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The New Orleans Times Picayune ran a five part series in 2002 titled "Washing Away" that offered details on the threat of hurricanes and what is required for flood protection in the New Orleans area. Below is a web link to this article, with some of the actual structural changes described that are needed in the flood protection systems in and around New Orleans pasted in here. This link goes directly to part 5 of the series, but the other parts are accessible with one click from this link:<BR>
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<A HREF="http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf?/washingaway/costofsurvival_1.html">http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf?/washingaway/costofsurvival_1.html</A><BR>
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If hurricanes haven't seriously scarred coastal Louisiana or swept it out to sea in the next 50 to 100 years, the very process of protecting the region may still end up altering it almost beyond recognition.<BR>
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Based on current plans and proposals, here are some changes that coming generations may see:<BR>
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* A giant wall, more than 30 feet high in places, cuts through New Orleans and across Jefferson Parish to create a "safe haven" should a storm surge from Lake Pontchartrain top the levees. The levees themselves are 10 feet or more higher than today, and some are crowned with a sea wall, blocking views of the lake. A large collapsible wall sits atop some levees, ready to be raised during hurricanes.<BR>
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* At the Rigolets and Chef Menteur passes to the lake, huge floodgates stand ready to be closed if waters rise. All across the Mississippi River delta, hurricane levees crisscross marshes, surrounding dozens of towns. At key junctures on the river, large gated sluices direct fresh river water across stretches of marshland, rebuilding it with silt. Dredges have hauled sand from miles offshore to sculpt and maintain new barrier islands where only slivers exist today.<BR>
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* From New Orleans to Morgan City, thousands of homes have roofs fortified to resist high winds and are equipped with steel storm shutters. Outside the levees, most homes have been raised on pilings 15 feet high or more. Main roads and highways are at similar heights.<BR>
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* Some communities have built elevated shelters capable of withstanding 175-mph winds, similar to those being constructed in Bangladesh today.<BR>
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* But big storms still threaten even this highly engineered landscape. In some places the Gulf of Mexico has maintained its steady progress inland and the region is starting to resemble Venice, Italy, the city of canals. Water routinely laps at the foot of levees, eroding them. In other areas, levees and walls deflect surging floodwaters into new places and to surprising heights. Engineers watch as the sea rises and the land sinks and wonder whether their ambitious fixes will ultimately amount to nothing. <BR>
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It's impossible to make a large city or a broad area like the Mississippi River delta completely disaster proof. Nature is too fierce, human structures and activities too exposed. But most emergency managers agree that south Louisiana could be much safer than it is. That will take creative engineering design and new thinking about how to disaster proof communities. It also will take plenty of money.<BR>
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These innovations are collectively more ambitious than any similar engineering project anywhere in the world and will change not only the shape of the Mississippi River delta but the way people live here. Some will end up behind walls. Some on stilts. If programs don't work, many people may ultimately move away.<BR>
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"We have to think big. It's the only thing that will get us anywhere," said Len Bahr, the governor's executive assistant for coastal activities.<BR>
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Vision2020 Post by Ted Moffett<BR>
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