Amsterdam Is Below Sea Level, But Never Floods
A lot of folks are thinking that you had to be stupid to live in New Orleans, but my daughter Maria lived there for a while in summer 2001, and I'm sure glad she moved back to Manhattan in time for the WTO disaster! As one of the world's most beautiful cities, founded by the French colonials and filled with beautiful architecture, stately neighborhoods, and cultural history, it might have received some respect, and its people some protection.
Protection from nature? From disastrous tropical storms? From flooding we knew could happen? Yes, like the Dutch provided for Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and the entire Dutch nation — half of which lies below sea level.
“... compared the New Orleans disaster to flooding in the Netherlands in 1953. Both regions are at or below sea level and were protected by poorly maintained defenses, RMS explained.
The Dutch flood led to more than 1,800 deaths and the inundation of 47,000 properties. It took six months to pump out all the water from the flood bowl.
RMS's economic-loss projection is different from its earlier estimate of ”insured losses,“ which only include the cost of damage and disruption that's covered by insurance policies. Insured losses may be as high as $25 billion, RMS said earlier this week.
More than 400 insurers, reinsurers, trading companies and other financial-services firms rely on RMS to help them gauge and deal with the cost of catastrophes.”
Personally, I feel the suggestion to abandon New Orleans is a sad demonstration of how lazy, apathetic and unfeeling most Americans have become-and that is what truly scares me!
Now the whole country is a ware that it is below sea level. That's not new, that has always been fact. We know a break in the levees can be castatrophic. That's not new, engineers have predicted that for years. The only thing that is new is we now know how a country and a state with all of the engineering intellect needed to keep New Orleans physically safe and secure failed New Orleans and it's citizens miserably.
The ability to rebuild New Orleans and secure her safely for generations to come was not consumed by the flood waters. It still here. New Orleans deserves the full support of this country to be rebuilt. We don't condemn and destroy children because they had poor parents (stewards)and were not properly cared for. In a somewhat analagous way, New Orleans has suffered from poor stewards. Surely we can't possibly think that this magnificent City should remain “buried” because we fail to properly care for it.
Protection from nature? From disastrous tropical storms? From flooding we knew could happen? Yes, like the Dutch provided for Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and the entire Dutch nation — half of which lies below sea level.
Welcome To the Netherlands wrote:
The Netherlands is best known for its tulips, windmills and clogs. And for its low altitude and vulnerability to flooding.
The Netherlands lies on the delta of three major rivers: the Rhine, Maas and Scheldt. It owes its existence to feats of hydraulic engineering.
The Dutch are proud of their conquest of water. Their struggle to keep dry has helped them develop a can-do attitude. And since controlling water requires many parties to meet and plan together, it has forced them to learn how to work as a team. That is why their European partners and the broader international community regard the Dutch as bridge builders and often ask them to serve as such.
Floods
The Netherlands’ many bridges, dykes, windmills and pumping stations give it a unique appearance and illustrate its long struggle against the sea. The crowning achievement was the Delta Project, a chain of dams protecting Zeeland and South Holland from the North Sea.
Work on the Delta Project began after the 1953 floods, and it ended in 1997 with the completion of a storm surge barrier in the Nieuwe Waterweg. The barrier has two enormous hinged gates that can be lowered in severe weather to close off the 360-metre-wide waterway. It protects greater Rotterdam’s one million inhabitants from flooding without harming the environment.
A quarter of the Netherlands’ land area lies below sea level. The low-lying areas consist mainly of “polders”, flat stretches of land, surrounded by dikes, where the water table is controlled artificially. From the 16th century, windmills were used not just to keep the land dry, but even to drain entire inland lakes.
http://www.minbuza.nl/default.asp?CMS_ITEM=MBZ300136
Risk Mgmt Svcs Compares New Orleans flood the 1953 Flooding
Actually the Wall Street Journal on September 06, 2005“... compared the New Orleans disaster to flooding in the Netherlands in 1953. Both regions are at or below sea level and were protected by poorly maintained defenses, RMS explained.
The Dutch flood led to more than 1,800 deaths and the inundation of 47,000 properties. It took six months to pump out all the water from the flood bowl.
RMS's economic-loss projection is different from its earlier estimate of ”insured losses,“ which only include the cost of damage and disruption that's covered by insurance policies. Insured losses may be as high as $25 billion, RMS said earlier this week.
More than 400 insurers, reinsurers, trading companies and other financial-services firms rely on RMS to help them gauge and deal with the cost of catastrophes.”
Finally a Voice of Reason
A yahoo article now claims that according to some poll 55% of Americans feel New Orleans should be abandoned. That is rediculous and disrespectful to the people of New Orleans as well as our national history and culture. It would be a great loss to abandon New Orleans.Personally, I feel the suggestion to abandon New Orleans is a sad demonstration of how lazy, apathetic and unfeeling most Americans have become-and that is what truly scares me!
Why Doom the Child Because of Bad Parents
I have only visited New Orleans twice in my whole life (55 years). So I don't have some childhood vision of how greater a place this was to grow up in or live. What I do know is, New Orleans has proven to be a major economic engine for the State of Louisiana, the Gulf Coast and even this Country. To many, it holds a very significant and unique cultural place in their hearts. I was reading a feature article about how New Orleans had become the one place in the country that people went to enjoy culture and recreation experiences that took them beyond the every day boundaries of life.Now the whole country is a ware that it is below sea level. That's not new, that has always been fact. We know a break in the levees can be castatrophic. That's not new, engineers have predicted that for years. The only thing that is new is we now know how a country and a state with all of the engineering intellect needed to keep New Orleans physically safe and secure failed New Orleans and it's citizens miserably.
The ability to rebuild New Orleans and secure her safely for generations to come was not consumed by the flood waters. It still here. New Orleans deserves the full support of this country to be rebuilt. We don't condemn and destroy children because they had poor parents (stewards)and were not properly cared for. In a somewhat analagous way, New Orleans has suffered from poor stewards. Surely we can't possibly think that this magnificent City should remain “buried” because we fail to properly care for it.