First and foremost, my heart goes out to all the folks of New Orleans who are enduring this terrible tragedy. May God speed relief and comfort to every soul involved. Here is hoping we will eventually see the New Orleans of the past restored back, as much as is humanly possible. All kinds of losses, most importantly people's lives. Their homes and possessions. Pets and wildlife. And much that is historical. Way down the line of consideration, after thoughts and prayers for the people effected by this disaster, I wonder how historical buildings came out of this, including the old New Orleans Mint. Wonder if it is still standing intact? God bless all the people effected by this terrible event!
I would bet that this building is still standing as most buildings in New Orleans seemed to handle the hurricane winds, but since the city is below sea level, it could not handle the rising waters surrounding it. The New Orleans mint was built tough. Most of this building was built with "bulky and solid' materials...right from the US mint website. I am sure it is standing, but water is another issue. After the earthquake of 1906, the San Francisco mint was one of the very few structures standing that survived the impending fires that pretty much destroyed the city. It too was built solid. The question for most of New Orleans is to actually rebuild in a location that everybody was certain of doom and flood? I have traveled to the city multiple times and I remember asking what was that "hill" in the back of some people's backyards?? It was explained to me that it was a levee, holding in Lake Ponchartrain...which were ABOVE 1000's of homes and businesses. Once I saw this and upon further discussion, I realized how much the city was below sea level, I thought...this is insane! I feel for the people along the gulf coast. I went through 3 hurricanes last year myself but fortunately, my house wasn't destroyed, but it did suffer over $40,000 worth of damge and repairs from hurricanes 2 and 3. The big differance was that after the storms passed on by, I could at least return to my home. I had no power for almost a week, but I had water (though it had to be boilded) and phone service. There was some flooding, but nothing like you see in New Orleans. Unfortunately for the people of New Orleans, water will always find its way to the lowest point and that point for them is below Lake Ponchantrain to the north and the Mississippi river to the south. That lowest point is the city itself...which is another disaster waiting to happen unless they build the levees 75 feet tall and 40 feet wide. I'm no engineer, but if you live in a "soup bowl" below sea level, then you have to prepare for the worst of all flooding and/or hurricanes!! Anybody you talk to knew it was just a matter of time of not IF a hurricane with flooding rains would hit, but WHEN!!
Thanks for that Doug. Hope the damage is not extensive. And hope the place has not been rifled through and ripped off, especially irreplaceable items.
Midas I hear you. There is a town called Devils Lake in North Dakota which is named after the lake that was originally next to it. In the last 20 years the lake level has risen well over 30 feet. Although this doesn't sound like much it has resulted in the lake swelling to more than 10 times as large in surface area. To keep the lake at bay the city built a leeve(dike) around the city edge. Originally it was a couple feet high. In some places now it is 30 feet high and the lake is with in 1 foot of breaching the dike. The funny part is when the town was originally established in 1800's the lake was as big as it is now. During a dry cyle the lake shrunk and people didn't realize that the decrease was temporary. For years I have considered anyone who still lives within the low area to be an idiot. After learning about the elevation of New Orleans I believe them to be even more idiotic. I do feel for the people and for there loss but the huricane damage estimates have been around for years. Heck one agency even predicted this exact huricane event to happen. Yet even with this info nothing was done to alleviate the situation except build leeves. They should have been slowly shifting the city towards high ground. This is something years and years of public government should have been working towards. I am an engineer and I know that leeves, dikes and dams are only mans attempt to control mother nature. But man never thinks big enough. The only people that truly realize how powerful mother nature can be are usually considered to be crack pots and dismissed. Man only assumes what the worst case scenario is and usually learns shortly thereafter that he was wrong. The most irritating part is having to listen to the mayor complain about the help they have not recieved. Especially since he is sitting in his hotel room eating fancy and drinking wine. I agree that we, the government, have reacted in a horid fashion, but so have they.
In many ways, the problem of New Orleans is much like the problem for Devil's Lake. The city was originally built by French colonialists so that they could charge and collect tariffs on the things coming down the Mississippi - which was pretty much everything produced in the United States west of the Allegheny Mountains. That part of the city is the French Quarter, the highest part of town, which came through the disaster better than the rest of the city (last I heard there was still one bar open for business - "I won't have power or water for weeks, but I can still drink!"). When the city expanded, it went into low-lying areas, just like in Devil's Lake. And testing our luck in the process. Occasionally Mother Nature will remind humanity we're not quite so powerful as we like to think.
