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New Orleans

Posted: September 1st, 2008, 10:47 am
by Hold My Own
I'm not trying to start another hurricane thread but I just want to know why in the world anyone would want to live below sea level and have to deal with flooding like these folks have to deal with. I've visited there and is one of my favorite places in the world but can you live nearby and be sea level and just visit often???

Posted: September 1st, 2008, 10:51 am
by Fumblerooskies
To me...its no different than the folks in CA that live on the sides of cliffs...or the folks with the high dollar houses on the Gulf or on the Atlantic. It's a risk some are willing to take.

Posted: September 1st, 2008, 11:35 am
by Sly Fox
Most of Houston is below sea level. It is just a fact you work around. We flood a great deal because of it (primarily street flooding). So you build houses on your lots further up in the air to compensate and then move on.

Posted: September 1st, 2008, 11:39 am
by thepostman
most of Florida is under sea level and I can not wait to get back to Florida at some point in my life....i guess its the risk you take...but i love it there

Posted: September 1st, 2008, 11:41 am
by TylerBakersGonnaBGreat
thepostman wrote:most of Florida is under sea level and I can not wait to get back to Florida at some point in my life....i guess its the risk you take...but i love it there

Amen.

Re: New Orleans

Posted: September 1st, 2008, 4:01 pm
by flamesbball84
Hold My Own wrote:I'm not trying to start another hurricane thread but I just want to know why in the world anyone would want to live below sea level and have to deal with flooding like these folks have to deal with. I've visited there and is one of my favorite places in the world but can you live nearby and be sea level and just visit often???
i wonder the same thing. i dont think it's worth living somewhere if every summer you are at a high risk for having to rebuild your house...

Posted: September 1st, 2008, 5:10 pm
by Hold My Own
I understand there are other cities "below sea level" but you have to admit that New Orleans is the largest city that deals with severe flooding every few years that will wipe out part or most of the city....sure every city has an area that may flood and ruin a neighborhood but we're talking about an entire city being crushed....




it looks like the Levey's (sp?) will hold....but we're talking about an 8 foot wall that was the difference between you having to build a new home and you still having a home

Posted: September 1st, 2008, 8:17 pm
by Sly Fox
Google "Tropical Storm Allison" and check out the devastation here in Houston from a small storm.

Posted: September 1st, 2008, 9:35 pm
by RubberMallet
humans generally are stupid...

Posted: September 1st, 2008, 9:53 pm
by scuzdriver
RubberMallet wrote:humans generally are stupid...
That's why me and Medic will always have job security!

Posted: September 1st, 2008, 9:55 pm
by Hold My Own
RubberMallet wrote:humans generally are stupid...

Yeah, it doesnt seem to bright....not to mention if I was some of these families living in poverty where I prob couldnt afford insurance and let alone flood insurance.....just doesnt seem bright.

Posted: September 1st, 2008, 10:22 pm
by RubberMallet
i'm not too insensitive...i know there are some people who can only afford to live in certain places....

but when i see well to do white people saying things like "we were just starting to rebuild!!" and in tears, i can't help but think....M.O.R.O.N

Posted: September 2nd, 2008, 8:14 am
by flamesbball84
RubberMallet wrote:i'm not too insensitive...i know there are some people who can only afford to live in certain places....

but when i see well to do white people saying things like "we were just starting to rebuild!!" and in tears, i can't help but think....M.O.R.O.N
exactly, which is what pisses me off about people who live in such areas, which is precisely what I've been saying on the gustav thread...

Posted: September 2nd, 2008, 9:07 am
by Realist
Quick, Hanna is coming, let's tell everyone on the Atlantic Coast they shouldn't live there. Let's also move everyone off the Pacific Coast too. We'll all live in caves in the Midwest.

By the way, it was 25 years since a major hurricane hit N.O., it's not under threat any more than anywhere on the coast is.

It's surprising how dumb you guys are.

Posted: September 2nd, 2008, 9:15 am
by ToTheLeft
I guess when you never live in it, you become kinda clueless to the whole situation. I lived on the gulf coast of Florida, 8 feet below sea level, for most of my life. Know how many times my house flooded out?


Wait for it.....
ZERO!

Natural disasters are just that, disasters. They suck. But running from a place with hurricanes isn't going to save you from disasters.

Let's say you leave New Orleans because you're scared of more hurricanes.

You move to Kansas...

and promptly get your house blown away by a tornado, and hail destroys your car.

Or a blizzard in the north, or an earthquake, or a flash flood of the James River that covers Lynchburg, ya know.

