The levies burst again in NO, the poor s. I can't imagine why anybody would ever want to rebuild that city where it's at - a few miles inland would make a bunch more sense...
Well at least it flooded an already flooded neighborhood. It's not like it will do anymore damage. They just have to pump it out again. Looks like The Big Easy is done for, at least for a year or so. Why do people always wait until after a disaster to start doing things the right way? I guarantee they spare no expense on those levees next time.
I'm about 2 miles from the sea and 550 ft above it and would have it no other way. Ocean front property? F**k that!
Hate to wish ill will upon another town, but I am glad the hurricane will save the worst shiznit for parts east of Houston.
I'm staying in town now, the Cougar is in a high rise apartment garage, the Tbird is in the garage with a cover on it...and now I am seeing a really cool LTD LX on eBay that I want to add to the garage. (yeah right)
They would lose the soul of the city, and a lot of its history. I think they just have to build bigger/stronger levees.
i think building major cities on a DELTA of shifting land massed on one of the most mobile rivers in the world wasn't the smarest idea to begin with. there are soo many cities on the lower part of the mississippi that should just give up trying to control it and move inland a bit, but no one will they will just keep rebuilding thier flooded cities and homes. thats like living on a mountian side in CA, or living in one of those forests in CA or living on a fualt line in CA, it is just a dumb place to live, nature isn't stable and is less stable in more areas than in others. just don't coming whining to me when a mud slide, flood, or earthquake hits, cause you were the smart one who decided to live there. I don't bitch about 3 feet of snow when it hits in michigan (okay i bitch, but thats just cause its a pain in the ass) but it's not like we don't expect it. yes, terrible tragedy that so many ppl lost their lives, and yes it is a very historic city, but this WILL happen again.. and again..
The soul of any city is its people, and a good deal of its history was washed away in the first flood. Regardless, history shmistory I say. Two floods in one year should be enough history to convince people that a major city below sea level right next to the sea wasn't, and still isn't, the brightest of ideas. Scientists have been warning us for years that the climate is changing and that major storms will become more frequent and more deadly. Is this year a fluke or is it evidence of climate change? Nobody knows, but the same fluke could happen five years from now, or it could happen next week.
The fact that the only things being destroyed are things that were destroyed a few weeks ago is of little comfort. What if Rita had happened a year from now, after rebuilding had begun? Or in ten years when rebuilding is almost finished?
Mother nature is a cruel, heartless bitch and she won't be bothered by man. If they build a 20 foot levee, nature will throw a 21 foot surge at it. 25 foot levee? Sooner or later a 26 foot surge will hit it. And a 25 foot levee today does not take into account rising sea levels from polar ice cap melting, either. 25 feet above sea level today might be 5 feet in 100 years. It comes to the point that if you build a levee high enough to stop the water you'll end up with a walled city that looks like hell. Who the hell would want to live in a house with a 25 foot tall concrete dam in the back yard?
I just totally pictured you as a spy ol' pirate when you said that. :giggle: ............ or a Newfie.
This is exactly why I'll probably never leave the midwest. It's somewhat stable as far as severe weather and natural disasters. Why do you think almost all of the major insurance companies have their offices in the midwest? Sure, winter sucks but in 4 months or so, It'll be gone. Maybe we'll have the occasional flood, but most people are smart enough not to live on a flood plain. I don't understand why people want to live LOWER than sea level so close to the sea. I'll not be as blunt as FC, but yeah, don't complain about disasters when they hit, expect the unexpected.
North America has the most violent weather on the planet. If you live in North America and think you are immune to disasters, you are an idiot. Sorry to be so blunt about it, but I'm in a hell of a lot of pain right now from work and I come home to see a bunch of you running your mouths about disasters.. said mouthing off being a pet peeve of mine.
So, Mr. Midwest.. when a tornado levels your house and you complain about it, assuming you even live through it, I think I'm gonna tell you to shut your pie-hole and get on with it.. because you should've known better than to live in a tornado-pr0ne area, right?
Oh yeah.. if a tornado doesn't get ya.. just how close do you live to the New Madrid fault line? Or Yellowstone? You're surrounded by major shiznit if you live in the Midwest.
