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: Legally Blonde Ambition

Make Levees Not War*

By "Daisy Duke"

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So I'm going to try to the best of my ability to explain New Orleans: its sea-levelness, its levee system and why it is so vulnerable. I'd like to start by saying I'm no expert, this is my best shot at an explanation but if any natives (NolaNotes & the like) find an error, please feel free to correct. I realize that for those who aren't from NOLA or who haven't spent a lot of time there, this whole "pray the levees hold" concept might be a bit...weird. Please remember however, I'm no scientist, engineer or professional "explainer" and I'm using photos I found all over the internet. This isn't the gold standard, but rather a crude explanation.

New Orleans was settled in 1718 by the French Mississippi Company. (And contrary to popular belief, the architecture in the French Quarter is actually...Spanish. The Spanish were in control of the city when it was rebuilt after the fire. Only two of the original French buildings remain.)

Prior to settling, the Mississippi River would flood the area every year, depositing a new layer of silt & dirt on top of what was already there...building it back up. Hurricanes or storms would come, take dirt away, and then later, nature would replace it with the river. Furthermore, the wetlands region (think of the Florida Everglades, a swamp, a bayou, etc) was HUGE. It acted as a bit of a natural sponge- a storm would come, but as it spent its time passing over the wetlands, the wetlands absorbed water & surge, helping to protect the inland area.

Furthermore, the "surge" that the news keeps talking about- that is ocean water that is shoved into the region by the sheer force of the storm. Imagine a strong breeze blowing across a swimming pool- water & waves will beat on the far end of the pool in the direction of the breeze. Well the same thing happens in nature- the gulf pushes up the rivers, into the wetlands, pushes into the lakes. That combined with heavy heavy rains creates a whole lotta water.

Lets take a look at the city, which is "fenced" by the Mississippi River, Lake Pontchartrain and of course, the Gulf is not too far away. The first map is from the 1800's, showing the older parts of the city built on the high ground near the river & nearby Gretna:

And then, to get your bearings, the city as it relates to the river & lake(s):

And finally, a little close up of the city & its neighborhoods, with the main interstate, I-10, running through it. See how getting in & out of the city is a wee bit...limited? The green line over the Lake is the Causeway Bridge, featured on Modern Marvels as the longest bridges in the world by total length (23 miles long!!)

This is what driving North over the Causeway looks like....you can see the massive Lake you are driving over, that eventually filled up New Orleans during Katrina:

So the original part of the city was the Quarter, built on the highest ground. The Uptown/Garden district followed, on the next highest ground. The city was built like patchwork, taking the highest grounds first, and so on & so forth. Slowly the levees sprung up- blocking the Mississippi River flooding. As a result, the precious silt wasn't deposited on the city every year. In 1910 an engineer came up with the pumping system to pump out the low-lying areas, and more levees were built and the city's footprint spread. A major port city, with a U.S. mint, New Orleans was vital to the United States. However, with the levees and other man-made development, the wetlands began to shrink & the river's course was altered.

Tourists are most familiar with the French Quarter & the Garden District/Uptown...so here is a map of the Uptown/Garden District area, complete with a version with some Daisy Paint Art:

And here is the French Quarter area...see the small green square by the river? That is the Cathedral & Jackson Square area...see photo below.... My favorite building in the area is the old Cabildo building, which now houses a Louisiana/Mardi Gras museum:

So New Orleans is basically a city built in a physically depressed area- you actually walk up to the river banks & the lake. As the levees were built, around the perimeter of the city, they allowed the lake & river depths to rise and fall without rushing over the natural banks and into the "fishbowl" of the city. Complete with pumps, many believed these measures would keep the city dry. Here is a "slice" of the city, showing the height of the lake & the river, and the lack of height of the city itself- the right is the Lake, to the left is the River...and in the middle, the city:

Many of the river levees are quite scenic- large grassy areas that are filled on the weekends with sunbathers, picnics, youth sports & crawfish boils. As technology grew more advanced however, the levees weren't really..updated. Or extended. Or raised.�

Worse, many of the levees were simple walls built along the banks, with no angling or fortification at their bases. Which meant if water started rushing over the edge of the levee (think of your bathtub overflowing, with water pouring over the edge onto the floor) it created a waterfall. And like the rocks at the base of Niagara falls or any other waterfall, the rushing water pounded into the dirt on the other side...which eroded and started creating a "trough"..and the trough let the walls slant and lean under the pressure....allowing more water to rush into the city.

