What's the long term future of New Orleans?
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Does anyone have any clue about the long term disaster recovery plans for New Orleans? At some point the levees will be repaired and the water pumped out, but then what? How do you repair a city where more than 90% of the homes are damaged or destroyed, the large buildings in downtown are trashed, and the infrastructure is destroyed? And how do you prevent this from happening again when much of the city is below sea level? The worst possible outcome of this mess would just be to rebuild as before and keep the status quo, but that what will most likely happen.
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Does anyone have any clue about the long term disaster recovery plans for New Orleans? At some point the levees will be repaired and the water pumped out, but then what? How do you repair a city where more than 90% of the homes are damaged or destroyed, the large buildings in downtown are trashed, and the infrastructure is destroyed? And how do you prevent this from happening again when much of the city is below sea level? The worst possible outcome of this mess would just be to rebuild as before and keep the status quo, but that what will most likely happen.
Rumours are abound that the most economical long-term solution is to adandon the city altogether! The images from the area today are heart-breaking - and are testamount to both the power of nature and how low people will stoop (mass looting). I watched some CNN video footage earlier and couldn't believe the devastation - freeways washed away, an oil rig smashed against a brige, mile after mile of debris. When the hurricane made landfall on Monday the media seemed to be saying "phew - that was close - it veered away from the city" and now it seems that 80% of the Big Easy is submerged.
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Does anyone have any clue about the long term disaster recovery plans for New Orleans? At some point the levees will be repaired and the water pumped out, but then what? How do you repair a city where more than 90% of the homes are damaged or destroyed, the large buildings in downtown are trashed, and the infrastructure is destroyed? And how do you prevent this from happening again when much of the city is below sea level? The worst possible outcome of this mess would just be to rebuild as before and keep the status quo, but that what will most likely happen.
I seriously doubt the city will be abandoned all together. New Orleans has seen its share of tradgedies (mass fires) in the past and always persisted. Granted, no tradgedy has probably been as great as this one, but I don't see the city just being abandoned. Obviously, engineers need to come up with a better protection system.
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Does anyone have any clue about the long term disaster recovery plans for New Orleans? At some point the levees will be repaired and the water pumped out, but then what? How do you repair a city where more than 90% of the homes are damaged or destroyed, the large buildings in downtown are trashed, and the infrastructure is destroyed? And how do you prevent this from happening again when much of the city is below sea level? The worst possible outcome of this mess would just be to rebuild as before and keep the status quo, but that what will most likely happen.
Most likely they will rebuild the city right back where it is. Which is unfortunate. The SHOULD rebuild it in Montana. If you think about it though, it will be weeks (if not months) before they can really start doing anything. That's just a guess. But I've lived in places that were flooded not nearly as bad as N.O. and it took quite a while for those places to recover. How many of the displaced citizens will have found new jobs and new places to live by the time N.O. starts to recover?
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Does anyone have any clue about the long term disaster recovery plans for New Orleans? At some point the levees will be repaired and the water pumped out, but then what? How do you repair a city where more than 90% of the homes are damaged or destroyed, the large buildings in downtown are trashed, and the infrastructure is destroyed? And how do you prevent this from happening again when much of the city is below sea level? The worst possible outcome of this mess would just be to rebuild as before and keep the status quo, but that what will most likely happen.
In the short term I can't imagine why they don't drop in some temporary cell phone towers. There are probably thousands of people with cell phones trapped in places that just can't get a signal right now. Why there isn't a portable emergency 911 center with cell phone towers built in is a bit of a mystery in this day and age. There is no way to prvent this from happening again with the curent levy system, it has been predicted for years as being inevitable, even the emergency management guy in New Orleans who was interviewed just before the storm hit said that he has the most frustrating job in the world because he *knows* with certainty the city will be underwater any time, but there is nothing being done about it. Envrionmental projections from scientists (not wild eyed eco-freaks) put the long term future of New Orleans and much of souther Florida as being very much underneath the ocean. New Orleans has no future no matter what they do with it as it is. There are all sorts of solutions to the sea rising issue, venice comes to mind, or floating structures built at ground level but able to float on top of the water, but it's a bit of a moot point if you have cat 5 hurricanes becoming a common occurence. Some projections put the area not only underwater, but almost constantly battered by storms much more often than we are seeing even now, an almost permanent storm area. No one knows for certain I suspect, but a lot of knowledgeable people are all saying that it will get much worse.
