From Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to threats of flooding this week, a few facts on -- and in -- the ground explain why the Big Easy is uniquely vulnerable to massive flooding
And from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to threats of flooding this week, a few facts on -- and in -- the ground explain why the Big Easy is uniquely vulnerable to massive flooding.1. When it was built, it was barely above sea levelThe original part of the city, the French Quarter, was built on higher ground beginning in the early 18th century. Settlers who got the best land were able to build only about 10 feet above sea level.
"Though a few [structures] climbed as high as three and sometimes four floors, most hovered around two or two-and-a-half stories, since builders feared that the town's spongy soil couldn't bear the added weight," New Orleans historian Lawrence N. Powell wrote in"The Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans."Floodwaters creep up the wheels of a parked car in New Orleans on Wednesday, July 10.3.
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