So Katrina is looking bad for us in the Big Easy. Some thoughts.
Our house is actually above sea level, and in its hundred years, it has never flooded. This somewhat puts us at ease… in the sense that, if our house were to flood, it would basically be the least of our problems. You can see a good discussion on the possibility of New Orleans flooding here. And here, you can scroll down to an elevation map of New Orleans (it’s the fourth graphic going down on the page). Where will live according to the elevation map: in the “U” shaped curve along the Mississippi (hence our nickname the “Crescent City”) — inside this “U” to the left is a large blank area with no roads. This is Audubon Park. We live a few blocks of the park, about 5 blocks from the docks on the Mississippi. In other words, we’re actually on some of the highest land in the city and are definitely above sea level.
From the discussion on flooding, the issue is that a storm from the south or southeast would push water from Lake Pontchartrain (a huge, shallow body of water just north of the city) over the north leeves and into the city, filling the its interior “bowl.” (And not ironically, some of the poorest, most vulnerable, parts of the city.)
Our concerns in terms of evacuation are related to city infrastructure. Getting in or out would be impossible: the roads and bridges to leave the city would be flooded. Without question, there would be no power, and probably no water, for days — maybe weeks. It would take a long time for the city to recover. Other concerns (and why Paul is hestitant to leave) are that if water somehow gets into our house through the eaves or a crack in a window somewhere, the water would sit in our house for a long time until we came back to find it and start clean-up. But if this *is* that every 100 years type of storm, there isn’t much we can do about it.
And finally, logistics. Will and I are actually in Mobile right now. Paul was doing some very messy work with the door frames this weekend and we left yesterday. I would have to go back to New Orleans and get Paul… and then leave the city. We haven’t made any decisions yet on what we are doing.
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