Hurricane Isaac

[days_unfolding]

People's comments on CNN's articles about Hurricane Isaac are driving me crazy; apparently they looked at two words of the articles and then spouted off. I've been watching CNN and the Weather Channel and reading CNN as much as I can since last night, and this is my understanding what's been going on:

• The levees in New Orleans did not break and were not overtopped. (This means that the area that flooded last time did not flood again.) There is some street flooding from the rain.


• Power is out in much of New Orleans, and probably much of southeastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi and Alabama.


• I read that two houses in New Orleans collapsed, but haven't read or heard anything else about it.


• A levee was overtopped and broke (I think) in Plaquemines Parish, which is a rural area SE of New Orleans. It's the area where the Mississippi meets the Gulf, and it was hit hard during the BP spill. The area that flooded did not flood during Hurricane Katrina, so people's comments about an area that floods "every five years" does not apply. (By the way, it's been seven years since Katrina.)


• People in Plaquemines Parish were told to evacuate before the storm, but some people did not, and had to be rescued. I have to admit that I'm not feeling too sorry for them unless they couldn't afford to evacuate. On the other hand, they did lose all their possessions.


• I heard that the Army Corps of Engineers decided not to reinforce the levees in Plaquemines Parish because of the small population; I also have heard that the state had money put aside to reinforce those levees, but for some reason, it never happened.

I feel much better now -;)

Comments

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

I did see one guy say that he'd lost everything in Katrina and lost everything again in Isaac, and he didn't think it was likely that he'd be coming back. Guess for some people it just takes a couple of hard ones upside the head to make them realize that living in a flood plain that gets hit regularly isn't maybe the brightest thing to do.

[cyberpigue.livejournal.com]

I was looking at Google Maps pics of Biloxi out of curiosity yesterday to see what had become of Katrina there by now. People have rebuilt houses south of the railroad tracks (sort of a natural boundary for surge) and were back to life as usual. From living there for 13 years I came to learn that most people whose families have been around "forever" seem to stay.

Personally, I like that areas, but you can move just 5 miles inland and not have to be concerned about surge. That's what causes the most damage. The remaining threat exists almost anywhere you choose to live - water, storm, mud, quake, fire...

The 2009 flood in Cedar Rapids easily caused as much damage per capita as coastal flooding.

[days-unfolding.livejournal.com]

Did you like living in Biloxi? I've been thinking that if I ever retire, I'd like to live on the Gulf, although I was thinking about the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area.

[days-unfolding.livejournal.com]

Oops, you just said that you liked the area. My eyes aren't entirely awake yet....(I work second shift.)