Katrina and the waves (and wind and rain)

My busy Sunday schedule has prevented me from being the first to make this reference. I refer, of course, to the 1980's band (see their official Web site) who gave us "Walking on Sunshine" (sorry, no iTunes version of this one). I'm also referring to the monster of a hurricane that is targeting New Orleans. [Link note: this will probably be a dead link in a few days, once the storm passes.]

I remember reading during last year's hurricane season that New Orleans would be in big trouble if it ever took a direct hit from a hurricane. The reason for this is that the city sits below sea level. It took some looking, but I found a good cross-sectional map of New Orleans which illustrates this. The city is in a bowl between the Mississippi River to the south and Lake Pontchartrain to the north. (This zoomed-out overhead map helps.) Since the levees are only built to withstand a storm surge of 18 feet or less (see this map of floodwall heights), the possible 20-25 foot swells are going to present a huge problem.

Since the city was under a forced evacuation as of early this morning, hopefully everyone has made it out or to a shelter. If you are from New Orleans and reading this, stay safe and good luck.