Report: New Orleans' population nears 300,000

[Selznak]

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- Despite slow progress in rebuilding some neighborhoods, New Orleans' population is nearing 300,000, or about 65 percent of its pre-Hurricane Katrina size, according to a new report.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/25/new.orleans.population.ap/index.html

 

[Avatar]

So all these folks are moving back because all the issues that led to the Katrina disaster have been addressed, right? If another Katrina hits them, the city will be A-Okay, right? No?

Ah, I get it now. The world's longest line up for a Darwin award.

 

[horuhe00]

There's one word to describe the people that return to build and live below the sea level.

Morons.

 

[billwald]

The Dutch people have been successfully living below sea level for a hundred years. Of course, they are Dutch, Americans.

 

[clarksided]

As a resident of New Orleans this pleases me.

 

[simplicity]

My hopes and prayers for the people of New Orleans. I'm sorry I didn't think about visiting before Katrina. But perhaps the new New Orleans will be better and more amazing than ever before. It's all a matter of ingenuity, probability and perseverence.

 

[MrJim]

There's lots of high ground for sale in Wyoming and no flooding issues...

 

[footprints1973]

There are millions of us living on at sea level on the coastline of Florida too. Are we morons too? What about all the millions living on the fault lines?

Everyone has to live somewhere.

Laura

 

[Billnew]

Just wondering,
Is it a chocolate city?

"I don't care what people are saying Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day," he said. "This city will be a majority African-American city. It's the way God wants it to be."

Mayor Ray Nagin

Footprints; Water might wash over you at sea level, but it will recede. Water below sea level tends to stay, since to get back ut to sea, it has to go up.
Living below sea level doesn't matter to say, Death valley, because the sea isn't nearby.
But when the sea is close, it tends to casue problems.
And if the problems of the past aren't completely fixed, then it can happen again. We do hope they listen to the warnings and the leaders actually think of others
in need before saving their own ....you know.

 

[pgp_protector]

The Dutch people have been successfully living below sea level for a hundred years. Of course, they are Dutch, Americans.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands

In years past, the Dutch coastline has changed considerably as a result of human intervention and natural disasters. Most notable in terms of land loss are the 1134 storm, which created the archipelago of Zeeland in the south west, and the 1287 storm, which killed 50,000 people and created the Zuiderzee (now dammed in and renamed the IJsselmeer — see below) in the northwest, giving Amsterdam direct access to the sea. The St. Elizabeth flood of 1421 and the mismanagement in its aftermath destroyed a newly reclaimed polder, replacing it with the 72 square kilometres (28 sq mi) Biesbosch tidal floodplains in the south-centre. The most recent parts of Zeeland were flooded during the North Sea Flood of 1953 when 1,836 people were killed, after which the Delta Plan was executed.

Don't look like there all that safe there either

 

[Maren]

I'm sorry, I just don't see rebuilding New Orleans as any worse than almost any other major city in the US. Sure, it is underwater. But most of the West Coast cities are built on major fault lines due for an 8.0 "killer" earthquake which would be every bit as devastating as Katrina. Most Eastern cities are susceptible to hurricanes and also recent research says in danger of a major tsunami. With the frequency Florida is devastated by hurricanes, perhaps we should abandon the cities along it's eastern coast? And most of the cities in the Midwest are susceptible to tornadoes. No city, especially the largest ones near the ocean, are safe from devastating natural disasters.

 

[SolomonVII]

There are millions of us living on at sea level on the coastline of Florida too. Are we morons too? What about all the millions living on the fault lines?

Everyone has to live somewhere.

Laura

One can only hope that the officials in charge of keeping the waters of the Florida coast out of people's homes are not as corrupt as the officials in New Orleans turned out to be.

It is not just a question of where one lives, but more especially of how one is governed and I am just not sure that the Louisiana political situation has changed all that much since Katrina. If it is true that weather patterns are changing, how much should the people of New Orleans actually trust those that have the madate to protect the citizens from the storm?

 

[horuhe00]

There are millions of us living on at sea level on the coastline of Florida too. Are we morons too? What about all the millions living on the fault lines?

Everyone has to live somewhere.

Laura

I didn't speak of people living AT sea level. I spoke of people returning to New Orleans to areas UNDER sea level.

One can design for hurricanes and earthquakes. A competent engineer will design for those. These designs can (and do) work with minimal damage to the structure.

Having the waterline splashing on your last row of shingles can't be designed against.

 

[simplicity]

Maybe after life settles down for me I will visit for Mardi Gras. That would be awesome. I will wait for things to get fixed up a bit. Some people go to New Orleans to see the effects of the disaster. But I would like to go to celebrate the revival.

 

[Maren]

I didn't speak of people living AT sea level. I spoke of people returning to New Orleans to areas UNDER sea level.

One can design for hurricanes and earthquakes. A competent engineer will design for those. These designs can (and do) work with minimal damage to the structure.

Having the waterline splashing on your last row of shingles can't be designed against.

Actually, strange as it may seem to you, there are many areas below sea level that drain naturally. Death Valley in California is below sea level but I don't believe anyone there worries about the area turning into a giant lake. As for New Orleans, it was founded long before levies and the majority of the city, in particular the high population areas, are located above sea level and the city itself is 105 miles upriver from the Gulf of Mexico, it does not sit on the coast.

While you can design to help make structures survive earthquakes and hurricanes, there is little chance of making any structure either earthquake or hurricane proof. In fact, during Katrina, many cities entirely above sea level that were on the sea coast had "the waterline splashing on your last row of shingles" (27 foot high storm surge), including the Mississippi coastline. Experts also worry about the effects of a 7.5 or greater earthquake, particularly it it ends up being greater than 8.0, that is expected in California.

In fact, if you want to make an argument of where not to rebuild, it might make more sense that we do not rebuild the Mississippi coast. It has been destroyed twice in 50 years by hurricanes (Camille in 1969 and Katrina in 2005).

 

[billwald]

I suspect that in most parts of the city that were destroyed, the land was worth more than the houses on the land. I suspect that most of the people did not have replacement insurance. I suspect that many of the home owners could not afford to buy their own houses at current prices even before the flood, that many of the properties had been in the family for many years.

 

[TexasSky]

So all these folks are moving back because all the issues that led to the Katrina disaster have been addressed, right? If another Katrina hits them, the city will be A-Okay, right? No?

Ah, I get it now. The world's longest line up for a Darwin award.

The sad fact is, many people cannot afford to relocate from New Orleans, and have no choice. Their debts, their jobs, their support structure are all there. Some were so poverty striken they did not have the money to travel out of the city before Katrina hit, they certainly don't have the money, post Katrina, to pack up what little they have left to take it else where.

There is also the fact that in the city's history, this kind of disaster is rare. Other cities get flooded much more frequently, Florida gets hit by major hurricanes more often, my own city gets hits by tornados more often, my friend's city gets fires and mud slides more often.

I certainly understand that New Orleans is an engineering oddity that is a disaster waiting to happen, but I truly believe most New Orleanians do not realize how dangerous it is.

 

[Jayton]

The Dutch people have been successfully living below sea level for a hundred years. Of course, they are Dutch, Americans.

I was not aware the Dutch had hurricans?

 

[Voegelin]

New Orleans is on my list to visit right after Detriot, Philly and Baltimore

Its the last because, unlike the others, I do have fond memories of it.

 

[Billnew]

Maybe New Orleans should invest in houseboats on trailers instead of camp trailers.
Then people can have a home to live in next time the
city is flooded.