The storm surge is something else. I went through Betsy in 1965 while at
Keesler AFB for training. We were about 75 miles from the eye and we had 95
gusting to 105 mph winds. At least that is what we were told. You can not
tell there is a gust of an extra 10 mph when the wind is blowing 95 for a
4-5 hour stretch. We had about a 6-9'' surge in the back bay of Biloxi.
There was a 5' wide coil of tules (cat tails) circling the bay. We were
cleaning up housing by hand, but they said stay away from the tules. Loaded
with water moccasins. Being from the San Francisco area, and used to big
waves in the Pacific, and then go to the gulf that was normally flat calm,
and see the huge breakers coming ashore as well as huge tide swing, was an
eye opener. That was a Cat 3 storm and I saw in NO iself 12" I-beam girders
from bill boards twisted like corkscrews and then bend 90 degrees. Now
change the power 10-20 times.

"Starbucks" wrote in message
...
JohnH,

The storm surge from Hurricane Katrina is estimated at 27 ft. 3 times the
storm surge that caused the flooding in the Netherlands.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...n/12580121.htm



"PocoLoco" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 07 Sep 2005 17:25:03 -0400, thunder
wrote:

On Wed, 07 Sep 2005 12:20:36 -0400, PocoLoco wrote:


Call the Dutch. They know how to build dikes that work.

Not always.

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclop...-Flood-of-1953

My friends tell me they've gotten more proficient in the last 50 years!
Who said
they didn't have high tidal surges?

I think the new guy in charge is named Hans Brinker, but I'm not sure.
--
John H

"All decisions are the result of binary thinking."

Don White wrote:
Since I'm removed from the 'blame game', I thought I'd move on to the
next step. What to do when the water receeds. If I was an American
taxpayer, I'd be concerned about just returning things as they were.
Ideally, housing would not be re-built below sea level for obvious
reasons...but what can be done?
-simply reinforcing and adding height to current levees...?
-maybe a backup system of aquaducts..that would be mostly dry but could
handle any overflow if original levee breaks again?
-house 'workers' distance away from workplace (high ground) but provide
highspeed rail public transportation?
-simply re-build houses, but on concrete stilts 10 feet above ground?

New Orleans as at the receiving end of a ruined eco-system.
Too many dikes and not enough drainage upstream.
100 years ago, there would have been some flooding associated with an
event like Katrina, but there would have been a higher number of
nuisance floods rather than this catastrophe we see now. Shame that
people who live upstream and who have channeled their own share of the
problem down to the folks below would ever say, "Why did those folks
down there build like that? They ought not be allowed!"

Last I read was they are planning on rebuilding New Orleans where it is. I
think this is a grave mistake as it is below sea level and could be hit
again. Just my opinion lol
Ed
"Don White" wrote in message
...
Since I'm removed from the 'blame game', I thought I'd move on to the next
step. What to do when the water receeds. If I was an American taxpayer,
I'd be concerned about just returning things as they were.
Ideally, housing would not be re-built below sea level for obvious
reasons...but what can be done?
-simply reinforcing and adding height to current levees...?
-maybe a backup system of aquaducts..that would be mostly dry but could
handle any overflow if original levee breaks again?
-house 'workers' distance away from workplace (high ground) but provide
highspeed rail public transportation?
-simply re-build houses, but on concrete stilts 10 feet above ground?