"A preoccupation with the next world pretty clearly signals an inability to cope credibly with this one."
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Most likely they will rebuild the city right back where it is. Which is unfortunate. The SHOULD rebuild it in Montana. If you think about it though, it will be weeks (if not months) before they can really start doing anything. That's just a guess. But I've lived in places that were flooded not nearly as bad as N.O. and it took quite a while for those places to recover. How many of the displaced citizens will have found new jobs and new places to live by the time N.O. starts to recover?
It's one thing to replace a building but all the businesses (including tourism) that help the community to thrive? That takes a lot longer:( The tigress is here :-D
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In the short term I can't imagine why they don't drop in some temporary cell phone towers. There are probably thousands of people with cell phones trapped in places that just can't get a signal right now. Why there isn't a portable emergency 911 center with cell phone towers built in is a bit of a mystery in this day and age. There is no way to prvent this from happening again with the curent levy system, it has been predicted for years as being inevitable, even the emergency management guy in New Orleans who was interviewed just before the storm hit said that he has the most frustrating job in the world because he *knows* with certainty the city will be underwater any time, but there is nothing being done about it. Envrionmental projections from scientists (not wild eyed eco-freaks) put the long term future of New Orleans and much of souther Florida as being very much underneath the ocean. New Orleans has no future no matter what they do with it as it is. There are all sorts of solutions to the sea rising issue, venice comes to mind, or floating structures built at ground level but able to float on top of the water, but it's a bit of a moot point if you have cat 5 hurricanes becoming a common occurence. Some projections put the area not only underwater, but almost constantly battered by storms much more often than we are seeing even now, an almost permanent storm area. No one knows for certain I suspect, but a lot of knowledgeable people are all saying that it will get much worse.
"A preoccupation with the next world pretty clearly signals an inability to cope credibly with this one."
I was under the impression that two of the main causes for New Orleans being hit so hard were the loss of flood plains and wetlands around the city, and the silting of the Misssissippi river flood plain, which raised its level above the level of the city. One solution would be to not allow reconstruction on the lowest lying areas and allow them to go back to marsh land, then create larger levees around the downtown and selected high points.
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Does anyone have any clue about the long term disaster recovery plans for New Orleans? At some point the levees will be repaired and the water pumped out, but then what? How do you repair a city where more than 90% of the homes are damaged or destroyed, the large buildings in downtown are trashed, and the infrastructure is destroyed? And how do you prevent this from happening again when much of the city is below sea level? The worst possible outcome of this mess would just be to rebuild as before and keep the status quo, but that what will most likely happen.
We've had our share of rebuilding in North Carolina over the years - admittedly, Katrina was a bigger one than Hugo or Fran. We have no large cities built in a "bowl" though. I can only imagine what those folks are going through - the worst I had was to deal with some downed trees in my yard, due to 80 mph winds during Fran, and no electricity for a week. Lots of folks here in NC were helped by the Red Cross - east of Raleigh was hit pretty hard with flooding. The thing to remember is to help however you can! One day you may need to be helped...
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I was under the impression that two of the main causes for New Orleans being hit so hard were the loss of flood plains and wetlands around the city, and the silting of the Misssissippi river flood plain, which raised its level above the level of the city. One solution would be to not allow reconstruction on the lowest lying areas and allow them to go back to marsh land, then create larger levees around the downtown and selected high points.
No matter what it's probably a moot point in the long term. Globally any coastal area is going to be under threat. "In fact, an international organization of scientists ranked New Orleans as the North American city most vulnerable to climate change." http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories/s412b.htm[^]
"A preoccupation with the next world pretty clearly signals an inability to cope credibly with this one."
