I suppose that's a profession. anyhow, if these old buildings/landmarks/highrises are left in 3-15 feet of water for a week or a month or more, will most of these buildings structural integrity be compromised? can they be repaired or must our lifelong new orleans landmarks be torn down? will the newer ones have a better chance to exist? Im sure no one can ascertain the extent of the damage from here but I would like some semi-qualified opinions. i know zero about this stuff but to think new orleans would be completely snowplowed is strange to me.
I am not an engineer, but I work in the insurance business (as does sabanfan). I can tell you that any water damage to a structure is bad, and prolonged water damage is even worse. It will destrot all insulation, sheetrock, flooring, etc. As far as structural integrity of metal beams, those will probably withstand the water damage I would think. Either way, you are looking at replacing the entire interior of almost all structures with flood damage....it may be better in the longrun to rebuild everything.
thats what i was afraid of. so 10 years when our families and everyone has hopefully regained some sense of normalcy to what we knew beforehand we're likely to never have our old new orleans ever again...except our memories. i think i need a hurricane from pat o's and no, not that whore that just left us.
And that is assuming that we dont have anymore stormes. Hell we could be last years Fl. I am wondering at what point are they just gonna say it is a lose cause and choose not to rebuild the city at all. And how many business are just gonna say screw it and not come back.
Acuttally the reason this happened was because of the fact that we TRIED to control Mother Nature. When the river was allowed to flood over its banks it dropped off silt and soil from up north it allowed the land to be built up but now with the levees that does not happen. Why not just bulid the city like venice is built
When it comes to the buisnesses its the bottom line with them and the people dont mean ****. From the few interviews I have heard there are people saying that they are not moving back. Some of these people might go to Houston find jobs and never leave.
It is. The field of Civil Engineering breaks down into 5 sub-categories: structural, hydrologic, geotechnical, transportation, and environmental (yes, that is now it's own field, but they work hand-in-hand with the Civils for things like tank design and fluid management). You'd better believe it, particularly in the case of the older buildings. Buildings with steel frames have a much higher chance of survival than those with wooden frames. Even then, the components and cladding that suffered water exposure will be ruined. Some of them will almost certainly have to be torn down. No telling how many. But the frames and beams of many buildings will be rotten beyond repair.
An old man once told the Corps of Engineers during a hearing prior to moving people off the levee in Bayou Benoit: "When you're shaving and the sink starts to overflow, do you build up the walls of the sink or do you pull the damn plug!"
