Infographic: Sinking out of Sight
Image:
More In This Article
-
Overview
Why Save a Sinking City?
The boxes are stacked eight feet high and line the walls of the large, windowless room. Inside them are new body bags, 10,000 in all. If a big, slow-moving hurricane crossed the Gulf of Mexico on the right track, it would drive a sea surge that would drown New Orleans under 20 feet of water. "As the water recedes," says Walter Maestri, a local emergency management director, "we expect to find a lot of dead bodies."
New Orleans is a disaster waiting to happen. The city lies below sea level, in a bowl bordered by levees that fend off Lake Pontchartrain to the north and the Mississippi River to the south and west. And because of a damning confluence of factors, the city is sinking further, putting it at increasing flood risk after even minor storms. The low-lying Mississippi Delta, which buffers the city from the gulf, is also rapidly disappearing. A year from now another 25 to 30 square miles of delta marsh--an area the size of Manhattan--will have vanished. An acre disappears every 24 minutes. Each loss gives a storm surge a clearer path to wash over the delta and pour into the bowl, trapping one million people inside and another million in surrounding communities. Extensive evacuation would be impossible because the surging water would cut off the few escape routes. Scientists at Louisiana State University (L.S.U.), who have modeled hundreds of possible storm tracks on advanced computers, predict that more than 100,000 people could die. The body bags wouldn't go very far.
This article was originally published with the title Drowning New Orleans.
Already a Digital subscriber? Sign-in Now
If your institution has site license access, enter here.
See what we're tweeting about
;){kind=link}
;){kind=link}
;){kind=link}
8 Comments
Add Commenti'm a survivor of hurricane katrina,and all i say is God Bless America,BECAUSE GOD DOESN'T SEE COLOR OR RACE SOMETHING WENT WRONG.I ADMIT I WAS OUT THERE FOR SEVEN DAYS BUT I GREW TO KNOW GOD MUCH BETTER,SO NOW I'M STRONGER AND WISER.WHEN THE DAY COME EVERYONE WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS INCOMPETENCE WILL PAY I'VE PAID MY PART BY SURVIVING THIS AND STILL WHOLE.PEOPLE LIVES WERE STOLEN FROM ACTS OF VILEONCE BUT GOD WILL HAVE THE LAST WORD.LORI OUT OF FORTWORTH TEXAS
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi'm a survivor of hurricane katrina,and all i say is God Bless America,BECAUSE GOD DOESN'T SEE COLOR OR RACE SOMETHING WENT WRONG.I ADMIT I WAS OUT THERE FOR SEVEN DAYS BUT I GREW TO KNOW GOD MUCH BETTER,SO NOW I'M STRONGER AND WISER.WHEN THE DAY COME EVERYONE WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS INCOMPETENCE WILL PAY I'VE PAID MY PART BY SURVIVING THIS AND STILL WHOLE.PEOPLE LIVES WERE STOLEN FROM ACTS OF VILEONCE BUT GOD WILL HAVE THE LAST WORD.LORI OUT OF FORTWORTH TEXAS
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisalso i glad that people such as my president was exposed,he rather continue his vacation then tend to america devastion.Along with his vice president shopping for shoes.Itell u people if we get this activity back into the white house were in trouble god testing a lot of people,and still till this day were afraid because of color,i sick of all this in the world people be responsible and honest to yourselves.life is turning,9/11,katrina,ike,rita,california fire,400,000,000 billion dollar war with no ending,tsuami,death of legends so early,molestion so intense daily,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi'm a survivor of hurricane katrina,and all i say is God Bless America,BECAUSE GOD DOESN'T SEE COLOR OR RACE SOMETHING WENT WRONG.I ADMIT I WAS OUT THERE FOR SEVEN DAYS BUT I GREW TO KNOW GOD MUCH BETTER,SO NOW I'M STRONGER AND WISER.WHEN THE DAY COME EVERYONE WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS INCOMPETENCE WILL PAY I'VE PAID MY PART BY SURVIVING THIS AND STILL WHOLE.PEOPLE LIVES WERE STOLEN FROM ACTS OF VILEONCE BUT GOD WILL HAVE THE LAST WORD.LORI OUT OF FORTWORTH TEXAS
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi'm a survivor of hurricane katrina,and all i say is God Bless America,BECAUSE GOD DOESN'T SEE COLOR OR RACE SOMETHING WENT WRONG.I ADMIT I WAS OUT THERE FOR SEVEN DAYS BUT I GREW TO KNOW GOD MUCH BETTER,SO NOW I'M STRONGER AND WISER.WHEN THE DAY COME EVERYONE WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS INCOMPETENCE WILL PAY I'VE PAID MY PART BY SURVIVING THIS AND STILL WHOLE.PEOPLE LIVES WERE STOLEN FROM ACTS OF VILEONCE BUT GOD WILL HAVE THE LAST WORD.LORI OUT OF FORTWORTH TEXAS
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'M going to be cofee to some people this afternoon,because to say our president who choose to continue his vacation while america people suffered so people get confused and say''weren't people responsible for themselves yes''you right but what about the ones who were chained to hospital bed dried out and dead like raisin i here to set the record straight our president showed racist and his mother comments also barbara bush well all i say you looking at 9/11,katrina,rita,ike,california fire,400,000,000 billion dollar war with no ending,tsuami,and molestion to innocent childre,dropouts,racial profiling so much we should be looking at people still ignore the signs on getting another president with different beliefs for america people we fooled by the color of obama skin but god is high most high if its meant for obama ms.palin and little mcmain dont have a chance
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'M going to be cofee to some people this afternoon,because to say our president who choose to continue his vacation while america people suffered so people get confused and say''weren't people responsible for themselves yes''you right but what about the ones who were chained to hospital bed dried out and dead like raisin i here to set the record straight our president showed racist and his mother comments also barbara bush well all i say you looking at 9/11,katrina,rita,ike,california fire,400,000,000 billion dollar war with no ending,tsuami,and molestion to innocent childre,dropouts,racial profiling so much we should be looking at people still ignore the signs on getting another president with different beliefs for america people we fooled by the color of obama skin but god is high most high if its meant for obama ms.palin and little mcmain dont have a chance
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThankfully an intelligent, gifted adult is once again running the country. Image our state if McCain was put in office. Ever day I count my blessings for President Obama success in the election.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this