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Most likely they will rebuild the city right back where it is. Which is unfortunate. The SHOULD rebuild it in Montana. If you think about it though, it will be weeks (if not months) before they can really start doing anything. That's just a guess. But I've lived in places that were flooded not nearly as bad as N.O. and it took quite a while for those places to recover. How many of the displaced citizens will have found new jobs and new places to live by the time N.O. starts to recover?
They are saying now that it will be 3-4 months before people can return to begin rebuilding. BW
Meanwhile, behind the facade of this innocent looking bookstore...
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Does anyone have any clue about the long term disaster recovery plans for New Orleans? At some point the levees will be repaired and the water pumped out, but then what? How do you repair a city where more than 90% of the homes are damaged or destroyed, the large buildings in downtown are trashed, and the infrastructure is destroyed? And how do you prevent this from happening again when much of the city is below sea level? The worst possible outcome of this mess would just be to rebuild as before and keep the status quo, but that what will most likely happen.
New Orleans is a stupid geographical location to be a principal city, having said that our principal city Auckland is sitting in the middle of a volcanic area which is daft also. - Personally I don't think rebuilding should be permitted, and the govt should both force and encourage the building of a New New Orleans in a better location. The rebuilding costs of New Orleans are one thing, but the ongoing economic disruption that this Hurricane caused will have a real dent in the US economy. I'm sure a massive figure will be published in the future. - But I am sure New Orleans will be rebuilt, and sometime in the future it will be trashed once again. (sometime in the future could be in a long time, or just as soon as the rebuilding is completed) Regardz Colin J Davies The most LinkedIn CPian (that I know of anyhow) :-)
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New Orleans is a stupid geographical location to be a principal city, having said that our principal city Auckland is sitting in the middle of a volcanic area which is daft also. - Personally I don't think rebuilding should be permitted, and the govt should both force and encourage the building of a New New Orleans in a better location. The rebuilding costs of New Orleans are one thing, but the ongoing economic disruption that this Hurricane caused will have a real dent in the US economy. I'm sure a massive figure will be published in the future. - But I am sure New Orleans will be rebuilt, and sometime in the future it will be trashed once again. (sometime in the future could be in a long time, or just as soon as the rebuilding is completed) Regardz Colin J Davies The most LinkedIn CPian (that I know of anyhow) :-)
ColinDavies wrote: New New Orleans Anyone else thinking Futurama here?
Jonathan Newman blog.nonny.com [^]
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New Orleans is a stupid geographical location to be a principal city, having said that our principal city Auckland is sitting in the middle of a volcanic area which is daft also. - Personally I don't think rebuilding should be permitted, and the govt should both force and encourage the building of a New New Orleans in a better location. The rebuilding costs of New Orleans are one thing, but the ongoing economic disruption that this Hurricane caused will have a real dent in the US economy. I'm sure a massive figure will be published in the future. - But I am sure New Orleans will be rebuilt, and sometime in the future it will be trashed once again. (sometime in the future could be in a long time, or just as soon as the rebuilding is completed) Regardz Colin J Davies The most LinkedIn CPian (that I know of anyhow) :-)
ColinDavies wrote: Personally I don't think rebuilding should be permitted, and the govt should both force and encourage the building of a New New Orleans in a better location. I would be in favor of that. The thing is New Orleans became what it was because of it's location -- at the base of the Mississippi River. It's a major port and hub for commerce. Fortunately, it's not the only one though. Most of the people down here love the cultur of NOLA (short for New Orleans, LA) because you won't find it anywhere else in the world. At least in my opinion, if if did geographically move, the culture would be the most important, but if they could no longer serve as a port then the local economy would need another way to survive. Since the city is toast, it would be nice if we could just level everything, dump in some extra land to bring it above sea level and then rebuild. If we're going to be spending billions anyway to fix it, hey may as well. Jeremy Falcon
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It's one thing to replace a building but all the businesses (including tourism) that help the community to thrive? That takes a lot longer:( The tigress is here :-D
Yeah, I don't imagine people being in a huge rush to get here after this. But, hopefully in time we can put this behind us and get the stinky water smell out of the buildings. :) Jeremy Falcon