Wait, turns out New Orleans is screwed after all - Page 2

Sponger15SB · #11 08-30-2005, 01:28 PM

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How dare you enter complex, reasoned, understanding to a smugly asinine thread?

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Exactly what I was thinking. Instead of Ed we've been hearing "[censored] rot in hell" from utmt or whatever his name is.

astroglide · #12 08-30-2005, 01:29 PM

i can see the wolf crying point to a limited extent. if somebody has a black and white antenna television, they can see that this is obviously no common hurricane and that it is infact headed right for them.

lucas9000 · #13 08-30-2005, 01:31 PM

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Rather than look for people to blame, try just being sympathetic to the probably hundreds or thousands who died and to the hundreds of thousands who lost their homes.

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i hope this comment about blaming people wasn't directed at me...and i don't think it was.

Ed Miller · #14 08-30-2005, 01:44 PM

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Rather than look for people to blame, try just being sympathetic to the probably hundreds or thousands who died and to the hundreds of thousands who lost their homes.

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i hope this comment about blaming people wasn't directed at me...and i don't think it was.

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It wasn't directed at anyone specific. I just know the tendency is to blame people for having done something wrong when this sort of thing happens. Why didn't they get out? Why were they there in the first place?

I guess my point is, having lived in New Orleans for fifteen years, that I understand very well why they were there in the first place and why some of them didn't get out. I certainly don't blame the foolishness of the unfortunate few who were left behind for their fate.

Think about this. Over one million people live in the NO Metro area. There are two main ways out of the city: I-10 and the Causeway (linking to I-12 north of the lake). I simply don't think it's possible to organize and evacuate all million people via those two routes in the two days that NO had notice that this was coming.

Two days notice. Some people are bound to be left behind for one reason or another. And it looks like many of them are now probably dead.

Patrick del Poker Grande · #15 08-30-2005, 01:46 PM

What's going on with all the people in the Superdome?

Ed Miller · #16 08-30-2005, 01:54 PM

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What's going on with all the people in the Superdome?

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That's a good question. My guess is that they are all being kept inside until the city gives the ok for people to return.

It looked until late last night that that part of the city had escaped flooding. Unfortuantely, I heard a news report at around midnight PDT from a hospital not too far from the Superdome. They said that a levee holding back the lake in the north part of the city (the lake is actually part of the Gulf of Mexico... they just call it a lake because of its shape) had broken, and lake water was now rushing through the city. The woman said water was rising at a rate of an inch every five minutes, and they had six inches of water on the second floor. (FWIW, the lake is heavily polluted, brackish water, so it will corrode anything it touches.)

So that part of the city I guess is flooded as well with lake water as of last night. I'm fairly certain the people in the Superdome will be sitting tight there probably for a week. Be glad you aren't in there...

MelchyBeau · #17 08-30-2005, 02:07 PM

Do you still have family there?

How did the Metarie area turn out? I got friends there, but I haven't been able to get ahold of them.

Melch

#18 08-30-2005, 02:08 PM

Ok, I'll probably take some heat for this, but that's ok.

While I am (very) sympathetic to all of those affected by this disaster, I do have a question (that most likely cannot be answered).

Why are people allowed to build homes in these areas that look no different then a house you would see anywhere else in the country?

How come there aren't zoning laws in place that say something to the effect of "if you're going to build here, you need to meet these building standards..."?

We see the same areas, year after year, boarding up there houses up with plywood, sandbags and other items to 'shore up' their house. Why? Why are the houses in these areas not built to withstand the harse weather conditions that occur every year? Plywood over the windows? WTF? Why don't these structures have some sort of storm-shutter systems installed?? Why aren't the bottom floors reinforced brick or masonry?

I'm not naive enough to think that all conditions can be prepared for, but there are obviously some structures built in these areas that are still there and I have a hard time believing that this is due to simple chance.

Maybe it's just me, but if I lived in an area such as this, I'm guessing that I would pass on the standard wood frame and sheetrock construction that appearantly do not last long under circumstances such as these.

chesspain · #19 08-30-2005, 02:13 PM

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How come there aren't zoning laws in place that say something to the effect of "if you're going to build here, you need to meet these building standards..."?

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Because it's the Deep South? According to CNN, Mississippi has NO statewide housing codes. I'm not sure about Louisiana, though.

James Boston · #20 08-30-2005, 02:18 PM

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Because it's the Deep South?

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Incorrect. There are housing codes in the south. I don't know why MS doesn't have them, but Alabama does.

To the other question, I doubt these homes were built by people with plentiful resources. They were probably built at a time when they were what would be considered a well built house. Now, they're purchased by people who can't afford anything else.