Posted on 11/10/2005 9:28:36 AM PST by Incorrigible
Alas, when will politicians ever listen.
No insurance company in their right mind is going to be issuing any more policies in low lying NO.
It was the engineers trying to get out the information about the Challenger. Politicians failed to listen then. I wonder if we should start electing more engineers to political office. They seem to be connected to the real world.
How about a floating swamp? Rebuild the city on stilts, or we could have the Venice of the South. Oh, well, they've probably already thought of that. However, the Dutch have new ideas about reclaiming land from the sea that might bear looking into.
Level the place. Make it for business and shipping lanes only. Build homes OUTSIDE of the city of N.O. and smarten up. Sick of paying taxes and funding this sin hole for nothing. Besides...it's too "French" for my taste.
Or relocate New Orleans a little to the West. Like, in Texas.
I keep reading about "sheet-steel pilings". How long is steel going to last while buried in a swamp?
I doubt you could get them to run. And given the engineer's propensity for truth, I can't see any of them winning.
Any fool knows that a building {or dam} is only as strong as its foundation. Put cement on top of swamp and water will go under the cement collapsing the cement wall. Even my 11 year old grandson can understand this.
Ssshhhhhh! It will last ... long enough.
Maybe just a big pile of money will hold back the flood water. Just keep adding more.
The problem is always that political and business leaders never like what engineers have to say and force a solution with a small fraction of the needed resources.
Sometimes, the solution is acceptable. Many times, clueless leaders just manage to produce crap. Sometimes, no matter how much effort you put into educating them, they still make the worst possible decisions.
Jello would be a better foundation than much of what NOLA sits on.
In a way, it is a city on stilts. You should see them driving the piles for a multistory building there....
"Listen, lad. I built this kingdom up from nothing. When I started here, all there was was swamp. Other kings said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show 'em. It sank into the swamp. So, I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So, I built a third one. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp, but the fourth one... stayed up! And that's what you're gonna get, lad: the strongest castle in these islands." -- Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
I was just at an insurance seminar for the AE community (Architectural/Engineering) and a geotechnical engineer complained he was having a very difficualt time getting insurance for their firm which does mostly dam work. Very high risk, and the premiums easily could put you out of buisness.
BTW, expect a few insurance companies to go under as a result of Katrina.
PING!!!
Oh, oh! It can be done, but at what cost? Leave the part that is on high ground, but no development in the swamp areas except in small increments. Cheaper for the government to buy out the landowners and let them settle elsewhere.
Good report. Having lived and worked as an architect in Houston 20 years ago I know all about soil plasticity(up to 20% expansion)from sedimentary deposits. I live in my native Montana now but am working on my FLOOD ROAD concept/table sized model, in response to Katrina. I thought of this 4 years ago after the flood in Des Moines : buoyant road panels, 20' x 20', piano-hinged on the landward side, dead man anchors on the river/sea side. The rising flood water naturally lifts the panels up into a vertical seawall, then back down into a roadway again as the waters recede. No sandbagging needed, no power requirements; natural forces do all the flood water containment work for you. Will video tape it in action and send to GOVERNORS of coastal states. I've already sent it to state transportation depts : no response as you would suspect. W=P
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