<VV> H. Katrina

[John Kepler]

with a breach in the levee the size of what's been on TV, they're
> not gonna stop it.

Never seen a good marine contractor at work, now have you!  They should have
a significant amount of it "plugged" by tomorrow morning at the latest,
assuming the Corps gets off it's dead ass and lets some pros do the work
(sand/gravel filled barges make NICE, big levee plugs!)!
>
> The city has been sinking ever since it's been there.   The
> continental crust in this region is weak (very large fault system
> runs under the region)

It does?  Please provide a cite!

 and the city sits on a layer of river silts
> and sand several miles thick which keeps loading the weakened crust
> underneath, causing it all to slowly sink under the weight of the
> river-deposit silt and sand above, thus N.O. keeps dropping lower and
> the levees keep getting built higher and higher.

Now just what geology text/monograph did you read that out of?  Again,
please cite!

Much of what you have expressed was out-of-date back when I was an undergrad
geology student 35 years ago (part of the pre-plate tectonics "geosyncline
theory")!  Yes, the area subsides.....it's a river delta which are
geologically very special places and subsidance is part of the on-going
lithification process, but not for the reasons you've stated (Google "salt
domes" for an explanation!).  At least one reason it subsides is that human
beings like to live on it and pump the water out from underneath it (water
has volume folks....pump it out and the volume decreases, pump it in, it
increases.....Google "Baldwin Hills Dam Disaster" for a referrence!)


> Don't expect things in N.O. to ever get back to what would be
> regarded as normal for a very long time.   It's gonna cost *all* of us.

No arguement when it comes to The Big Easy......a shame too!  However, in
the "Big Picture", the bulk of the petroleum infrastructure is located west
of NO in areas that are both higher, more stable, and less effected by the
hurricane.  The off-shore rigs are built to higher standards than the Lake
Ponchartrain levees, and if the preliminary reports are accurate, are
largely undamaged.  The refineries around Convent/Gonzales are undamaged,
and are only waiting for electric power and the pipelines to get cranked
back up before they can be back in production.  At least as far as gas/oil
is concerned, this looks to be more of a "speed-bump" rather than a "wall"

>
> I'm kinda bummed out over this...  New Orleans is in a bad way and
> it's getting worse by the minute and there's no end in
> sight.    Anyway, I've rattled on long enough; the Red Cross is gonna
> need some help...  anyone with a deep enough pocket might consider
> lending a hand.

Having a generational bias against the Red Cross, I'd suggest a donation to
the Salvation Army.  They do more in the field with less "parasitic"
administrative costs (read that as fewer 6-figure Armani-suit types sucking
at the money teat!).  If helping the people effected is your goal, the
Salvation Army delivers more bang for the buck!

John