Posted on 04/18/2006 12:36:04 PM PDT by Ellesu
Sinking land ultimately reduces effectiveness of levee protection:
The Army Corps of Engineers discovered a $4 billion surprise by underestimating the cost of repairing the levees because south Louisiana is sinking. One geologist has said the sinking will continue, especially in New Orleans East, because that part of town rests on a fault line.
Bad roadways have become a common complaint over the years for some New Orleans residents, but to LSU Geologist Dr. Roy Dokka, they’re scientific evidence which demonstrate that the ultimate problem goes much deeper.
Dokka suggests that Louisiana is not only sinking, but was sliding out toward the south, along the edge of a fault line in New Orleans East – namely Michoud.
For the last century, Michoud has sunk up to two inches per year; taking the levees down with it – four feet total since 1960. According to Dokka’s study, New Orleans East has sunk deeper than any other area in the state and at a much faster rate. It’s a phenomenon that contributes to lower levees and protection from storm surge.
Dokka said it’s a simple case of building for now rather than later.
The Army Corps of Engineers, which funded Dokka’s study, said the sinking land accounts for the rising cost of levees, which means there’s no magic number for any category of levee protection, whether it's category-3 this year or category-5 down the road.
The Corps has called the situation “an extraordinary conundrum,” adding that Dokka’s findings would certainly factor into plans for rebuilding the levees.
As for the price, Dokka said it's more like an installment payment as it seems south Louisiana will be paying for levee protection forever.
"Once we build the levees -- that's not enough. We've got to keep thinking about how they're changing and continue to build them up in certain places,” Dokka said.
check it out.
"I drove into the Chocolate City ,,,,,,,
Mmmmmmmmmmm...CHOCOLATE......make mine dark for that extra antioxidant kick....
Yep. Or someone's hurtin' bad for an editor.
Ray thinks that's a red salmon.
That was Captain Hazelwood and he ordered a Tanqueray on the rocks, not a tanker on the rocks.
Didn't the Spanish actually start this? I thought the Frenchies took over from Spain.
"(merrimac to the uninformed) Well, it did start out it's life as the Merrimac, didn't it? It seems the name Virginia never really caught on.
Since it fought it's famous battle as the Virginia, that's the name it should be remembered by.
Not surprising...hoping the levee system is built to withstand another cat 5 surge otherwise whats the use.
"...like the Virginia (merrimac to the uninformed)?..."
Whatever it's called, it still awaits the company of New Orleans.
Did you take any pictures for us?
I might take SWA fun fare over and see it.
I think NO is more likely to suffer the fate of the monitor, sunk at sea by a storm. One more hurricane, even a small one, will finish NO off.
I thought that the active parts of the New Madrid rift system stopped well north of the LA state line.
I intended to and to post them here but my digital camera crapped out on me....and it's something more serious than batteries.
As closely as I've followed this and all of the pictures I've seen of the devatation on the web, neither prepared me for the utter ruination I saw in east New Orleans. those people who think they'll move back into the (th Ward or other neighborhoods in that area are deluding themselves badly. It won't happen.
This study just about drives the final nail in the coffin for those areas I drove by last weekend....and for some others further south. No way will private lenders finance homes in large numbers in an area that's sinking at the rate it is. And why continue to spend billions to build levees when the levees themselves are sinking. East NOLA, St. Bernard Parish, Plaquemine Parish are finished. Politicians will give lip service to recovery but that's all it'll be. People who can't rebuild because they can't get financing because they can't buy flood insurance won't move back in large enough numbers for these areas to recover.....ever.
It's strange to think of an area that large and home to 150-200,000 people simply turning into a ghost town....... or ghost parishes.
I think New Orleans East was turning into a ghost town long before Katrina. The high crime rate took care of that. I remember living in Gretna and if we were going to Slidell or somewhere else on I-10 east, no matter what was wrong, we didn't stop till we were out of that area.
I don't understand why the city was built there in the first place if, among its other problems, its on a fault line.
Last words from Captain Nagin from City Hall:
"Lookouts below. Dive, dive, dive"
"I think New Orleans East was turning into a ghost town long before Katrina."
Yes, but the 50-70,000 voters that kept electing the corrupt and incompetant politicians were still there at election time. Now, they've been scattered and most won't have anything to return for.
Katrina was like a giant can opener.....and the can it opened we found was full of rotten insides: Rotten police, rotten schools, and rotten politicians.
NOLA will probably never again be larger than 250,000 people which is probably a good thing. Those areas that can reasonably be protected and that have some value(attracting tourists) will be rebuilt. East NOLA will eventually revert to what it once was.... a cypress swamp.
New Orleans east is one of the newer areas. The older areas were built on higher ground. That's the 20% of the city that didn't flood.
No, it's simply a case of building on ground that remains above sea level rather than continues sinking below sea level.
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