Re: OT New Orleans: The City that Couldn't Afford to Die

"afiggatt" <afiggatt@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:K7-dnSABQpSTyLneRVn-1w@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Alex Terrell wrote:
>
>> As for the other towns. make sure new buildings can withstand
>> hurricanes. Hurricane proof houses are not rocket science.
>
> Houses which can withstand 150 MPH sustained winds are feasible (albeit
> with severe cost and design flexibility issues although damage from flying
> debris is a problem), but the storm surge of 25 feet of water? Unless you
> want to pay to build a house as a reinforced concrete bunker, your house
> is not going to withstand the sheer weight of water in a powerful storm
> surge.
>
> The obvious solution is not to build so close to the ocean, but stopping
> this is close to politically impossible.

Coast lines change, so this can be hard to do. If global warming gets
worse, we may see levees all over the world. The west coast is hilly enough
that if the ocean level rises, it won't do that much to the coast line.
Flat states like Florida have a bigger problem. If the ocean level rises 10
feet, both Florida and California will lose land, but Florida will lose a
lot more. If you were to surround Florida with levees, terrorists could do
a lot of damage.

> Storm surges from a hurricane as powerful as Katrina are rare events,

New Orleans had 3 bodies of water to deal with: The ocean, the Mississippi
river, and Lake Pontchartrain. Most cities aren't that threatened.


.

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