Disasters.

That happen.

And suck.

But you live knowing that you have no control over it, and can only worry about making sure you are prepared to make yourself safe should something occur. I would almost rather have to deal with a hurricane because you have more time to get out of the way of it and seek shelter somewhere else. The same can't be said for most other catastrophes.

Posted: September 2nd, 2008, 9:27 am
by Hold My Own
Realist wrote:Quick, Hanna is coming, let's tell everyone on the Atlantic Coast they shouldn't live there. Let's also move everyone off the Pacific Coast too. We'll all live in caves in the Midwest.

By the way, it was 25 years since a major hurricane hit N.O., it's not under threat any more than anywhere on the coast is.

It's surprising how dumb you guys are.

I know what you mean...but seriously a 8 foot wall is what determines if you have hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage or not...very few other areas rely on something that's needed as much as that



EDIT: I didnt see the dumb part...which to you is dumb? Having everything I own being safe from a man made 8 foot wall? Or making my 7.50/hr somewhere else where natural disasters are decreased tenfold

Posted: September 2nd, 2008, 9:34 am
by RubberMallet
Realist wrote:Quick, Hanna is coming, let's tell everyone on the Atlantic Coast they shouldn't live there. Let's also move everyone off the Pacific Coast too. We'll all live in caves in the Midwest.

By the way, it was 25 years since a major hurricane hit N.O., it's not under threat any more than anywhere on the coast is.

It's surprising how dumb you guys are.
quick get on the phone!

Posted: September 2nd, 2008, 9:51 am
by Realist
Hold My Own wrote:
Realist wrote:Quick, Hanna is coming, let's tell everyone on the Atlantic Coast they shouldn't live there. Let's also move everyone off the Pacific Coast too. We'll all live in caves in the Midwest.

By the way, it was 25 years since a major hurricane hit N.O., it's not under threat any more than anywhere on the coast is.

It's surprising how dumb you guys are.

I know what you mean...but seriously a 8 foot wall is what determines if you have hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage or not...very few other areas rely on something that's needed as much as that



EDIT: I didnt see the dumb part...which to you is dumb? Having everything I own being safe from a man made 8 foot wall? Or making my 7.50/hr somewhere else where natural disasters are decreased tenfold


Maybe you should move to N.O. if you are making 7.50 an hour, there is a lot of money down there.

Every area is a threat from natural disasters. Even if that weren't true, if we moved everyone away from areas that were threatened, the country wouldn't function. And let's not pretend every house is automatically destroyed by a little flooding. It takes many factors coming together to top the levees, and it has happened once in 25 years. Many houses were fine after Katrina as well, it's called buiding a hurricane resistant house.

Posted: September 2nd, 2008, 9:56 am
by Hold My Own
oh no brother I wasnt speaking on behalf of me but rather the percent living in poverty there

Posted: September 2nd, 2008, 9:57 am
by Hold My Own
I enjoy meat sometimes rather then opinons
Rank of New Orleans compared to other large cities with population over 100,000:

Percentage of population that is African-American: 5th

Percentage of population in poverty: 8th
Rank of Louisiana compared to other states:

Percent of population living in poverty areas: 1st

Percent of population born in state of residence: 1st

Lowest median household income: 3rd

Portion of households headed by single women with children: 2nd

Portion of workforce that is unemployed: 3rd

And judging by the other numbers found with these, it appears very few can afford to event think about owning a house...let alone a house that is "hurricane resistant"

Posted: September 2nd, 2008, 10:01 am
by RagingTireFire
So, basically, you're saying that Louisiana was a dump to begin with?

Posted: September 2nd, 2008, 10:03 am
by Hold My Own
dump...no, again it's one of my favorite places...it's just a place in poverty where very few are able to say "that's sad everything i own is lost, let's call up the insurance company and start over!"

Posted: September 2nd, 2008, 10:20 am
by Realist
Just like any other major city, N.O. has a high poor urban population. There is also plenty of wealth there as well. So you're of the opinion that all the poor people should be moved out? That is going to be cheaper than rebuilding? Who exactly are going to perform the low paying jobs to keep the city and port functioning? Should we shut down New Orleans and ruin the national economy?

Posted: September 2nd, 2008, 10:30 am
by RubberMallet
don't all the poor people live in houston now?

Posted: September 2nd, 2008, 10:36 am
by RagingTireFire
Realist wrote:Who exactly are going to perform the low paying jobs to keep the city and port functioning?
Mexicans.