Pruning the Mississippi

Credit: USGS and NASA

Hurricane Katrina demolished New Orleans 10 years ago.

Extensive studies done after Katrina verified what lifelong residents of southeastern Louisiana already knew: Unless the rapidly disappearing wetlands are made healthy again, restoring the natural defense, New Orleans will soon lay naked against the sea

So, how does one reengineer the entire Mississippi River delta—one of the largest in the world—on which New Orleans lies?

Three international engineering and design teams have reached a startling answer: leave the mouth of the Mississippi River to die. Let the badly failing wetlands there completely wither away, becoming open water, so that the upper parts of the delta closer to the city can be saved.

LINK (via: Gizmodo)

Remembering Katrina

Via: The Big Picture.

Five years ago, Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, centered on New Orleans, as a Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 125 mph (205 km/h). More than fifty levees were breached by its storm surge, causing massive flooding. Over 1,800 Gulf Coast residents lost their lives then, and damages totaled more than $80 billion - the costliest hurricane in U.S. history. Many intangible things were damaged then as well, communities were erased as their neighborhoods washed away, much of historic New Orleans was badly damaged, and frustration and anger remain towards an inadequate immediate response by the U.S. government. Collected here are images from five years ago, as well as some from the past few weeks, in New Orleans and the surrounding area.

LINK

I just watched the first part of Spike Lee's HBO Documentary, "If God Is Willing And Da Creek Don't Rise."  It's a sobering reminder of the challenges that area and it's residents still face post Katrina and the Gulf Oil Spill.