Hurricanes have been with us since forever
but the last decade has shown us that in previous generations, we did not know the true power these storm systems can wield.
New Orleans is once again flooded, and this time around, the ENTIRE city is without power and that situation is expected to last UP TO THREE WEEKS.
On MSNBC news reporter and TV news host Ali Velshi (@AliVelshi | The Velshi Exchange) noted that New Orleans has invested over $16 Billion on levees and other storm protection/management works since Katrina. The levees did not break under Ida, but what about the next storm or the one after that?
Is it time to ask: Wouldn’t it be a better idea to spend future dollars on moving NOLA and her residents inland?
I believe it is. Because even if we start the conversation on this issue in 2021 it may well be 2030 before anything happens on the ground (or if they wait longer, under the sea).
So long as we are on the upward trend-line of increasing free carbon in the atmosphere, these storm systems will do nothing but grow in strength and size, increasing the damage they do, rising the height of storm surges and killing more people and destroying the lives of the people who live in these now increasingly dangerous ocean coastal regions.
Repairing destroyed cities can’t go on forever
There will come a day when everyone recognizes this and we choose to move forward into the future we’re going to have to live with (and in) and begin the planning stages of relocation/migration of American coastal cities.
The other part of that discussion is how much should the rest of the nation spend to continue to rebuild these cities time after time, when we KNOW for certain that they will just keep getting hit with these storms and need to be rebuilt endlessly?
The longer we wait to begin the work, the more expensive (in terms of money and lives) the end result will be.
I know that at least one Daily Kos member lives in New Orleans, and I would very much like hear from you Crashing Vor, on your thoughts on this subject (and to simply hear from you, to know that you and yours survived Ida in safety).