Nightime on the City of New Orleans
By Thomas Dimopoulos
SARATOGA SPRINGS — On the Web site that calls itself 'Everything New Orleans,' you can find out that in the city known for its jazz, Jazzfest 2006 is scheduled to begin April 28.
It is advertised on the entertainment link of www.nola.com.
Finding it is a little like looking into someone's closet whose belongings still cling to clothes hangers just as they left them, and knowing that they won't be coming back.
The real-time images of lively street scenes from the French Quarter are down for the count, the site informs: Bourbon-CAM; River-CAM; Bead-CAM; Hurricane Katrina has slayed them all. Instead, the busiest activity on the site Wednesday morning is the Missing Persons forum. It was filling with posts as rapidly as the waters pouring into the city.
- 8:16 a.m., post No. 29: Looking For My Mom, Pearl, brother Brian & niece Christy. They were last at the St. Louis Hotel in the Quarter. Mom needs medical attention. God Bless Us All.
- 10:07 a.m., post No. 30: My family is trapped on a roof near Toledano and Washington. Please send help.
- 10:46 a.m., post No. 50: I know where there are people trapped either in attic or on roof. I was text messaged saying they were trying to cut out the roof. They are by Lena Street and Parish Road I think there is 4 people. Please if anybody knows where I can call to report them, email me.
- 11:55 a.m., post No. 526. Please help us find Riley Mckennie! Address: Mexico Street. God have mercy on our souls.
- 12:07 p.m. post No. 557. Worried in Iraq: My name is Chris Ducote I am in Iraq and I am looking for my father Vincent and my brother Vincent, Jr. They lived in Chalmette, La. If u have any info on them please email me. And if u see them please tell them that I love them very much and that I'll be home soon.
There were 900 postings on the forum at 1:30 Wednesday afternoon. By 8:30 p.m. the number grew to 2,500. At lunch time the following afternoon, there were 5,385.
The words travel swiftly around the world. The pictures of devastation may be worth 1,000 words, but they cannot describe what only the words can: the panic, the grief, the fear. And the hope for a beacon of light in the darkness.
It is words that have also expressed advance warning.
This could happen here, they say.
We'll worry about it some other time, is the usual response.
When some other time comes, there are then new words that are spoken. How could this have happened? and, inevitably: Who is to blame?
In 1998, the Center for Climate Systems Research at Columbia University issued this warning: Warming Could Flood New York Metro Area.
With global warming, reasoned Columbia scientist Vivien Gornitz, regional temperatures could rise as much as 4 degrees, and area sea levels could follow. As much as 8 inches by 2030. As much as 4 feet by the year 2100.
'If global warming produces more violent storms and higher sea levels as expected,' Gornitz cautioned, 'Subways, airports and low-lying coastal areas could experience flooding.'
State and local planners were asked to consider countermeasures right away: Install protective seawalls. Raise the airport runways at Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports above expected flood levels. Install pumping systems that would keep the mostly underground subway system dry. Words of caution.
Here, the newsroom is about 295 feet above sea level. It is also 500 feet directly above a natural fault line running on a north-south line beneath the city. How long the fault line has been here is anybody's guess, but it is the reason that the carbonated waters bubble up from underground. Before gambling built up this town, it was the springs that first brought population here in big numbers. The fault line is why the city has its springs, and is where the city of Saratoga gets its last name.
I would bet you that there are probably as many around here spending time worrying about earthquakes as there are on the island of Manhattan concerned about rising sea levels. Which is not too many. It is, after all, racing season. We'll worry about it some other time.
Published in The Saratogian
SARATOGA SPRINGS — On the Web site that calls itself 'Everything New Orleans,' you can find out that in the city known for its jazz, Jazzfest 2006 is scheduled to begin April 28.
It is advertised on the entertainment link of www.nola.com.
Finding it is a little like looking into someone's closet whose belongings still cling to clothes hangers just as they left them, and knowing that they won't be coming back.
The real-time images of lively street scenes from the French Quarter are down for the count, the site informs: Bourbon-CAM; River-CAM; Bead-CAM; Hurricane Katrina has slayed them all. Instead, the busiest activity on the site Wednesday morning is the Missing Persons forum. It was filling with posts as rapidly as the waters pouring into the city.
- 8:16 a.m., post No. 29: Looking For My Mom, Pearl, brother Brian & niece Christy. They were last at the St. Louis Hotel in the Quarter. Mom needs medical attention. God Bless Us All.
- 10:07 a.m., post No. 30: My family is trapped on a roof near Toledano and Washington. Please send help.
- 10:46 a.m., post No. 50: I know where there are people trapped either in attic or on roof. I was text messaged saying they were trying to cut out the roof. They are by Lena Street and Parish Road I think there is 4 people. Please if anybody knows where I can call to report them, email me.
- 11:55 a.m., post No. 526. Please help us find Riley Mckennie! Address: Mexico Street. God have mercy on our souls.
- 12:07 p.m. post No. 557. Worried in Iraq: My name is Chris Ducote I am in Iraq and I am looking for my father Vincent and my brother Vincent, Jr. They lived in Chalmette, La. If u have any info on them please email me. And if u see them please tell them that I love them very much and that I'll be home soon.
There were 900 postings on the forum at 1:30 Wednesday afternoon. By 8:30 p.m. the number grew to 2,500. At lunch time the following afternoon, there were 5,385.
The words travel swiftly around the world. The pictures of devastation may be worth 1,000 words, but they cannot describe what only the words can: the panic, the grief, the fear. And the hope for a beacon of light in the darkness.
It is words that have also expressed advance warning.
This could happen here, they say.
We'll worry about it some other time, is the usual response.
When some other time comes, there are then new words that are spoken. How could this have happened? and, inevitably: Who is to blame?
In 1998, the Center for Climate Systems Research at Columbia University issued this warning: Warming Could Flood New York Metro Area.
With global warming, reasoned Columbia scientist Vivien Gornitz, regional temperatures could rise as much as 4 degrees, and area sea levels could follow. As much as 8 inches by 2030. As much as 4 feet by the year 2100.
'If global warming produces more violent storms and higher sea levels as expected,' Gornitz cautioned, 'Subways, airports and low-lying coastal areas could experience flooding.'
State and local planners were asked to consider countermeasures right away: Install protective seawalls. Raise the airport runways at Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports above expected flood levels. Install pumping systems that would keep the mostly underground subway system dry. Words of caution.
Here, the newsroom is about 295 feet above sea level. It is also 500 feet directly above a natural fault line running on a north-south line beneath the city. How long the fault line has been here is anybody's guess, but it is the reason that the carbonated waters bubble up from underground. Before gambling built up this town, it was the springs that first brought population here in big numbers. The fault line is why the city has its springs, and is where the city of Saratoga gets its last name.
I would bet you that there are probably as many around here spending time worrying about earthquakes as there are on the island of Manhattan concerned about rising sea levels. Which is not too many. It is, after all, racing season. We'll worry about it some other time.
posted by thomas at 9:29 AM
1 Comments:
Thomas.Thanks for your comments on my blog your insight has inspired me. Keep it coming and I will tune in to your writing from time to time. La Paz Sam
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