More on New Orleans

First apologies for my criticism of the initial failures to plug the breech. With 4 breaches, two of them over 200 yards wide, it's questionable whether any action could have even slowed the inevitable. I'll respect the possibility that, faced with an unavoidable catastrophic system failure, rescuing individuals might have been the best course of action. If know you're going to lose the battle, sometimes you opt for the best retreat you can get. My heart goes out to the stranded, many of whom did not have the means to get out of the city. I can only imagine the chaos if Philadelphia ordered an evecuation. I don't which massively crowded form of public transportation I would pick to try to escape. Given the terrorist/dirty-bomb scenario, it's something to think about.

Second, observe that these levies are susceptible to erosion once a breach occurs. That makes it an obvious homeland security threat. What would have happened if terrorists blew up a levy? Maybe if the city had not been evacuated, if they had people, power and communications, without the extra water level...maybe they could have handled a breach. But if I were a resident, I'd be concerned.

Third, if New Orleans is going to persist in having a city below sea level (and I think it should) it's going to need better engineering. The city is besieged by water and they really ought to take a deeper look at how to protect themselves. There are revlevant analogies in the walls of medevial cities or in the design of warships or submarines. I'm struck by the massive length of the levies and sheer area that needs protection. My first suggestion would be compartmentalization. A breach anywhere dooms the entire city. I'm not suggesting they need the 7 walls of Gondor, and a levy that works is worth 2 that don't, but the current system is going to fail: and fail reliably: it's too long to protect. As much as it sucks for a captain to close the hatches and doom half his crew, the captain will tell you it's better than losing the entire crew. I hope in the rebuilding of the city some serious minds are tasked with addressing these issues. If nothing else, there should be an area guaranteed to withstand the worst case. (Whether it be the superdome, or whatever) And that location should be ready to support 100,000 in a flood. (PS. Not a bad plan for any city with a predictable disaster)