Current Events — HabitableZone

Current Events » in reply to Contingencies and expediency

re: Contingencies and expediency
Tom Brosz — (archived)

It may not always be that blame needs to be assigned...some of it may just be trying to get the best system feasible.

Some of the systems in New Orleans are designed specifically to Category 3. Others I looked up are supposed to be designed to "100-year storms." It isn't clear whether that's a hurricane or a rainstorm in some cases.

I don't know what a Category 5 system in New Orleans would look like, or how much it would cost. It may not even always be money. There are floodwalls in many places where there just isn't room for levees, and possibly not room for whatever a Category 5 floodwall would need.

It's a lot like spacecraft design. If you put in every safety system and backup conceivable, you'll never get it off the ground. At some point you have to sit back and make some decisions and trade-offs against reasonable risks.

It will be interesting to see what they come up with now, since I dare say flood control will suddenly become a top priority in New Orleans at all levels of government.

Log in or register to post.

The whole thread (32 posts)