Flooding in Louisiana
Introduction
Louisiana has problems with flooding. The Mississippi River borders the East Side of the state and often floods due to precipitation. Other for reasons flooding includes dam failure or land problems. The flooding has a major affect on the people in the state since they must . deal with the water and all of its damage. The scope of the problem is precipitation. Hurricanes can hit Louisiana and cause flooding in the lower Mississippi. Also heavy rains often hit the state. “A slow moving weather system dropped large amounts of rain over northern Louisiana…”(FEMA, Feb 1, 99). The amount of time in which rain falls is an uncontrollable factor causing the state tobe well prepared for all types of flooding. Dams are a good way to help the flooding. Flooding is an earth science related problem in Louisiana.
Physiographic Province
Louisiana lies in the Mississippi River valley and borders the Gulf of Mexico. The problem flooding areas are those closest to the Mississippi River and the delta. The other states that touch the river are Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, and Arkansas.
New Orleans is a city that is very vulnerable to flooding because much of the city is below sea level. The below sea level parts of the city must be keep dry by constantly pumping water into the Mississippi or to the sea, otherwise those areas would flood from groundwater alone. Even the portions of New Orleans that are not below sea level are a part of the vast Mississippi flood plain. Flood plains are places where rivers flood during normal conditions. Dam-like ridges form along the banks of rivers on flood plains and under normal conditions keep the river in its channel. During floods rivers flow over the tops of levees and flood the flood plains that lie adjacent to the river channel. Man has constructed channel walls to "beef up" the natural levees to protect the flood plains. However, all of New Orleans and the flood plain beyond the city is constantly threatened by flooding of the Mississippi River (Madsi, July 99).
Flooding
A flood is a tempo...
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A flood is a large amount of water that covers an area that is normally dry. Floods can occur almost anywhere, but they happen more often on floodplains and on places close to the ocean. The land that floods regularly is called a floodplain. It is called coastal flooding when a large storm or wave from the ocean causes flooding in the cities inland. Some floods take days to develop, while others take minutes to form these are called flash floods.
In New Orleans, officials dynamited a levee south of the city. Water washing across St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes relieved pressure on New Orleans levees, maybe preventing flooding. But those parishes were ruined.
Mississippi was also managed in New Orleans to limit flooding. This was done through levies that were at first naturally built by the river’s mud flows during floods. Later the levies were built higher and higher to keep the flooding Mississippi into the New Orleans area. But the levies were often ineffective in managing, or led to, more flooding. Kelman explains this when they write “With the development in the Mississippi Valley ongoing and artificial banks confining more runoff inside the channel, the river set new high-water marks” (Pg 702).
Most of the destructions from the events of August 29th 2005, when Katrina Hit the City Of New Orleans, were not only caused by the storm itself; but also, by failure of the engineering of the levee system protecting the entire infrastructure of the city. The years of poor decision making and avoidance of the levee system led to one of the most catastrophic events in the history of the United States. Throughout our research, we have identified three key players in charge of the levee system design, construction and maintenance. These three organizations are the Unites States Corps of Engineers, the New Orleans Levee District and the Louisiana Department of Transportation. The consequences of the hurricane showed the organizations negligence in the design, construction and maintenance of the protective walls. Later independent sresearch showed that more than 50 levees and food walls failed during the passage of the hurricane. This failure caused the flooding of most of New Orleans and all of ST. Bernard Parish. The Unites States Corps of Engineers had been in charge of the of the levee system and flood walls construction since the 1936 flood act. According to the law, the Louisiana Department of Transportation is in charge to inspect the overall design and engineering practices implemented in the construction of the system. Once the levee systems were finished, they were handed over to the New Orleans Levee District for regular maintenance and periodically inspections. The uncoordinated actions of these three agencies resulted in the complete failure of a system that was supposed to protect the people of New Orleans. The evidence is clear that this catastrophic event did not happened by chance. The uncoordinated response of these...
