jlf1961
Posts: 14840
Joined: 6/10/2008
From: Somewhere Texas
Status: offline
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I have mentioned the Army corp of engineers report on the levee system in and around New Orleans. That report was part of an overall study of the entire midwestern levee system.
It was also a result of a request by the USGS concerning the impact of a major quake along the New Madrid fault, or any one of a dozen major faults associated with the Mississippi valley system.
What the CoE discovered was that, if the worst case scenario occured, the result would be the levees from Memphis to Wisconsin would melt, depending on the epicenter of the quake. I use the word melt, because that is what it would look like, and the reason is the same as the intense damage in the San Francisco quake of 89, liquifaction, the ground under the levees would turn to water.
The CoE also discovered that the levees on the Mississippi have an annoying habit of failing from under neath, before being overtopped, again, due to the nature of the soil the levees are built on.
In a joint committee hearing, a congressman asked the representive of the CoE if there was anything that could be done to prevent either of these situations.
His answer was, "Yes congressman, we can either drain the Mississippi and all connecting rivers, or we can crisscross the entire Mississippi river valley from the Appalachan to the Rocky mountains with flood control canals and reservoirs."
The congressman admited draining the rivers was impossible so he asked about the second plan.
"Well, we would have to build man made lakes in all the plains states from the canadian border to the gulf of mexico, link them all with canals, which would have the benifit of providing water to every state on a continued basis, and eliminate drought conditions where ever they may occur, at a cost of a trillion dollars."
The fact that it was impossible from an engineering standpoint was never mentioned.
This study was done in the 1980's after geologists spent some time going over the reports dealing with the earthquakes of the early 19th century.
The truth of the matter is that the more we try to control a river like the Mississippi, the more it is going to bite us in the ass.
I am not trying to sound uncaring, because my heart goes out to those people. It is not their fault that the city planners decades ago decided to forget history and just build whereever.
Like the fact that the wetlands that protected New Orleans from storm surge for hundreds of years were drained and developed from the mid 60's, the over development of the flood plain of the mississippi is the direct result of the stupidity of elected officials.
How can one blame the people displaced by flooding when the only thing they did was buy a house?
How many of those people were told they lived in a floodplain and stood a good chance of losing everything?
Real estate brokers arnt stupid.
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Boy, it sure would be nice if we had some grenades, don't you think?
You cannot control who comes into your life, but you can control which airlock you throw them out of.
Paranoid Paramilitary Gun Loving Conspiracy Theorist AND EQUAL OPPORTUNI
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RE: Iowa vs New Orleans - 
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