Thursday, December 17, 2009

Live Oak Levees in Louisiana, Why Not?~Quinta Scott
~Live oak along Bayou Chene, Avoca Island
~The following quotation from my upcoming book,
The Mississippi, explains the vulnerability of levees:
“As massive as they are, levees are fragile come floodtime.
Leave a stick in the levee during construction, when it rots, it creates a cavity, weakening the levee.
Let a small animal or crawdad burrow into the levee, it creates a cavity, weakening the levee.
Let it rain for days and weeks and months, water will saturate its soil, weakening the levee.
Build the levee of light, sandy soil, it is vulnerable to wave wash from wind or barge traffic, weakening the levee. A flooded river roaring downstream might scour its base, weakening the levee.

The weight of the flood is the greatest danger to the levee.
Two, three, four stories of water press against the levee, seek out its vulnerabilities, and saturate it, burrowing underneath it and erupting as sand boils–geysers of river water–on the inside.
If the spout is muddy, the river is eroding the core of the levee.
The taller the levee, the more massive the crevasse, the greater the damage to the land when it breaks.”

~Special thanks to John Poole for this wonderful addition.
"Boy Bouncing on a Live Oak Branch New Orleans"
© 1989, 2009 John Poole. Editilla swears we know this tree...

Flooding provides ammo for critics of development
~Naomi King


River Ridge drainage project could help homeowners dealing with recent flooding
~Maya Rodriguez


Flood waters recede in Lafourche Parish ~Advocate

Corps awards $2.4M Industrial Canal project to Covington firm ~NOCB~The contract calls for driving 1,400 feet of sheet pile approximately 4,000 feet south of the Ted Hickey Bridge, also known as the Seabrook Bridge. According to the corps, the work will address potential seepage and reduce the risk of storm damage from an event that has a 1 percent chance of occurring in any given year.

When levees fail, so does this nation

Conservative bloggers question my manhood and (may) want to kick my ass~YRHT

I need a word for this
~American Zombie


And then there were... fewer than before~WCBF
~The_Gambit Who woulda thought Manny Chevrolet Bruno would outlast @Leslie_Jacobs in #nolamayor race?

Politics with a Punch Tonight!

City to expand Norman Mayer Library with demolition of adjacent property

Help fight hunger two ways with the gift of a backyard vegetable garden~Judy Walker

Odd Words
~Odd Bits of Life in New Orleans


Interview with Colour Expert; James Martin~Colour me Happy

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