Why don't we just abandon new orleans?

Question

why are going thru this hurricane drill again and spending millions of dollars on a city that is below sea level. most of the city is not worth saving. in the midwest when there were floods the government moved some towns away from the river to a safer location. i think the army corp mentality of we can build walls and tame the water is misguided.

Answer 1

I agree whole heartedly!  Anyone who lives there, knowing it could be washed into the sea at any moment, doesnt deserve the governments money and help when it does get washed into the sea.  Its just stupidity.

Answer 2

It takes guts for you Americans to go back to new orleans, you had guts back in the 40s when you guys helped win the war. Lets see that spirit now and save this once beautiful cultured city. Ask the rest of europe for help, you helped us let us now help you!!

Answer 3

Yep, just abandon a cultural point of America with no fight. Just pack up and go somehwere else, New Orleans, after pouring millions of dollars to rebuild, we decided to waste more money making you move!  

Answer 4

wow... that was really insensitive, i wouldn't be surprised if you get a lot of negative comments.... how would you like it if someone said c**p like that about where you are from?

Answer 5

As a resident of New Orleans, I say we WILL rebuild and our HOME  IS INDEED worth saving. Is yours? Less than half is below sea level, should we destroy parts of the city? To all you who called us stupid, you people have no appreciation whatsoever for your home or you wouldn't need to ask why we rebuild ours. It's a shame.

Edit: As fellow Americans, it is an awful thing when other Americans have such an issue with helping us out. We don't deserve less help because part of the city is below sea level. Perhaps we should all relocate to your town then, eh?

Answer 6

Um... you DID abandon New Orleans, remember?

Leaving people on their roofs for days and in the Superdome without food or aid is pretty much doing nothing.

You should move to Burma where they won't even allow foreign aid.  That's your kind of place!!

Answer 7

some people that have invested millions of dollars into New Orleans and want it back like it was before and love the location and all the culture and lifeystyle provides in this city

Answer 8

I see from your edit that you don't let facts confuse you.

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Rebuilding New Orleans is not optional. History, architecture, culture, and the fact the city is home to many people are usually mentioned when the topic of rebuilding is discussed.  However, those factors (while significant) are NOT why NOLA is important to the rest of the United States.

First, New Orleans is a metro area of almost 1.4 million people – not some small town that could be easily relocated somewhere else.

More than 35% of America's energy is either produced in Southeast Louisiana or imported through here, and the infrastructure is focused on New Orleans. What may be the largest oil field on earth was discovered offshore of Louisiana in 2006, and it will be exploited via New Orleans.

The Port of New Orleans is the largest or second largest port in North America each year (tons of cargo) and one of the top ports in the world each year. The Port of New Orleans is not replaceable.

More than 25% of America's petroleum refining capacity is in the New Orleans area. That percentage will increase due to a new refinery already under construction and the planned expansion of existing refineries.

A large percentage of America's non-petroleum chemical industry is here.

New Orleans is one of only three principal east-west transportation points for the USA, and the resulting convergence of water, rail, pipeline, electricity, and highway links is not replaceable.

A large percentage of America's ship building & repair industry is in New Orleans.

NASA builds essential parts for the space shuttle in New Orleans, and will build components for the next generation of spacecraft here. Other manufacturers (ex. Bell-Textron) have factories in New Orleans.

A large percentage of America's seafood comes from SE Louisiana, and the distribution network is focused on New Orleans.

And so on….

It is theoretically possible to move the industry and the population, but only at horrific cost. The Mississippi river, Gulf of Mexico, and the oil fields cannot be moved. To even attempt to replace New Orleans would cost Trillions of Dollars and the attempt would fail.

In contrast, New Orleans can be protected from future hurricanes with the expenditure of about $15 Billion (that should have been spent before Katrina) spread out over a period of a decade.

Note that New Orleans is NOT "prone" to hurricanes or being flooded. The last one to hit before Katrina was in 1965 and before that was in 1947. Neither of those flooded the city proper like Katrina, which was the strongest storm ever recorded to strike North America.  

There is a widespread myth that New Orleans is "built below sea level”, but that is not true.

Realize that nowhere is without risk. NYC and Miami are at more risk from hurricanes than New Orleans. Los Angeles and San Francisco are at risk from earthquakes and fires. Seattle is threatened by volcanoes and Tsunamis. The Midwest is hit by tornadoes every year. However, I don’t hear anyone claiming New York, Florida, California, Kansas, or Washington (state) be abandoned, or even not rebuilt after the next disaster.

However, people routinely claim New Orleans should be abandoned, or that we somehow don’t deserve help after Katrina.

Why is that?

Answer 9

I was under the impression you already did.

Answer 10

Because New Orleans is a very important city to the entire country. It lies at the mouth of the largest river in the country which is navigated by thousands of businesses in the Midwest allowing them a way to transport goods and crops. We can't abandon every U.S. city that is on the coast because they're all at risk, the best we can do is have emergency management procedures in place so when disaster threatens we can act accordingly.

The army corps of enginers was able to tame this water for over a hundred years and only because of a deduction in the funding for the levy project (thanks to george bush's war in iraq) the levies were substandard at the time of Katrina's landfall.

New Orleans, Miami, Houston, Galveston, Biloxi, Brownsville, Charleston, Tampa, Jacksonville even New York City, Atlantic City are all highly at risk of hurricane impacts and are all lying at sea level. We cannot just pack it up to large cities that provide a large economic stimulus to our country because of this threat. We can however prepare and prevent massive loss of life and build walls and levies to help us protect to the best of our abilities from nature's fury.