On Wednesday 07 September 2005 08:45, RC Macaulay wrote: > BlankA few years back A flood caught Houston sleeping. Flood water entered > the basements of major building and hospitals. These facilities all had > standby diesel powered electric generators located in the basement adjacent > to the incoming underground electric power service and switchgear. > Supposedly, thereafter, every city and hospital was notified of the > potential risk of locating standby power supplies below grade level where > flood waters can disable generators and swithgear. Storm doors and larger > sump pumps were later added after the recovery. > > Only a small segment of New Orleans should ever be rebuilt. There is no way > to provide protection for future flooding unless the city is rebuilt upon > the mother of all gambling casino barges... hmmm ! > > Richard
Richard, Oh yes it can be rebuilt! I say this as a native of Sacramento, California. For those of we Vortexians that are from the Golden State, we know that the great valley, the San Joaquin Valley, is about sea level near the Carquinez Strait, and used to flood every year with the snow run-off from the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This has been largley controlled by the California Water Project, a collection of dams, power stations, artificial lakes and enhanced natural ones such as Lake Almanor, the most beautiful lake in the United States. Now down to Sacramento. This city is on a vast area known geographically as a 'prairie', meaning a kind in intermittant swamp. It is a prairie because of the above reason. Sacramento was built by folks that did not know this fact very well, but they DID know what happened when the rivers flooded. The Sacramento River and the American River merge in Sacramento on their way to the Pacific. After Sacramento, the water rides on down through small towns surrounded by levees, like 'Ryde', 'Arcata', etc. What the old city fathers did was after one of Sacramentos floods, they took stock and raised the level of the city by 13 feet! That's right, they took gold mine tailings, fill, any soil and rock they could get and raised the whole city. Some buildings were lifted; others not. Whenever a contract is let for construction downtown now and the project proceeds, it is dependable that old buildings will be found, foundations, walls, and even empty rooms that for some reason have not caved in have been found as much as thirty feet below present street level...some wanted to fill in some more...and did. The point is, new Orleans can be filled in as well. Those areas of the city that are sinking can be filled in more to compensate. Realize that old Sacramento was a bit smaller than modern New Orleans, but this can, I repeat CAN, be done. Standing Bear, BSCE much old and substandard construction will have to be leveled to the ground to make way for this. The end product will be a healthier and safer city.
