How do you think the Hurricane Gustav is going to affect New Orleans?
By shamsta19
@shamsta19 (3224)
United States
September 1, 2008 3:13pm CST
I am not talking about the obvious physical damage. I'm talking about the township itself? With the rebuilding from Katrina and Rita still incomplete and people migrating from New Orleans and the surrounding areas, how do you think this will affect the rebuilding process? I almost hate to think it but with the changing climate and weather conditions, it is not a far stretch to say New Orleans as we know it could be wiped off the map in the next few decades. Why there is a city 20 feet below sea level is beyond me anyway.
Do you think New Orleans will recover completely? Will its residents return? Will I get to see Mardi Gras? Does anyone else think we are looking at a city in doom?
1 person likes this
3 responses
@WhatsHerName (2716)
• United States
1 Sep 08
Only 40% of the population was back after Katrina. I have already heard a lot of people are not going back after this. I hope it can bounce back but don't think it ever will. I have been there twice since Katrina and it was pretty sad. A lot of the business have been forced to close because they don't get the tourists they used to get.
There is a town in Alaska that is falling into the ocean, they have been slowly moving the entire town 20 miles inland. Maybe there is a safer place they could build New Orleans with the same culture.
2 people like this
@shamsta19 (3224)
• United States
1 Sep 08
I just saw a report on that town in Alaska! Exactly what I'm talking about here. The continents shift, climates change as does inevitably the earth. Where would we move New Orleans though? Would that even be possible? The town in Alaska is sparsely populated, New Orleans has MILLIONS! Only 40% of the population returned after Katrina? Wow that is a staggering statistic! That alone changed the face of the city as it is! As well as Atlanta, which upon receiving migrants from New Orleans, has experienced a population boost (as well as a rise in the crime rate which could only be expected with an increase in middle to lower class residents). What we have witnessed is something monumental!
@WhatsHerName (2716)
• United States
2 Sep 08
Katrina didn't do much damage to the downtown area. They haven't done much rebuilding in the 9th word where the worst damage was done, especially close to the levies. There are a few new houses here and there in that neighborhood. I couldn't help but shake my head and wonder why they would put new homes there. But mostly a few people here and there have fixed up their homes themselves and there are some squatters. We worked on one house in that area, we gutted it and when I went back a year later nothing more was done. The government won't give money to rebuild there and I don't blame them.
Actually I think the government should have spent millions on some a$$ kicking levies like the ones they have in Holland, instead of sinking billions into houses that will probably be washed way eventually.
I just heard that the reason they built the city there was because the French thought it would be a good place for commerce. They were right, it still is good.
2 people like this
@shamsta19 (3224)
• United States
2 Sep 08
Seventy five percent of or oil import comes in right there. Great for commerce bad for a city under constant hurricane attack. Like I said we will probably witness the great city of New Orleans get washed under the ocean in our lifetimes.
@alori61 (344)
• United States
2 Sep 08
You know there is a town on the Mississippi River in the state of Iowa that gets flooded like crazy every time the Mississippi overflows her banks. Every time there is a good flood the government comes in and cleans up the mess. Right across the river on the Illinois side they used to have the same problem but the town on the Illinois side got tired of the floods so they built a levee and no more flooding. But the town on the Iowa side said they liked thier view of the river and wouldn't build a levee to keep her in her banks. A few years ago the fedral government said if you don't build a levee then you clean up your own mess from now on.
How much money is the federal government and the American people supposed to put into a town that can not keep the water out? Davenport Iowa can control the Mississippi with a levee New Orleans is fighting the entire Gulf of Mexico, it's not a minor task to hold it back. Maybe it's time to abandon ship for higher ground while there is still time to save some of the historic and culture of the area. They don't plan to have the levees safe for 4 more years. How many more hurricanes are going to threaten and hit New Orleans in that amount of time? Sadly enough New Orleans has not even taken a direct hit from these hurricanes, (yes contrary to popular believe Katrina hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast not New Orleans) what will happen if one of these things really hits the city?
1 person likes this
@WhatsHerName (2716)
• United States
2 Sep 08
Actually New Orleans is 90 miles from the Golf. It's not the Golf that flooded after Katrina. It was Lake Pontchartrain which is right above the city. But you are right, I think they should have spent millions on new Levees instead of rebuilding homes that will probably be washed away anyway. The people and the church groups then could confidently rebuild knowing our work won't be washed away.
1 person likes this
@alori61 (344)
• United States
2 Sep 08
Well Lake Ponchatrane is fed by the Gulf but the basic idea does remain why continue to repeatedly rebuild an area that is not protected from the same disaster repeating itself? How can you help but ask 'what are these people thinking?' I didn't understand when they started rebuilding without adequate levees and I understood it less as the first pictures of the the water going over the top of the levees were released. Makes no sense and how often can these people expect the country to come to thier rescue for it to happen again?
1 person likes this
@shamsta19 (3224)
• United States
2 Sep 08
It's just so hard to tell a population that has flourished in one area for a time to up and move. We are talking about a whole culture of people. Displacing (more) families and friends. No one will realistically wait around for four years for something to get done about the levies. If they leave most likely they will be gone for good. Maybe abandoning ship is the answer but it is not as easy as moving a small Alaskan township. We are talking millions, even after Katrina, would have to be relocated.
@cobrateacher (8432)
• United States
1 Sep 08
I love New Orleans, and my husband and I considered moving there after retirement. Not anymore. I just watched a weather report that shows NO being swamped with water and blown to bits.
I can't imagine why a city was ever built below sea level, but I suspect it'll be beyond repair if this storm doesn't get out of there in a real hurry, or if another one hits. What a horrible loss! 
1 person likes this
@shamsta19 (3224)
• United States
1 Sep 08
Dismiss what is on CNN right now, reports actually say the Hurricane isn't as bad as expected. The problem is if this area is continually pummeled by this type of weather for a sustained amount of time it can quite possible collapse the entire infrastructure of the city. The map would have to be altered for the New Orleans Water Basin!!!
