(emphasis mine)
This is a real eye opener. And I think the idea to mark the high water levels (from Katrina) is a good one. So what if it scares people, they need to keep it real.
Interesting. Look at the bright side. If you time it right, you'll be able to sell your Memphis home as beach-front property.
Before Euro-Americans got there, the Mississippi used to flood and deposit silt in the flood plane periodically, thus raising the level of what is now Louisiana over time. Louisianans have been building dikes since the early 1800s, so the silting process has largely stopped.
The main problem (I haven't read the article yet) is that the Mississippi no longer replenishes the delta with fresh soil. The real bugaboo is where the river really wants to go - the Atchafalaya Basin. Then, you've have the same effect on the west side of the state. Also, the map should include SE MS, in order to get the true picture...
I'm with you. The seaside is hot, humid and smells funky. Fortunately, I have 1,900 foot tall dike keeping the ocean out from where I live.
James Eads fought with the Army Corps of Engineers over the practice of levees vs. jetties. His building the southwest pass of the Mississippi River in to the Gulf in the 1870's sped the river up to where silt no longer filled the bed and demanded dredging. He built the southwest pass with his own money and only collected from the government after proving over a period of time the lack of dredging needed to maintain the channel depth adequate for shipping.
I didn't see anything about Pence. All I saw was a bunch of friends bragging about Trump going there while Obama was born playing golf.
True, but there's more to go with that. As levees have been built all along the Mississippi upstream of Louisiana, the river now travels with somewhat greater speed and force. This is especially problematic near the mouth (hello, Louisiana!), as it emphatically accelerates erosion.
I have read the antebellum Parish Police Minutes in parishes along the river. Across the south white men were liable for certain civic duties: jury duty, slave patrol duty, road maintenance duty. In Louisiana they also had levy maintenance duty.
That's interesting, since he's been at The Donald's elbow. On their photo-op, which the governor had asked not to do, in order not to divert effort from relief activities, they were unloading a panel truck and somebody handed Trump a box of Play-Doh. Trump turned around and handed the box to Pence. Pence stared at it, like "what am I supposed to do with this." Then, he turned and gave it to some really big guy. It would have been funny, if it hadn't been one more example of how Trump views humankind...
The Corps has been so hip deep in the whole levy mess so long now, most people no longer remember, or ever knew, that the original levees were cooperative efforts at the grassroots level. It would have been better had they stayed that way...
