[Rhodes22-list] This Is Not A Waste Of Your Time

[Brad Haslett]

Bill,

This disaster was a long time in the making and the Army Corp, to their
credit, has accepted responsibility.  Now that it's done, what is the proper
response?  Certainly it is in our national interest to maintain a working
ship channel to the sea.  A valid question is, what is the responsibility of
the 295 million Americans who choose to live above sea level to the
1.5million who don't?  I can't help but think it would be far cheaper
to just
give every flood victim of NOLA a check for $200K and tell them to move to
higher ground. Maybe we could build a high-speed rail from their new
location back to the city. Of course that won't happen.  It looks to me we
may be fighting a battle against nature that we'll never win in the long
run.  If I'm wrong, we'll buy some more trucks and start hauling dirt! I've
met a lot of older folks along the Gulf that went through Camille, and now
Katrina, and made the decision that "enough is enough".  They're moving
inland.  That is a painful emotional choice for them but probably wise in
the long run.

Brad

Brad


On 6/25/06, Bill Effros <bill at effros.com> wrote:
>
> Brad,
>
> If the levees are built properly, 3 feet of elevation is all they need.
> I think they are moving it up to 6, but it makes no difference if you
> allow the lake to overflow the land.  There is no way to pump the water
> back out, and the depths reach 10 to 20 feet.  The natural problems are
> well understood.  There will be hurricane damage to water front property
> sometimes.  But if the government cuts canals into the heart of a city
> it has a responsibility to build the canals to its own specifications,
> or fill them in.
>
> These are lower middle class people, black and white.  They can't afford
> to build homes that cost 1 1/2 times what they would cost if they didn't
> have to worry about levee failures.  How high off the ground should
> people sitting below Grand Coulee Dam build their houses?
>
> The New Orleans situation is fundamentally different from the
> Mississippi situation, and the people of New Orleans have had trouble
> making this point.  What you are seeing in Mississippi is primarily
> hurricane damage.  In New Orleans it is primarily flood damage caused by
> the failure of government built levees.  The hurricane missed New
> Orleans for all intents and purposes.
>
> Bill Effros
>
> Brad Haslett wrote:
> > Bill,
> >
> >> From the get-go I said the new rule for real estate on the gulf would
> be
> > elevation, elevation, elevation.  That is rapidly becoming true
> > unless you're talking high-rise commercial construction with the first
> > three
> > floors a parking garage.  We toyed with the idea of building houses and
> > quickly decided it wasn't our area of expertise, and, we couldn't feed
> > the
> > beast we'd already started.  That being said, I had several
> conversations
> > with a concrete home architect from Florida.  He designs homes using
> SIPS
> > (structurally insulated panels) using concrete board instead of OSB
> > (orientated strand board).  We discussed at length the problems of
> > elevation
> > and flooding and I agree with his thinking.  You have to build with
> > the idea
> > that you're going to take a bath now and then.  It is easy to take the
> > wind
> > hit and survive some water, not so easy to fight the mold.  It can be
> > done,
> > but not with conventional stick building, insulation, and flooring.  If
> > lower elevation NOLA is rebuilt (I don't have a dog in that hunt) they
> > either need to spend billions and billions on bigger and better levees
> or
> > design the houses to take a bath and dry out.  Or, do what the
> > Mississippi
> > Gulf did after Camille and rebuild just like it was and wonder "what the
> > hell just happened?" 36 years later.
> >
> > Thanks for the pics.
> >
> > Brad
> >
> >
> > On 6/24/06, Bill Effros <bill at effros.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> Thanks, Brad,
> >>
> >> We took the same drive 4 months later.  The flood damage is
> >> heartbreaking, and comprises 95% of the total damage.  In other wards
> >> the houses are still standing, but they are rotting from the inside
> >> out.  The lower 9th ward is not physically lower than most of the rest
> >> of New Orleans.  We followed the water as it swept toward the
> >> Mississippi.  Homes that had 4 feet of standing water for 3 months were
> >> just as ruined as homes with 10 feet of standing water.  Many of the
> >> homes were 3 feet off the ground, but that just wasn't enough in many
> >> places.
> >>
> >> The home of a friend was 7 feet above the ground and they got only 6
> >> feet of water.  No damage.  2 blocks away they had 8 feet of water and
> >> no way to get rid of it.  People's entire histories wound up in
> >> dumpsters.  They were still carting it away when we got there.
> >>
> >> 3 pictures follow from the white Lakeview section:
> >>
> >> Eat at Joe's
> >>
> >> Slight Water Damage
> >>
> >> Sad Boat Picture
> >>
> >> Bill Effros
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Brad Haslett wrote:
> >> > Here's some good video of NOLA.  We're not involved there and have no
> >> > plans
> >> > to be.  The Mississippi Gulf Coast was where Katrina hit but that
> gets
> >> > overshadowed by NOLA.  Our heart and our sweat is invested in
> >> > Mississippi.
> >> > Bill E is close to New Orleans and could give you a better
> >> > perspective. This
> >> > video is worth watching.  Every image you see is duplicated on the
> >> coast.
> >> >
> >> > Brad
> >> >
> >> > http://www.novacvideo.org/
> >> > __________________________________________________
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> >> >
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