(OT) About New Orleans being built below sea level

[Paintedcow]

I was just watching a program on tv about New Orleans, which showed a lot about the buildings, culture, and other stuff. They briefly showed how it's built below sea level (which I knew), but I was never there and did not know how much was built there and how some of those buildings are very historic and intricate, such as the cathedral. This left me with one big question.

How did they ever begin to build this city when it was under water? And WHY would anyone even consider doing such a thing? I can only presume that it began when (due to some dry spell), the water level was lower than usual. (just a guess). It dont make much sense to build levees with the intention to build a city.

Maybe someone on here lives there or knows more about it.

[Paintedcow]

Ok, Now it makes sense. Thanks for the info. I suppose all that peat is from silt that came down the river.

I agree they should have filled it in. However I dont know how they would raise those large historic buildings like the cathedral. Homes can be moved and/or raised, but I dont know about those huge stone/brick buildings. I guess anything is possible if there is enough money and powerful enough machinery though....

[gfretwell]

The oldest parts of the city were not below sea level when it was built and it sunk. The whole city is built on peat and it is subsiding. Once they built the levees and drained the other parts they built them up. Those were the ones that were under 6-8 feet of water after Katrina.

The question we should be asking as tax payers is WHY FEMA waived the rules we have to live under in the rest of the country and allowed them to build back after Katrina below sea level. If my house required

add an addition) I would need to be 14' ASL before I could even get a permit.

They should have put all of those out of work people up in coal country to work loading barges, fill that bowl up well above sea level and build the place back on high ground. I understand it still might subside in another couple hundred years but we would save enough in flood claims by then to make that a very sound idea.,

[taxed and spent]

Makes sense, but you surely would be called a racist for making such sense.

Piss on NOLA. I will never spend a dime there. Well, willingly.

[dadiOH]

Peat is compressed plant matter, not silt (which is rock particles). When you have a marsh, stuff grows. It dies and more stuff grows. Repeat that enough and you have peat. Keep it up, add some pressure and heat and you'll have coal.

[Frank]

With fore knowledge of potential problems people should be free to build anywhere they want but take responsibility for anything that happens to the property.

From New Orleans to New Jersey the tax payer has been screwed in paying for it in taxes and increased cost of their own insurance.

[sms]

There was an attempt to fix the flood insurance program by adjusting rates to cover the risk and those that built in flood-prone areas got their congresspeople to limit the increases to far less than they should be.

So yes, the taxpayer is subsidizing those the deliberately build or buy in flood prone areas.

[Micky]

To change the subject a little, about 50 years ago, 1966, I got a driveaway and went with two other guys to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. We got there early and had a day to kill before we had to deliver the car to Houston, and we drove around the area south of the city (the delta?). This part was flat, with a lot of tall trees, the roads are paved with broken shells (clams? crabs? oysters?) and the lots in the residential area were pretty big, and 4 out of 5 houses were built on 8 or 10 foot stilts (maybe higher, it's been a long time), to prepare for the flooding.

But one out of about 5 houses was built right on the ground, and they were modern houses, no older afaict than the ones right next to them on stilts. Even then this seemed very strange. Now I would stop and talk to someone, even look for someone, but iirc we didn't see anyone outside.

[Don Y]

And in areas prone to earthquake, hurricane, tornado, etc.

[gfretwell]

Most of those historic buildings are built in the areas that did not flood. If a home is more than 50% damaged FEMA rules say it should be torn down and rebuilt the required distance above the datum plane

For some reason NOLA seems to be exempt from FEMA rules but they still get paid when it floods. I know in Florida they do a FEMA survey before you can even drive the stakes for a house and they inspect again at "tie beam" before they can put the roof or second floor on the house. The thought is that until you cap it, you can raise the finished floor and make the walls higher if it is non-conforming. In my area that is 14' ASL to the finished floor. We are 5 miles from the gulf

[Ed Pawlowski]

If you want to build in a flood zone, fine with me. But don't ask me to bail you out when the water comes rushing in.

[Frank]

I heard Ted Cruz was criticized for not wanting to subsidize rebuilding after hurricane Sandy in NJ. That's a plus for him in my column.

[Micky]

i'm looking for the streets/roads I drove on 50 years ago, and it's not easy to find. But here's one interesting spot, not enough trees, lots too small, to be the places I'm remembering. https://www.google.com/maps/place/New+Orleans,+LA/@29.6973672,-90.0985992,3a,75y,270h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sg2KW6k3dCKUP2gljU8BNuw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3Dg2KW6k3dCKUP2gljU8BNuw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D310.5%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656!4m2!3m1!1s0x8620a454b2118265:0xdb065be85e22d3b4!6m1!1e1 One house on stilts, none of the others are.

I tried 7 other places and none resembled what I had in mind.

[SeaNymph]

Well, I don't know the answer, but I lived in Texas in a place that was largely below sea level. My parents built a house in the highest point and that was a whopping 17 feet above sea level. It's not that high any more though. They built lots of dikes, channels and ultimately a fantastic system to keep the place from flooding during hurricanes.

[gfretwell]

To get much more than 17 feet above sea level in SW florida you need to go to Orlando or the land fill.

That is why we build houses on a man made hill or pilings. They raised the whole development my wife built (a couple hundred acres) about 4 feet before they even started and then the houses were on a 5 block stem wall and back filled up to FF In the early 2000s if you were at a light, you were between 5 dump trucks and 3 concrete mixers ... and there might be a couple cars there with you. We moved a significant part of Hendry County west of US 41 and built houses on it. That is why I think raising New Orleans a few feet would be trivial. They have a big river right there and companies that are in the barge business.

[Micky]

Right. I remember that the center of NO, the oldest part, is high enough not to flood, even during Katrina.

The "lower ninth ward" is called that iirc because that part is lower in altitude than the rest.

[Tekkie®]

Oren posted for all of us...

Yeah, those crooks down there had our (fed) money to fix some problems that a storm would create. Instead the money was spent on a fountain in the middle of town and political graft. IMO it's a smaller version of Chicago.