This news flash just came in.

Mayor Ray Nagin orders New Orleans evacuated, calling Hurricane Gustav "the mother of all storms."Hoping all our fodorites there will be ok.

Mayor Nagin does not inspire confidence in me.

I think New Orleans also needs a critical look at whether this is really a viable city and whether massive federal monies should continue to be poured into this rehabilitated swamp.

Marginal,

Maybe we should reconsider whether San Francisco should be built where it is, on a fault line, or where San Diego or Los Angeles are built, where fires can occur at any moment. Oh, and abandon the Midwest, I mean they had all that flooding this summer and they have tornadoes. Oh, and abandon the Northeast because of all the blizzards in the winter.

I'm not suggesting that we abandon New Orleans.

But- there is a big difference between a blizzard - which is a major inconvenience for a few days but causes little permanent damage and a city built below sea level.

As for earthquakes - there are ways of designing buildings that make them much more resistant. And it is possible to take fire prevention measures (as in making starting one of them not just a fine but an offense punishable by jail time.)

Obviously building below sea level can be successful - the Dutch have done it - but they don;t face frequent hurricanes. I think it is apparent that some sort of long-term solution needs to be developed for New Orleans - beyond just prayers and rebuilding.

I'd hate to see New Orleans go away, but it may happen by default.

They lost a significant number of the working population with Katrina and if this one is as bad as forecasted, will likely loose even more this time around.

Between the terrible school system and the graft/corruption, businesses are avoiding it like the plague. The tourism industry is suffering with the lack of skilled and unskilled labor.

It may just waste away to a port area and little else.

It would be a shame!

They need two plans. One for this immediate disaster. Another for the future because seems this is likely to keep happening.

"As for earthquakes - there are ways of designing buildings that make them much more resistant."

The same goes for floods. The Netherlands have built for a 1000 year flood. So can New Orleans.

The fact is that the levees held this time around, no doubt due to the improvements that were made.

Also, homes can be elevated above the flood plain. One CNN announcer as in Grand Isle waiting out the storm. He was in a "Cat 5 hurricane resistant" home and he was safe the whole time. The fact is that if we can spend money making buildings earthquake resistant along the West Coast, we can do the same for hurricanes along the Gulf Coast.

Maybe we can give it back to the French.

Curious

The Dutch never said any such thing. I worked with them, and they were perplexed with the problems of the region.

In Holland they don't have a "subsiding" problem. Land is slowly sinking and sliding slowly into the gulf. That CANNOT be stopped!

For ex. the Mississippi Gulf Outlet has sunk nearly 3 feet since it was built.

By the time levies are built to combat a Cat 5, the land will have sunk enough that they will be back at the drawing board.

Other issues that the Dutch thought were nearly imposible to combat was the the shear force of hurricanes, which is a far stronger force than the North Sea that the Dutch deal with.

Finally just to look at it as a socio economic point....we're talking Rotterdam vs New Orleans, and the protection of the WHOLE nation of Holland!

Taking emotion out of this, what is the real value of the region? Of course we love N.O. but at some point it is diminishing returns.

Now that Obama is in office and we are heading to a new energy alternative future (chuckle chuckle) the importance of Louisiana is even less important. Besides it cost a whole lot less to build a refinery than it will cost to combat mother nature.

Go see N.O while you can, but I wouldn't worry about it, I'm sure it will exist for our life time.