<embed src="http://www.theonion.com/content/themes/common/assets/videoplayer/flvplayer.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowScriptAccess="always" wmode="transparent" width="400" height="355" flashvars="file=http://www.theonion.com/content/xml/85271/video&autostart=false&image=http://www.theonion.com/content/files/images/HURRICANE_SLOWED_article.jpg&bufferlength=3&embedded=true&title=Hurricane%20Bound%20For%20Texas%20Slowed%20By%20Large%20Land%20Mass%20To%20The%20South"></embed><br/><a href="http://www.theonion.com/content/video/hurricane_bound_for_texas_slowed?utm_source=embedded_video">Hurricane Bound For Texas Slowed By Large Land Mass To The South</a>
WHY ALL THE HYPE? People are buzzing about Gustav because it seems to have the best chance of any tropical system since the record 2005 Atlantic hurricane season's Katrina, Rita and Wilma to traverse the central Gulf of Mexico, where the loop current stands ready to aid in the rapid intensification of a hurricane. It's also the time of year, from now until the end of September, when the Gulf waters are at their warmest. So if we're to have a major hurricane strike the Gulf coast this year, now's the time. We shall have much more to say about these factors that favor intensification if Gustav continues tracking toward the Gulf of Mexico. For now that's by no means a certainty. The storm could befuddle the models and continue to track westward, following a path like that of hurricanes Dean and Felix last year, toward the Yucatan Peninsula and Mexico. Or it could encounter wind shear and fall apart like 2006's Tropical Storm Chris. At least we can hope for the latter scenario. Check back later today when I'll update Gustav's progress and discuss where storms that develop in the northern Caribbean Sea during August generally make their final landfall. http://blogs.chron.com/sciguy/archives/2008/08/post_36.html
If New Orleans gets hit again, I hope they level that city and move it further inland.... No way you keep pouring billions into a city that will consistently get destroyed. Leave the port and a small industrial complex, but move that city. DD
I'd rather they leveled the enormous mississippi flood control systems that have eroded/sunk the entire louisiana coast to the point of devestation.
Understood...I just think that ship has already sailed. I just can't imagine private money going back into NOLA anytime soon if they end up with anything remotely close to a Katrina 3 years after Katrina.
Me neither. My point was that DaDa's idea of just moving up-river only delays the inevitable unless something is done to allow the wetlands to recover the silt previously supplied by the river. Fundamentally, there was/is nothing wrong with NOLA's location.
Except that it's been in a soup bowl for a very, very long time. Katrina wasn't the first time the city was completely inundated. It's surrounded by water on ALL sides...and is at a lower elevaton than the water that surrounds it. It's a bit of a logistical nightmare.
The older, original portions of NOLA do not flood (as much). It's natural high ground. The intense flooding in other areas is more the result of ground subsidence than anything else - there is a reason the pontchartrain levy has gotten taller and taller as the years went by. I'm not saying it's perfect and it certainly may be past the point of salvation anymore, but the city's location was not some loony choice made by drunken cajuns. Frankly, I'd blame the corps of engineers more than anyone/anything else. EDIT: Sorry for the derail - damn you DD!
Agree entirely with your post. Interestingly, the corps of engineers ultimately blamed themselves, as well. You're right...the Garden District and French Quarter held up fine in Katrina. At least comparatively. I think where this leads is that NOLA probably shouldn't be populated the way it was before Katrina. Obviously the population is growing since then as people return. But I can't even begin to imagine what another major storm would mean for them...because the corps of engineers says they're still not ready for that.
Well for our sake and NO's sake, hopefully it stays below category 3...i don't want to buy things then get punked again.
