New Orleans - 17th St Canal: what are they doing here?

So i was watching the news about New Orleans and they dropped 3k pound sandbags and blocks on this 500+ft hole in the canal. The walls are weakend severly and erosin is creating huge holes here. Why do they continue to try to patch the hole? From what I can find these canals are used to drain water to the lake Is there a reason they wouldn't try to create a dam at the canal/lake opening? It seems that the walls there that are "L" shaped would be more able to support a temp dam. What am i missing? Is bubba tryin to fix dat der leak? Do these canals have underground drains that would continue to fill the canals?

Edit to add city.

[jakethebake]

I have no idea what you're talking about. /images/graemlins/confused.gif

[Al P]

They think dropping 3,000lb sandbags all over New Orleans is going to help somehow.

[Miggo]

I think that's the hole in the levy that goes around the city. Isn't the city 15 feet below sea level and that levy keeps the water out. So I think they might be trying to plug the hole so they can try to pump the water out of the city.

I can't believe some of those looters though. Taking a shopping carts just like they're shopping. Some people waving at the camera as they fill their carts.

Isn't that whole part of the country just going to be moldy, stinking, and disease filled in the next week or so? Don't all the houses and buildings have to be torn down, and then what do you do with all the garbage. It seems like it's gonna just be a big giant landfill. Pretty soon we're gonna start hearing about some of these people walking around being eaten by alligators and bitten by snakes and stuff too. Good luck to all those people and I hope they're able to get through this somehow.

[sam h]

I think the majority of the engineering effort is geared toward patching the whole in the levee that keeps the lake out. But from what I understand, the utility of dropping a bunch of sand and crap down from the air is limited and the ability to move heavy equipment in overland is compromised by the damage to infrastructure. So its kind of a pickle.

But it also looks like they're screwing it up somewhat, or at least that's what the mayor of New Orleans has been implying.

I guess my question looks like this:
- and | = canal walls
* = the hole
~ = lake

~~~~~~~~~~~
-| |----
-| |
-| *
-| *
-| *
-| *
-----

Why would they work on patching the hole instead of damming up the whole canal? At some point to really fix the hole they are going to need to seal the whole canal and and patch the wall, why not start there when you have a stronger wall to hold back the water?

Edit: The foum software likes to change my alignment

[CD56]

[ QUOTE ]
I guess my question looks like this:
- and | = canal walls
* = the hole
~ = lake

~~~~~~~~~~~
-| |----
-| |
-| *
-| *
-| *
-| *
-----

Why would they work on patching the hole instead of damming up the whole canal? At some point to really fix the hole they are going to need to seal the whole canal and and patch the wall, why not start there when you have a stronger wall to hold back the water?

Edit: The foum software likes to change my alignment

[/ QUOTE ]

perhaps they need the canal intact to drain the water out of the city?

[asofel]

[ QUOTE ]
I have no idea what you're talking about. /images/graemlins/confused.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

this should definitely be your email signature.

[ QUOTE ]

perhaps they need the canal intact to drain the water out of the city?

[/ QUOTE ]

Thats what I was thinking at first aswell but they have huge pumps they use to drain water to these canals. Dropping a pump hose over a make shift damn 1000ft away wouldn't be that hard, and would allow for the rebuilding of the canal walls that much faster.

On a side note they just said that the number of dead will most likly be in the thousands...

[mmbt0ne]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">En réponse à:</font><hr />
</font><blockquote><font class="small">En réponse à:</font><hr />

perhaps they need the canal intact to drain the water out of the city?

[/ QUOTE ]

Thats what I was thinking at first aswell but they have huge pumps they use to drain water to these canals. Dropping a pump hose over a make shift damn 1000ft away wouldn't be that hard, and would allow for the rebuilding of the canal walls that much faster.

[/ QUOTE ]

The pumps are underwater, and hence, worthless.

</font><blockquote><font class="small">En réponse à:</font><hr />
On a side note they just said that the number of dead will most likly be in the thousands... Time to bomb a nation with brown people!

[/ QUOTE ]

Take it to politics asshat.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

[ QUOTE ]
On a side note they just said that the number of dead will most likly be in the thousands... Time to bomb a nation with brown people!

[/ QUOTE ]
This is the new worst post ever.

[ QUOTE ]


Take it to politics asshat.

[/ QUOTE ]

It was a George Carlin quote from the 90s, i'll remove it..

[sam h]

[ QUOTE ]
~~~~~~~~~~~
-| |----
-| |
-| *
-| *
-| *
-| *
-----

[/ QUOTE ]

Good question. Maybe they are just working on this thing simultaneously with the levee? I don't have a good sense of how deep these canals are, but could it be that water is also coming into the city from the water table below the canal because of the breach?