ecofriend.org

New Orleans' low-lying areas 'sinking even faster'

hurricane katrina in new orleans

New Orleans is sinking! – and it’s sinking faster than previously thought. According to a new research, parts of the city are sinking from before Hurricane Katrina hit it last August. This is one of the major reasons about why some levees were easily violated by floodwaters!

This discovery warns that some very low-lying areas in the US city should not be rebuilt. They can actually turn into ‘death traps’, if this sinking phenomenon continues. When the city was stuck with hurricane Katrina, it sunk by an average of 0.22 inches (0.5cm) a year! Raisng further, the concerns for the future of the city, some low-lying areas are sinking by more than one inch (2.54cm) a year!

But, what is leading to this devastating phenomenon? You can blame overdevelopment, drainage along with natural seismic shifts for it. Lead author Tim Dixon, geophysicist at the University of Miami said,

My concern is the very low-lying areas… I think those areas are death traps. I don’t think those areas should be rebuilt.

Via: BBC News

Today's Top Articles:

Scroll to Top