaken and begin to dissipate when they make landfall. Hurricanes moving over fragmenting marshes toward the New Orleans area can retain more strength, and their winds and large waves pack more speed and destructive power.

Though protected by levees designed to withstand the most common storms, New Orleans is surrounded by water and is well below sea level at many points. A flood from a powerful hurricane can get trapped for weeks inside the levee system. Emergency officials concede that many of the structures in the area, including newer high-rise buildings, would not survive the winds of a major storm.

The large size of the area at risk also makes it difficult to evacuate the million or more people who live in the area, putting tens of thousands of people at risk of dying even with improved forecasting and warnings. The American Red Cross will not put emergency shelters in the area because it does not want to put volunteers or evacuees in danger.

The Army Corps of Engineers says the chance of New Orleans-area levees being topped is remote, but admits the estimate is based on 40-year-old calculations. An independent analysis based on updated data and computer modeling done for The Times-Picayune suggests the risk to some areas, including St. Bernard and St. Charles parishes and eastern New Orleans, may be greater than the corps estimates. Corps officials say the agency is studying the problem with an updated model.
It all adds up to a daunting set of long-term economic, engineering and political challenges just to maintain the status quo. Higher levees, a massive coastal-restoration program and even a huge wall across New Orleans are all being proposed. Without extraordinary measures, key ports, oil and gas production, one of the nation's most important fisheries, the unique bayou culture, the historic French Quarter and more are at risk of being swept away in a catastrophic hurricane or worn down by smaller ones.

[cajungal]

I read all about the Last Island Hurricane. I live in Terrebonne Parish. I fear something like that may happen again. I don't know if you are familiar with the Isle de Jean Charles community. That is on the most southern tip of Terrebonne Parish right on the gulf. It is nothing but marsh. And when Lili was still a powerful Cat 4, people still wanted to ride the storm out in Isle de Jean Charles. If the storm would of not turned, all these people would of died. That area is covered even during high tide. You should of seen the area for Tropical Storm Bill. The only mode of transportation was by boat. The water was 8 feet deep and that was only a Tropical Storm! It is sad to see our coastline disappering before our very eyes. I am still in my 20's and I now see water where land used to be. Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes have the worst erosion problem in the whole country.

[Ixolib]

"There's no doubt about it," said Windell Curole, general manager of the South Lafourche Levee District, who maintains a hurricane levee that encircles Bayou Lafourche from Larose to the southern tip of Golden Meadow. "The biggest factor in hurricane risk is land loss. The Gulf of Mexico is, in effect, probably 20 miles closer to us than it was in 1965 when Hurricane Betsy hit."

This point is probably the most telling. Amazing how 20 miles of land can be over-swept in only 40 years. That's a lot of protection for N.O. that no longer exists...

[sunny]

"There's no doubt about it," said Windell Curole, general manager of the South Lafourche Levee District, who maintains a hurricane levee that encircles Bayou Lafourche from Larose to the southern tip of Golden Meadow. "The biggest factor in hurricane risk is land loss. The Gulf of Mexico is, in effect, probably 20 miles closer to us than it was in 1965 when Hurricane Betsy hit."

This point is probably the most telling. Amazing how 20 miles of land can be over-swept in only 40 years. That's a lot of protection for N.O. that no longer exists...

Which is very scary to me.

[vbhoutex]

Have a friend who lives in Luling on the golf course there. Last time I was there it appeared that if a toilet overflowed that the whole area would flood(many years ago). I can't imagine what it is like now especially if there has been any subsidence. Definitely not a good situation in S. LA.

[sunny]

Have a friend who lives in Luling on the golf course there. Last time I was there it appeared that if a toilet overflowed that the whole area would flood(many years ago). I can't imagine what it is like now especially if there has been any subsidence. Definitely not a good situation in S. LA.

St. Charles Parish is vunerable, which is why they are usually one of the first to be called for evacuations.

[USCG_Hurricane_Watcher]

"There's no doubt about it," said Windell Curole, general manager of the South Lafourche Levee District, who maintains a hurricane levee that encircles Bayou Lafourche from Larose to the southern tip of Golden Meadow. "The biggest factor in hurricane risk is land loss. The Gulf of Mexico is, in effect, probably 20 miles closer to us than it was in 1965 when Hurricane Betsy hit."

This point is probably the most telling. Amazing how 20 miles of land can be over-swept in only 40 years. That's a lot of protection for N.O. that no longer exists...

Which is very scary to me.

Scary...especially when you consider the local economy. I do a lot of work (USCG) down at Bollinger and actually have to pass through the levee leaving from Galiano heading towards the port.

Buddy of mine is the Station Commanding Officer out at Grand Isle.

[sunny]

Scary...especially when you consider the local economy. I do a lot of work (USCG) down at Bollinger and actually have to pass through the levee leaving from Galiano heading towards the port.

Buddy of mine is the Station Commanding Officer out at Grand Isle.

I know Bollinger very well!