The Next Big Catastophe May Bury New Orleans Underwater (Photo : Reuters)
"The Lost Atlantis" is a story of a once powerful city devoured by the sea, which has not been found yet by explorers. While the tale may sound fictional, the possibility of a current city, New Orleans, being the next underwater city is very real.
Ten years have passed since Hurricane Katrina. Architects and engineers in New Orleans are busy constructing levees in preparation for future disasters, The Guardian reported.
Prior to Hurricane Katrina, New Orleanians thought the Cresent city to be architecturally secured. Concerns on sinking urban footprint, shrinking coastal buffer, and rising sea level, were solved with durable stormwater infrastructures.
In August 2005, New Orleans was a gigantic swimming pool. Hundreds of people died and 134,000 houses were destroyed.
The US Army Corps of Engineers faced questions on the storm's aftermath. In a geographic perspective, New Orleans had been vulnerable long before the storm's arrival. Tulane University geographer Richard Campanella asserted the need of New Orleans to take a look at geography and history.
"There are some people who only put the focus on engineering factors," Campanella says.
Man-made levees and drainage system shielded the metropolis from the seasonal flooding of the Great Mississippi River. Undisturbed by natural phenomena, the city's economy grew and more buildings were put up. Massive and continues constructions may have altered the city's environment, making it vulnerable to storms.
Three centuries ago, residents lived with nature. Seasonal floods were considered normal. People expected them and were quick to move. There were fewer buildings, said Jeff Hebert director of the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority and the city's chief resilience officer.
After the 1930s, residents became obsessed with building infrastructures Massive storm defence gave a people a sense of security and they went on constructing buildings.
"We've been able to create a metropolis, but we've interrupted those processes at the same time," Campanella says.
The Army Corps rebuilt the metropolitan area's 133-mile flood protection system, MSN reported. Earthen levees, floodwalls, gates, pumps were built with a $14.5 Billion budget from the US Congress. The perimeter has been pushed out and is now more heavily defended.
"The baseline now is much higher than it was in the past," says Cedric Grant, executive director of the city's Sewerage and Water Board.
The construction of drainage and the development of backswamps have led roughly half of New Orleans's land to sink below sea level. Between 1932 and 2010, approximately 1,900 square miles of land in southeast Louisiana was devoured by water according to the US Geological Survey.
According to historian John M. Barry, a former member of one of greater New Orleans's levee board, something should be done in the next 15 years. If the problem is not averted, another 300 to 500 square miles of Louisiana will disappear. "Loss will continue after that, turning New Orleans into a potential Atlantis with walls of levees holding back the sea," Barry said.
