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“Fortified but still in peril, New Orleans braces for its future: Our Drowning Coast”

By Mark Schleifstein | Posted February 24, 2018

Schleifstein, Mark. “Fortified but Still in Peril, New Orleans Braces for Its Future: Our Drowning Coast.” NOLA.com, NOLA.com, 24 Feb. 2018, expo.nola.com/erry-2018/02/5faf9d21ca/our_drowning_coast_fortified_b.html.

This article is about how New Orleans is still in a danger zone when it come to floods and hurricanes. It states that we are way more prepared for if it happens now unlike when Katrina hit. But on the flip side if New Orleans was to take another storm there would be no way we are able to recover from another storm. The city has built new and stronger levees and have put in place different procedures for a storm. The reason that New Orleans won’t last is because “Half the city lies below sea level, and is sinking still, and the buffer of protective wetlands that can knock down the force of incoming hurricanes is eroding away.” This shows that once the water overflows the city New Orleans is doomed because we won’t have nowhere to store the water. Climate change is affecting us terribly because it is the cause of the sinking and decrease in wetlands.

What I found surprising is that it has been over a decade and they still haven't found an effective way to protect New Orleans and it’s citizens. "What we should have done," Landrieu said, "is build to a 10,000-year flood standard, which is what the Netherlands built to, and we didn't, and that was for the country a monetary decision." - Mitch Landrieu. I find it extremely heartbreaking that the people within our government know the damage that climate change brings to our city and they still do nothing about it. I agree with the fact that if New Orleans go through another hurricane we will no longer be on the map. I say this because we are already below sea level and our landscape is not strong enough to hold all that water. This event is highly relevant to my life because New Orleans is a place that me and the people that I love call home. I would hate for all of us to go through another traumatic experience like Katrina.

I believe the article is missing an action plan for if New Orleans do go through another hurricane and isn’t able to bounce back. What will they do with all the people what will be provided for people who lost everything and aren’t necessarily able to relocate. My question is what's next? I would recommend this article to a friend because it’s real insightful to see how people in a position of power deal with our local problems.