How did they build a town (city) below sealevel? – Jack on Feb 26, 2004, 12:06 P

Home Private: Forums Lowpoint Discussions Louisiana-New Orleans How did they build a town (city) below sealevel? – Jack on Feb 26, 2004, 12:06 P

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    • #5765
      highpointersclub
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      [Ed: This was imported from America’s Roof Forum – http://www.network54.com/Forum/215753/message/1077815204/How+did+they+build+a+town+%28city%29+below+sealevel-]

      This past Tuesday caused lots of people to think about New Orleans. Given that much of New Orleans is below sea level, they have walls (dykes) around the city that keep the water out and pumps to move the rain water & leakage out. I can understand how the system is maintained, but I can’t figure how they started to build the city at that location. I mean did someone go out in a boat into shallow water and say, “This would be a great place to locate a town”? What were they thinking? And how did they get started, prior to electric pumps?

    • #5766
      highpointersclub
      Participant

      [Ed: city below sealevel – Jim on Sep 12, 2004, 12:03 PM]
      [Ed: This was imported from America’s Roof Forum – http://www.network54.com/Forum/215753/message/1077815204/How+did+they+build+a+town+%28city%29+below+sealevel-]

      If you look at a cross sectional profile of the city, you will see the it is sort of bowl shaped with a few small ridges through it. Most of the ridges are the result of natural levees formed by the Mississippi River and bayous. Some of the bayous are now gone, both from natural and manmade reasons. The ridges served as early settlements for the Choctaw as well as Europeans. The ridges were also important routes from Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi River. Some of the present city was built in filled in areas that used to be in open water.

      One of the major concerns with a large hurricane hitting the city would be that if the water tops the current levees, the bowl shape of the city would trap the water. It would take months the pump the water out once they get the pumps working again.

    • #5767
      highpointersclub
      Participant

      [Ed: How prophetic – Steve Urbanski on Sep 19, 2005, 3:26 PM]
      [Ed: This was imported from America’s Roof Forum – http://www.network54.com/Forum/215753/message/1127157988/How+prophetic]

      What a prophetic comment. Too bad you weren’t working for FEMA.

      steve urbanski

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