New Orleans Facing Environmental Disaster

[Clint]

New Orleans Facing Environmental Disaster

Aug 29 9:23 PM US/Eastern



By MATT CRENSON

AP National Writer



news://newsclip.ap.org/LADM10408291300@news.ap.org



As Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on Monday, experts said it could turn one of America's most charming cities into a vast cesspool tainted with toxic chemicals, human waste and even coffins released by floodwaters from the city's legendary cemeteries.

Experts have warned for years that the levees and pumps that usually keep New Orleans dry have no chance against a direct hit by a Category 5 storm.

That's exactly what Katrina was as it churned toward the city. With top winds of 160 mph and the power to lift sea level by as much as 28 feet above normal, the storm threatened an environmental disaster of biblical proportions, one that could leave more than 1 million people homeless.

"All indications are that this is absolutely worst-case scenario," Ivor van Heerden, deputy director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center, said Sunday afternoon.

More:

http://www.breitbart.com/news/na/D8C9RAEO0.html

[Clint]

Can you imagine what it will be like to try to grow something after everything has been covered by sea water. I wonder how long it will take for the soil to recover? Parks, lawns, gardens and more will be brown for years to come.

[lady cop]

the situation is really horrible-----'We Have Nowhere To Go'

[lunsfodl]

You can see on goggle earth that the area is heavly industrialized. What we really could use now is high resolution high altitude photos of the city so that we could see the damages and all those displaced people could see if their homes are still there or are flooded. We are about 200 miles from New Orleans and the motels are full of refugees, who probably will not be allowed to go back home for weeks.

[lady cop]

...



Updated: 7:43 p.m. EDT (23:43 GMT), August 30, 2005



NEW EVACUATIONS




"We do not want to lose any more people than we absolutely have to," said Gov. Blanco.



Refugees facing new trauma







New Orleans emergency shelters being evacuated

About 200 critically ill patients being airlifted to safety

New Orleans mayor: Bodies being pushed to the side

Coast Guard reserves mandatory call up ordered

Mississippi flooding up to six miles inland

"This is our tsunami," Biloxi Mayor

[ubetta]

I was reading with great dismay and disgust just how many people out there that have no compulsion to offer sympathy much less help in any way. I was in a place I have visited for years now and just sat here thinking...my god, this is just so ugly. I heard everything from the effect the gas prices would have on them to 'darwin award' about the people who stayed behind for whatever reason and then again the absolute stupidity of anyone to live in the area and not think something would happen, and why should their tax dollars pay for this.

Have you run into any of this anywhere? I have to say, I was somewhat dumbfounded.

[Clint]

Is it possible that New Orleans will be rebuilt? If not...what happens to the people who did business and lived there? I yes...should they be building below sea level again?

This makes me feel helpless. Those poor people, wandering around with no home and forever changed futures?:(

[lady cop]

they are bussing 30,000 people from the superdome to the houston astrodome. incredible. the mayor has said he thinks there may be THOUSANDS dead there!

[Clint]

lady cop wrote: they are bussing 30,000 people from the superdome to the houston astrodome. incredible. the mayor has said he thinks there may be THOUSANDS dead there!
I fear this is like an iceberg and we have only seen the tip. As this unfolds I think all the concern about gas prices will seem trivial.

[lady cop]

THIS is making me furious, one cop shot in head by scumbag looter. Big Easy Looters Run Wild these are not just people in need, the looters took all the guns from a walmart!

[DesignerGal]

My cousin and her husband hauled tail to Memphis on Friday. I have gotten one email from her since. She said their house is under water (they are renters) and that they were told not to go back for at least 3 months! I cant call her because she has a New Orleans cell phone, so I am waiting impatiently by the phone for her call. I told her to come stay with me for awhile but havent heard anything yet. I am checking my email every 30 seconds. I thank God she left. I feel bad for all of those who didnt have the means to leave. Idiots in my office autmatically assume they stayed there of their own free will, "They knew it was going to be bad, why did those dumba$$es stay?". Homeless people dont have access to cars, or money for a hotel. And Im told that the city of New Orleans is pretty poor. High poverty, anyone can correct me if I am wrong.

[Clint]

There are looters who carry a gun and shoot police officers. They should pay the ultimate price for what they have done. There are also looters who see the opportunity and jack up the price on gasoline. The owners of those companies should required to ride bikes or walk the rest of their lives (nothing motorized, not even an airplane).

[telaquapacky]

My sister lives in Monroe, Louisiana, in the north of the state. When I talked to her this morning, she was on the way to Wal Mart to buy diapers, food, board games and other items for people who have come up from the gulf coast to take temporary shelter in the civic center. We are going to have something like a refugee crisis in the gulf states.

Living below sea level is not supposed to be such a hazard. Compare a country like Bangladesh to one like the Netherlands, both largely below mean sea level. The industrialized countries can build dykes and levees. There is going to be some serious looking into whether the levee that was supposed to protect New Orleans from Lake Ponchartrain has been maintained properly by those responsible for it.

I hope this awakens in every American a new sense of concern (and activist skepticism) whether our smiley-smile elected officials are really looking out for our health and safety, or if it's all just a act for the cameras.

[Clint]

It’s good to hear that your sister is okay.

Living below sea level adjacent to the sea is intrinsically dangerous. There isn’t any way to guarantee that even the highly sophisticated system in the Netherlands will stand up in all conditions. They knew in New Orleans that there was a combination of conditions that would be unable to defend against. Katrina brought that combination.

People who live on barrier islands all around the continent, for instance, are intentionally placing themselves at risk. Over and over again they are flooded out. Over and over again the rest of us pay for their privilege to live there. Many of them are still coved by federal flood insurance.

There are many coastal areas that require a constant infusion of tax dollars just to keep the ocean from taking what was once hers. The Corps of Engineers spends millions annually to maintain revetments and other structures necessary to allow communities to exist where everyone knows the day will come when the sea will win.

I have to question the wisdom of rebuilding where such and intensive and expensive effort to fight against natural forces is necessary. New Orleans is an important seaport and abandoning it would be a huge loss to the whole country. Maybe they could rebuild the port facilities to withstand as much weather as possible, kowing that the day will come again when the sea wil win. Maybe the rest of the city should be relocated to higher ground.

[Clint]

A huge warehouse in the port is burning. The building is huge and there isn't any water to fight it. I hope there aren't any toxic materials in those buildings.