Monday, February 06, 2006
... and there was New Orleans
| By Helen Lambourne Researcher, BBC Horizon |
The BBC's Horizon programme has spoken to the scientists who are now confronting the real possibility that New Orleans may be the first of many cities worldwide to face extinction.
Modern day New Orleans was a city that defied the odds. Built on a mosquito-infested swamp squashed between two vast bodies of water in what is essentially a bowl, its very existence seemed proof of the triumph of engineering over nature.
But on the 29 August 2005 New Orleans took a hit from Hurricane Katrina and overnight was turned into a Venice from hell.
| | If you want New Orleans back you have to do some very fundamental things Shea Penland, University of New Orleans |
Coastal Geologist Shea Penland from the University of New Orleans knows every inlet, every cove and every stretch of marsh that surrounds New Orleans.
He also knew that what had been thought of as wasteland for years were critical to the survival of the city.
"The first line of defence isn't the levee in your backyard, the first line of defence is that marsh in your backyard and we're learning what that means."...
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