No, New Orleans is not a very smart design as cities go.. below sea level, surrounded by water, and shaped like a bowl.. and people would be smart to get out and not live there again. But to many people, it's HOME. Home isn't an easy thing to abandon, however "smart" it may be, unless you live in a cardboard box.
Go through a disaster, sometime.. and see if you don't have any complaints about it. But until you've been through one, your opinion on it means jack and shiznit.
Sorry to the rest of you if this is a little ugly.. but obviously it's something I have some amount of feeling over.
So...are you comparing me to a spy ol' pirate...I'll knock you down a rung!:nutkick::mad:
:)
Well for us lucky enough to live in appalachia Ohio we can live happily. Last damaging earthequake was in 1952, biggest tornados around hear last for 100 yards or less and I'll be ed if I've ever seen a hurricane! Yeah sure we have snow but oh well. Even the poor counties never have problems with plowing and salting. I like Ohio. So does everyone else, but they can stay out of our safe little haven. :tg:
I've been through one. In fact, I've been through a few, three in the past few years to be precise. Hurricane Juan, while not as strong as Charley, Katrina or Rita, was a major disaster around here. Millions of trees fell, hundreds of thousands of people without power for up to three weeks, eight people killed, and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of damage. Then, about two months later we had an early snowstorm that dropped two feet of wet, heavy snow onto trees and wires already weakened by the hurricane. Once again, no power for hundreds of thousands, only this time it was winter, so no power = no heat. We were in the dark and cold for four days, and we were the lucky ones. Some went weeks. Then, three months later we were hit by what Environment Canada's website describes as a world record: 38" of snow in 24 hours, the most snow to ever fall on a moderately sized city anywhere on earth in such a short period, driven by 120km/hr sustained wind (that's hurricane force. With SNOW.). I was stuck in this house for four days because even my 4X4 Cherokee was no match for snow that came up to the hood (and much, much higher in drifts). It took two front end loaders and a backhoe a full day to plow my street, and my street is only 1/4 mile long.
I've seen disasters, so I think my opinion is valid. The only sure way to avoid harm is to keep yourself out of harm's way, and building a city below sea level, right next to the sea, in an area pr0ne to hurricanes, is foolish enough. RE-building that city is the height of stupidity. Yes, the area was home to lots of people, but home is gone now. Nature took it away and will do so again. People do not have gills, they cannot live under water. The smart ones will move on. The dumb ones will say they're not gonna let silly ol' nature stop them, and they'll surely suffer in the future. Nature does not give a rat's arse about human suffering or human sentiment. We will never beat her. Being stubborn will not help. And every taxpayer in the United States of America will suffer for their stupidity by paying to rebuild in a stupid location again and again.
Ohio sucks.. your cops don't let us michigan people speed, and no one outside of ohio likes it.. quite lying :hick: .
(j/k.. mostly... :giggle: )
Bird351: I didn't mean to anger you :sorry: I can't image what they are going through. and i didn't mean whine in "i lost my entire life, what do i do now" that sucks, and you can whine about that.
but "omg, i can't believe this happened, we are all so shocked" is what i meant by whining. shocked, the city has been sinking for 300 years.. no one should be shocked. when SanFran joins the pacific no should be shocked.. but they will be.
and with 2 weeks of people being shocked a coastal town that is below sea level flooded on tv, it is getting a bit obnoxios.
And every year when calafornia catches on fire, eveyone is shocked thier house in a tinder box mostly desert pine forest burns down and it is all on the news "omg these poor ppl who built these homes where wild fires burn EVERY YEAR, what are we ever to do?"
MOVE, thats what, cause you live where it burns to the ground every 5 years, same with mud slides and earthquakes.. duh, you live on the san andreas fault line with your house on stilts on the side of a huge hill.. it fell down.. wow. i'm surprised..
harsh and not very nice i know, but also the truth.
I don't mean to offend, but it is like being surprised when a polititian is currupt. I chose whine inappropriately, I should have siad stop being so ed surprised.
