says, Why not build anything within the flood zone in the first place? Save the $500 mill and put it into something like job creation.

Not to nit-pick, but New Orleans is nowhere near the Atlantic Ocean. I think you might have meant The Gulf of Mexico.

I think its impressive that they can build like such a thing but they would have saved lots of money if people had not built anything within the flodd zone in the first place. Mr. Gumsandals^^ agree with you completely.

http://ziggytek.com/

They are talking about far more than $500 mill...
"$14 billion project to keep New Orleans above water when another hurricane hits"

I think we lost sight of how much money that is after our first "Stimulus" package.

$14 billion would be far more useful in other ways than keeping a low-lying city clear of water...like say...a brand-spanking new city on higher ground with new opportunities and a better quality of life for New Orleans people.

I mean, cmon...when was the last time we had the chance to create a huge NEW city?
That would be something!

@ Dave T. Thanks for your comment. You're right, it's the Gulf of Mexico! Jeez, what was I thinking? The text has been corrected.

wow, impressive.

I hope the Corps does a better job this time around...

I hope everything they are building is all Cat 5 capable.

Job creation? Pump stations don't build themselves...

Mr. Gumsandals, every area has its natural disasters. If you didn't notice, Iowa flooded last year. Earthquakes hit California with a lot less notice than a hurricane. And the Western US seems to catch fire every year. All of these areas receive federal infrastructure and rebuilding money, every time, but New Orleans gets badmouthed more than the rest of them combined. When Iberville founded the city, his men begged him to put it somewhere else, and it was destroyed by storms in each of its first two years. But it is not located where it is for safety- it's there for shipping, at the intersection of the river, the lake, the inland canals, and now the highway and railway systems. Moving it elsewhere is nonsensical, unless you also move the river. It's a port - would you also like to relocate the Port of New York to Kansas?

Wouldn't it be less expensive to simply haul in enough dirt to raise ground level above to above sea level?

Retired, it would be insanely expensive (if not impossible) to bring in enough dirt to raise the entire city above sea level. I like where your head is at, though. Something a little less mechanical, and more geographical. I do know that there is some marsh land that used to protect that region (by dissipating some of a storm's energy as it moved inland) that is now less prevalent. I can't remember if human development or some other conditions caused the reduction in this marsh land, and I don't know if it's equally unlikely that we could restore that land to it's original purpose in some way.

Senor, you make so many excellent points. It's ironic that western US forest fires are so bad in large part because of human presence. A lot of people don't realize that a forest fire is a natural occurrence. When they happen as they should, the fires are much smaller, clear out underbrush, and re-fertilize the land. When you stick a bunch of homes in that setting and promptly put out these smaller fires, the amount of available fuel builds up and you end up with uncontrollable fires instead. There's a lot more useful purpose to the location of New Orleans than there is to people living in the mountains just because they can. Yet, the public perception is largely that those in N.O. should "know better than to live there".

If the area is flood prone, then plan for flooding.
Sure, build dikes and seawalls, but how about letting the water through?
Build canals, sculpt the city streets to funnel flood waters into those canals and let the flood waters go through the city and out. I'm assuming New Orleans isn't in the bottom of a geographical crater that would normally be a lake, If that's the case then it would be cheaper to move it than to rebuild it every so often.
Change the building codes to elevate all new construction above flood level as they do in coastal areas.
It just seems to be easier and cheaper to build allowing for high water than to avoid it, a war against water is one you lose.
14 billion dollars should be enough to make New Orleans into a new Venice, gondolas and all.