Some of the levees were not over topped however (specifically I believe the 17th Street & London Canal) but instead, the flood walls didn't extend deep enough to withstand the pressure of the extra water. At the time Hurricane Katrina hit, it was the strongest storm on record in the Gulf (later surpassed by Rita, also in 2005). As it slammed to the east of New Orleans, the sheer strength of storm pushed a massive surge of water inland. Through the wetlands, up the rivers & into the lakes. And pretty soon it came from the lakes, over the levees and into the city:

Here is what a levee breach looks like, the water rushing over the breach, equalizing the two levels:

Once the levee is over topped or breached, the chain of events starts-and it isn't stopping until we can plug up the holes or the level of the water in the lake & the city equalize on both sides.If we can't fix the breach, we have to wait for equaliziation, plug up the hole & pump out the water. During Katrina, it was lake levees (actually levees in canals that were fed by lake water) that broke- not Mississippi River levees- and so the whole lake came pouring into the city, only stopping when the water levels were equal on both sides. See that barge in the right hand corner?

You can see it in the top right hand corner of my photo, taken in the lower 9th Ward during the January after the storm- you can also see the Claiborne Ave. bridge...

....which is the same bridge these images were taken from during Gustav. Please note however, that in the Gustav images, the water is splashing over into the 9th Ward- the opposite side of the canal than Katrina. When driving along, you first pass through the 9th Ward, and then over the bridge, into the Lower 9th Ward.

Here, I'll let this labeled image show you an aerial view of two of the breaches along that same Industrial Canal- you can see the bridge labeled, and the barge, as well as the Lower 9th Ward on the right hand side, and the 9th Ward on the left hand side: This map shows you where the major levee breaches were during Katrina...you'll notice there were quite a few breaches along the Industrial Canal (4 total I believe)....the "Zoo" dot near the river on the left side of the map shows you where Uptown is (where there was no flooding). The airport, in Kenner is off the left. You can also see the Superdome & French Quarter dots:

See the blue areas in the image above? That is where the water spread to, as the city-water level slowly equalized with the lake-water level. Which as we all know, turned the city into something like this:

And this...basically the only white, "dry" areas are right along the river banks, whose levees held. The rest of the city took on water at a rapid & terrifying pace:

And it turned New Orleans into this...the yellow house above was in Gentilly, I spent 3 days helping to gut it of the rotten filth it became as it soaked in the toxic water...and the white house, below, was in Lakeview. I spent one day helping to gut & bleach that one... notice the water lines on the car that was in the street. We unfortunately found & buried the dog of the family who called that white house home... This photo is of the Lower 9th Ward and shows the sheer power of the water as it rushed out of the lake and into the city:

So. There it is. The vulnerability of New Orleans...clear as mud I'm sure. Hopefully this helps some of you have a better mental picture of what all the fuss is/was/will be about.

After Katrina, New Orleans learned some valuable lessons, on both the necessity of the integrity of the levee system, and the necessity of information & evacuation. I'm proud that during Gustav people acted, stocking up on food & water, and the city actually helped get people out. Not to say it was perfect- it surely wasn't- but it was a huge step in the right direction. As for the unprecedented evacuation followed by a near-miss? Well, the forecasters were only off by about 30 miles as to where Gustav hit...which means that tiny margin of error, which allowed New Orleans to come through relatively unscathed, was just that- a tiny margin of error. 30 miles closer to New Orleans, and the levees, still undergoing strengthening & fortification (not to be finished until 2011) would have had a much harder time holding back the water.

Whew. I'm not sure I have any eloquent way to wrap that up, other than to say I pray the rest of the Tropical Storm Season goes out with a whimper...and I hope Hurricane Hanna stays far away from the coast of Georgia where my family is.

** Excellent question from Elle Woods. I didn't really explain the canals- which is where the levees were that broke. There were (I believe) 3 main canal levees that broke, all fed from Lake Pontchartrain. The canals served different purposes. The Industrial Canal links the Mississippi River & the Lake- with a lock down at the river end. Barges can also access the Gulf Intracostal Waterway from the Canal, which also has a harbor. There are proposals to build a damn at the Lake end to help prevent catastrophic flooding, but I don't believe any decisions have been made. In comparison, the London Avenue Canal is used to pump rain water into the Lake from the city, and the 17th Street Canal is drainage canal that runs through Metairie (Look the left of the maps for these canals, the Industrial Canal is the widest one on the right)

In theory I suppose the Industrial Canal is somewhat of a "funnel" to the city- it certainly the largest of these canals, with barges & tankers that travel through it, moving from the Lake to the River & vice versa, but I'm not particularly well versed on the issue beyond what I've stated here. Anyone know anything more than that??

Full post as published by Legally Blonde Ambition on September 02, 2008 (boomark / email).

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