I am lucky. I live in a state where the worst natural disaster is a tornado or minor flood or major snow storm. most northern midwesterners are all prepared for such events year round. but if you live in coastal towns you ahve to be ready for such events such as hurricanes, if you live in a trailer park in oklahoma, you have to be prepared to walk the yellow brick road.. (her feet must have been killing her, you think she should know to have sneakers prepared, I bet her aunty did.. thats why she didn't get captured by those freaks she meet on the road..)
sorry guys, that was long and stuff, just don't want anyone being angry in my ill typed words, i was venting some. lets talk about pirates, someone said pirate.. pirates are funny. :tg:
Actually, FC, my rant was directed more towards Amooset.. Mr. "I'll never leave the Midwest". Hello, born in Chicago, (Midwest, last I checked) both tornadoes I've been through in my life (not counting the one that passed within half a mile of us last year in Charley) were experienced before I ever moved down here. Got stuck on top of a mountain in the middle of a blizzard on our trip down here back when I was a kid. You people aren't immune from your share of disasters.. you just haven't had the really bad ones yet.
Hurricane activity is cyclical.. a roughly 40-year cycle that doesn't even take "global warming" into account.. and we're in a peak. If you think back even to 1992, when Andrew came through Florida, it was a total freak event.. now, it seems like half the hurricanes that pass "major hurricane" status (category 3 or higher) shoots right to category 5 for at least some of the time. Ten or twenty years from now, this place will be worrying about the occasional category 1 storm.
Now I don't know about cyclical with tornado activity.. but I DO know that there's a MAJOR faultline running along the Mississippi.. (New Madrid) and that place may be just as due for "the big one" as most of the West coast. With an earthquake, I doubt you get the warning we do. I'd actually rather go through a major hurricane (and I went through the one that was the strongest, wind-wise, to hit us in this whole two-year hurricane mess.. "officially" rated at 150 mph now, may be increased in the record books at a later date like Andrew was.. I still dread hearing the sound of the wind screaming by our house and blowing through the frames of the windows) than a major earthquake. But with that view, should I call you all idiots for living near the New Madrid faultline? Remember that the next time you buttstuffyze people in areas pr0ne to another type disaster from what you're vulnerable to. (whether you know you are or not)
Take it easy there psycho.... I have been through tornados, two in fact. Both were disastrous. So where would I rather live? In the south which is guaranteed at LEAST one hurricane every year, severe or not? Or in the midwest where I've seen two tornados in 23 years. Hmm... Once every ten isn't so bad. As for the fault? Nowhere near it and avoid it if at all possible. I'll always live on high ground away from flood waters and fault lines. A tornado gets me? It will be my own fault if I'm not prepared for it. That's what storm cellars are for. Living in high risk area is like me living in a place with no storm shelter. I mean no disrespect to those who lost their lives in the hurricane(s), but the survivors should really take a second look at where they're living and why.
But they must remember that Ohio is unsafe as well! I'm actually surprised at how many Florida tags I have seen lately. Looks like they ran from the disaster and just kept going.
I've read somewhere that here in quebec we have the most changing climate in canada...
from -30*C (-22*F) to 35*C (95*C), Tons of snow and Glaze winter and very hot in summer...
...at least we dont have agressive weather like hurricanes or tornados.
Tell me you didn't love the comparison. :drink:
arrr! ye ole sleeveen!
There might be some truth to the comparison. My dad's cousin, he's 92 years old now and has sailed around the island many times on the old coastal boats, has a theory that the only people who would have settled in their home outport would have been outlaws, theives, piriates, etc.
I don't know if you've heard of it, but his neice wrote a book about this little village called Random Passage (http://"http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1550810510/qid=1127735281/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-2163624-9548968?v=glance&s=books&n=507846"). It was later made into a miniseries by CBC. If you like to read pick it up. It's all about my family and the other families from Cape Island. Check out the credits; Uncle Jack is dad's cousin and Aunt Elsie is my grandmother.
BTW sorry for the hijack
I may just do that. :)
I always believed the only reason Hollywood makes pirates sound like crazy drunken Irishmen with a twist of hillbilly was because of the ol' Privateers from the Maritimes that ran the coast in our little war. :D