Hurricanes and New Orleans
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Hurricanes and New Orleans
I just finished watching a National Geographic fing about New Orleans being a disaster waiting to happen if a Hurricane ever gets to the area. Is it going to be as bad as they say or were they exaggerating seeing as though Ivan is about to hit town.
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I just moved from New Orleans to Indiana, but my family is still down there. Yes, it is about 9 feet below sea level and the rest of the state is around 4 feet below sea level. New Orleans is basically a big bowl.
Being as smart as they are, they only made one interstate go through New Orleans, it used to be 2 lanes each direction, but last year they upgraded it to 3 lanes each direction for a stretch of 4 entire miles. They also added a huge pumping station which pumps all the water out of the city into the lake (Lake Ponchantrain) which is just north of the city. Once the water gets into the lake, it will flow back down to the city where it will be pumped back into the lake. ALL this happens while the Mississippi is flodding it's 7ft high leevies (keep in mind these leves are 7ft from the ground which is 9ft below sea level, so the top of the leavies are still 2ft below sea level.)
But their evacuation procedure is the kicker. The 2 lanes each way turn into 4 lanes all going west. But before they get out of the city, the have to go UNDER a set of railroad tracks. Yes, all 4 lanes must go under a set of railroad tracks to get out of the city. If I remember right, the lowest point there is around 20ft below sea level. And just so there is no doubt, they went under the railroad tracks, not over, on the only interstate they have, which is 4 lanes total.
Being as smart as they are, they only made one interstate go through New Orleans, it used to be 2 lanes each direction, but last year they upgraded it to 3 lanes each direction for a stretch of 4 entire miles. They also added a huge pumping station which pumps all the water out of the city into the lake (Lake Ponchantrain) which is just north of the city. Once the water gets into the lake, it will flow back down to the city where it will be pumped back into the lake. ALL this happens while the Mississippi is flodding it's 7ft high leevies (keep in mind these leves are 7ft from the ground which is 9ft below sea level, so the top of the leavies are still 2ft below sea level.)
But their evacuation procedure is the kicker. The 2 lanes each way turn into 4 lanes all going west. But before they get out of the city, the have to go UNDER a set of railroad tracks. Yes, all 4 lanes must go under a set of railroad tracks to get out of the city. If I remember right, the lowest point there is around 20ft below sea level. And just so there is no doubt, they went under the railroad tracks, not over, on the only interstate they have, which is 4 lanes total.
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