WWA Info Exchange

The Corps of Engineers will be opening the Morganza Spillway today, which will flood approx 1.9 million acres of prime farmland and many small towns up to 25' deep. They will be going with Scenario 1A http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morganza_Spillway , which they think will be the least damaging. The opening will be televised/live streamed http://www.nola.com/

Worst case is that the lower Mississippi will change course, which happens every 1000 years or so, and which has been prevented by all the levees and dams we've built in the last hundred years. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Missi ... floods#R... , which would have a significant impact on the Nation as a whole.

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I bring to life, I bring to death:
The spirit does but mean the breath:
I know no more. (Tennyson, In Memoriam)

Unreal, this years weather has been crazy to say the least. My heart goes out to all affected.

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"To all those who work come moments of beauty unseen by the rest of the world." Norman Maclean

Wow

I am speechless flood the few to save the many

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Mango
The land some where in the middle
20 47 00N -156 26 00W

This has been the most expensive year in history with respect to natural disasters here in the US. I'm not even gonna mention what we have to look forward to in our neck o' the woods.

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Nullum Gratuitum Prandium

Cheers - Dennis

Here's a video that describes the area and the floodways. http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/PAO/video ... rganza.asp

_________________
I bring to life, I bring to death:
The spirit does but mean the breath:
I know no more. (Tennyson, In Memoriam)

Interesting video. Intersting how much of the country the Miss. drains.

Also, I realize how spared from the rath of Mother Nature I've been in Southeast PA.

My beach cottage at Gandy's Beach NJ is on the fringe though.

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"To all those who work come moments of beauty unseen by the rest of the world." Norman Maclean

Here's a link from the little bay town of gandy's beach where my cottage is
As you will read, I dodged a bullet earlier this spring.

http://www.nj.com/cumberland/index.ssf/ ... ommer.html

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"To all those who work come moments of beauty unseen by the rest of the world." Norman Maclean

Personally this simply reinforces my opinion on the futility of trying to defy Mother Nature.

I have the deepest sympathies for all those who have and are losing everything that means anything to them. Not just in the flood, but all the other disasters we've been subjected to in the most recent past. I mean no disrespect. But if we intend to occupy areas with known risks, we should take steps to protect ourselves from the potential consequences or accept them.

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Nullum Gratuitum Prandium

Cheers - Dennis

I think you are right. One definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Where my cottage is, the town was flooded in 1980 and 50 houses were lost, yet they rebuilt anywhere the land did not wash away. How could anyone have thought it wouldn't happen again?

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"To all those who work come moments of beauty unseen by the rest of the world." Norman Maclean

Dennis, it does seem like a losing battle sometimes, but we've been doing it since we lit the first campfire or planted the first garden. All cultures have modified their environment for their own purposes. The challenges presented by the environment are largely responsible for our technological progress and social structures thru the ages. Without those challenges, we'd still be swinging from the trees.

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I bring to life, I bring to death:
The spirit does but mean the breath:
I know no more. (Tennyson, In Memoriam)

[quote="Gene"]Dennis, it does seem like a losing battle sometimes, but we've been doing it since we lit the first campfire or planted the first garden. All cultures have modified their environment for their own purposes. The challenges presented by the environment are largely responsible for our technological progress and social structures thru the ages. Without those challenges, we'd still be swinging from the trees. [/quote

No doubt Gene, and obviously we can't eliminate all risks dealt to us by Mother Nature. With that said, doesn't it make sense to eliminate some of the highest risk scenarios? For example in the areas about to be flooded, couldn't houses only be rebuilt if they could be raised higher than the water level of the known flood levels? Cut losses where the likelyhood is very high?

Intersting thread here.

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"To all those who work come moments of beauty unseen by the rest of the world." Norman Maclean

Whose losses? http://www.floodsmart.gov/floodsmart/pa ... _rates.jsp

Then there are discounts available if your community participates in CRS. http://www.fema.gov/business/nfip/crs.shtm

If you have a federally guaranteed mortgage, you have flood insurance as a condition of the guarantee.

Yes it does make sense to do it right. We're supposed to learn from our mistakes, which the evidence shows doesn't always happen . Pompeii and other volcanoes for example. Or more recently, the tsunami's in the past few years.

But, no matter where you go the best that can be done is to play the odds, and deal with what ever comes your way the best you can. Sometimes you lose.

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I bring to life, I bring to death:
The spirit does but mean the breath:
I know no more. (Tennyson, In Memoriam)

Sometimes, Gene, I think we, the human race, might be better off if we still were 'swinging from trees. But that's another discussion.

The problem is, Reeliron, to build in anticipation of the worst case scenario in the case of the flood at hand, we'd be considering homes 15 and more feet above ground. That would be a pretty tall order, especially for whole towns. None the less, there are ways to mitigate if not protect from destruction. Where I see the problem is the complacency brought about by bandaids used in an attempt to keep Mom Nature on a leash. Mayhaps there are situations where we should try to work with her instead.

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Nullum Gratuitum Prandium

Cheers - Dennis

Every area of every country in the world has the potential of a disaster of one sort or another. If there were really a safe, hazard free place to live, we would all be living there sooner or later.
Floods, fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanoes, mud slides, the list is endless so, we do the best we can in the area we live in for what ever reason we live there.
It is truly mother nature changing the shape of the world again. It has been changed several times before and it will change again in the future. Be it an ice age or an inferno or a flood, the world will keep turning.

Rog

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Dont badmouth no strangers, they just friends you aint met yet.

An ounce of responsibility is worth a pound of State and Federal laws.

I spent most of my money on woodworking
tools and beer, the rest I just wasted.

Getting back to the Morganza biz, they opened 2 more gates today. That works out to 30,000cuft/sec discharge, or put another way a little under 7 acre ft / sec. In plain English it's flooding 7 acres per second a foot deep. http://www.nola.com/environment/index.s ... spurs.html

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I bring to life, I bring to death:
The spirit does but mean the breath:
I know no more. (Tennyson, In Memoriam)

It's a reality check when you put numbers to it like that. it's ashame they can't pipe it to areas of the country with resovoirs that are low! Maybe a "strategic water reserve!"

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"To all those who work come moments of beauty unseen by the rest of the world." Norman Maclean

From the looks of what's in that water I wouldn't want it in our local reservoir! But you're right; it's too bad we can't turn adversity into advantage.

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Nullum Gratuitum Prandium

Cheers - Dennis

9 gates open this am. You do the math.

Here's a interactive satellite map of everything with labels. Taken prior to the gates being opened (May 13 ). :

http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.p ... 9&label=on

_________________
I bring to life, I bring to death:
The spirit does but mean the breath:
I know no more. (Tennyson, In Memoriam)