Comments on: Satellite view of flooding in Louisiana

By: holtt

holtt — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I could not help but laugh today when an NPR story referred to the Mississippi river flowing “up the Yazoo”

By: forgeweld

forgeweld — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Build in a floodplain, get flooded, go back when the water comes down.

By: querent

querent — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I was born right on Canal Street, grew up just about an hour from New Orleans, and spent many a night, in my wayward youth, prowling through its streets and alleys, awash in the putrid-sweet stench and perfume of that fairest of American cities. A monument to decadence, a necessary antipode in the depths of the bible belt, a citadel of sin.

But I gotta say, it seems like the river should be free. And it seems like out efforts to keep it fixed are doomed and foolish. I understand there are logistics, but it seems like adaptation should be the watchword here.

By: Bloo

Bloo — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I don’t think I personally believe this, but has there been any undercurrent in the floodplain of “sure, flood the poor folk and help the better-off in the cities” ?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

@Bloo — Yes, there has. The areas being flooded are generally populated by low-income households, much of the population there are farmers, fisherman or work on oil rigs.

And to anyone who thinks, “Well, just don’t live there” — I don’t see you complaining about the goods that are grown/fished/created in these areas and then shipped all over the country. You’re enjoying those items that these people are producing — try having a little sympathy next time you’re adding some sugar (much of the US sugar supply is from Louisiana) to your coffee (much of which enters the country through New Orleans) or enjoying some nice fresh seafood.

By: Valkyrie607

Valkyrie607 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

And yet you will still hear people saying that they don’t take global warming seriously, because it’s hubris to think that us puny humans could have an effect on something so vast as the global climate.

I reckon it’s because people have a hard time understanding how big a number 6.6 billion is.

By: Beverly Stayart

Beverly Stayart — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I grew up near the Mississippi River and have personally seen the devastation spring floods can cause. The economic effects are incalculable.

By: perchecreek

perchecreek — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I wrote a paper for an engineering geology class called “Rethinking the Old River Control Structure”, and I’ve posted the presentation to flickr: flickr.com/photos/62993624@N08/sets/72157626726778696/ (or search flickr for user ‘craniata.net’, and open the set titled “Atchafalaya: Rethinking the Old River Control Structure”).

I was mainly focused on the geology side of things: in the narrow view, why does river avulsion occur where it does?; and in the broader view, what are the basin wide geologic inputs to, and results of, human flood control, especially on flood control structures such as the Old River Control Structure.