By August 28, evacuations were underway across the region. That day, the National Weather Service predicted that after the storm hit, “most of the [Gulf Coast] area will be uninhabitable for weeks…perhaps longer.” New Orleans was at particular risk. Though about half the city actually lies above sea level, its average elevation is about six feet below sea level–and it is completely surrounded by water. Over the course of the 20th century, the Army Corps of Engineers had built a system of levees and seawalls to keep the city from flooding. The levees along the Mississippi River were strong and sturdy, but the ones built to hold back Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Borgne and the waterlogged swamps and marshes to the city’s east and west were much less reliable. Even before the storm, officials worried that those levees, jerry-built atop sandy, porous, erodible soil, might not withstand a massive storm surge. Neighborhoods that sat below sea level, many of which housed the city’s poorest and most vulnerable people, were at great risk of
Fleras, Augie. “Aboriginal Peoples in Canada: Repairing the Relationship.” Chapter 7 of Unequal Relations: An Introduction to Race, Ethnic and Aboriginal Dynamics in Canada. 6th ed. Toronto: Pearson, 2010. 162-210. Print.
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Upon the development of the levees, the lower class (mainly consisting of colored people) was forced to live on low land which was more prone to flooding. These black communities did not have the resources or funds to prevent damage, or repair what had been damaged as a result of the structural racism which forced chronic poverty upon them. This is only one way in which the events of Hurricane Katrina was shaped by structural
The Indian act, since being passed by Parliament in 1876, has been quite the validity test for Aboriginal affairs occurring in Canada. Only a minority of documents in Canadian history have bred as much dismay, anger and debate compared to the Indian Act—but the legislation continues as a central element in the management of Aboriginal affairs in Canada. Aboriginal hatred against current and historic terms of the Indian Act is powerful, but Indigenous governments and politicians stand on different sides of the fence pertaining to value and/or purpose of the legislation. This is not shocking, considering the political cultures and structures of Aboriginal communities have been distorted and created by the imposition of the Indian Act.
This paper supports Thomas Flanagan's argument against Native sovereignty in Canada; through an evaluation of the meanings of sovereignty it is clear that Native sovereignty can not coexist with Canadian sovereignty. Flanagan outlines two main interpretations of sovereignty. Through an analysis of these ideas it is clear that Native Sovereignty in Canada can not coexist with Canadian sovereignty.
Hurricane Katrina put a hindrance on New Orleans because the city was left with blighted properties that span from the 9th ward to the 7th ward. Blighted properties were a direct result from flooding, wind damage, and citizens that moved or were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. When the levees broke an abundance of water entered the city and caused homes and business to become flooded. When the city was under water for days it created damage, homes were crumbled to pieces and even uprooted from the ground. Flooding even caused homes to deteriorate and become inhabitable and unsuitable. Blighted properties became breeding grounds for crime, infestation of rodents and other animals, dumping of dead bodies, fires (arson), mold, squatters (homeless), and other serious health issues. These are serious challenges that the city of New Orleans must tackle.
Ubilla, Javier, Tarek Abdoun, Inthuorn Sasanakul, Michael Sharp, Scott Steedman, Wipawi Vanadit-Ellis, and Thomas Zimmie. "New Orleans Levee System Performance during Hurricane Katrina: London Avenue and Orleans Canal South." Geotechnical & Geoenvironmental Engineering (2008): n. pag. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.
Similar to other marginalized groups affected by colonialism due to the government in power, the Indigenous peoples of Canada have struggled as a nation due to the unequal treatment they have encountered in the past. The governing bodies that control these Indigenous communities have continued to have colonialistic tendencies that attempt to put the ‘white man’s’ needs before the Indigenous peoples.
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Prior to the arrival of the Europeans in Canada in the mid- to late 1600s, Aboriginal people were the original inhabitants of the Canadian land. In Canadian history, we forced our Aboriginal people to adapt to the European-Canadian culture and values. Prior to overthrowing their land and culture, the Aboriginal peoples were thriving off the natural land materialistically and financially. In years to come in response to the mistreatment of them, the Canadian government would implement what is known as the Indigenous and Northern Affairs act [1966] this act would aim to establish financial rights and benefits for the aboriginal demographic. Today in the 21st century Canada is comprised of over 1.4 million indigenous peoples (Aylsworth