The sinking city and bothersome Katrina

New Orleans has always had this feeling of mystery to me. Maybe because of the thriller series ' and movies filmed there, or songs of my favourite musicians writing and performing songs about the city and surrounds. Little do many of us know about the problems that face the people who set up their lives there.

Hurricane Katrina was the most costly natural disaster in the USA history. With it came a warning : "this is a place where people shouldn't Live". The Big Easy, as it's fondly called, is apparently 17 feet below sea level in places, and it continues to sink up to an inch in a year!

Hemingway said that if Paris is a movable feast, then New Orleans has always been a floating one. Born amid willow and cypress swamps on top of squishy delta soils, the city was founded on the high ground, formed by over- wash deposits from river floods. Jean - Baptiste Le Moyne had to wait for the water to recede before planting the French flag in 1718.

New Orleans relies on levees to keep them safe and dry. Katrina exposed weak floodwalls and levees. When thinking about the long term it does not leave the experts with confidence. Engineers restored levees and floodwalls to pre-Katrina strength. Rebuilt of soft sand, the levees are already eroding. Tall, stronger floodwalls with their clean, white concrete, contrasting starkly with the still ruined neighborhoods behind them. Yet, regardless of what the experts say, with a typical New Orleans cocktail of denial, faith in the levees and a 100% love of home, most are rebuilding.

The reality remains daunting for those trying to build or trying to decide whether to come back at all. The risk of catastrophic flooding is rising year by year with no end in sight, because the city is sinking! If sea levels should rise 3 feet, the south Louisiana coast will move far in land and strand New Orleans far out at sea.

But then in typical Big Easy style, life goes on straight from heart to horn. Brass bands playing jazz can be heard. There are people who will fight to the death to stay there. We are coming back and we want the world to know it. But is the magic strong enough to save it? Absolutely, positively, yes,, without a doubt.

Sources : Wikipedia, National Geographic, Pixabay, Google images.