28 Jan
Feb. 10-17: New Orleans
My trip begins in a city that was nearly decimated by torrential flooding just 4.5 years ago: the Big Easy. Many of the sites I am interested in seeing in New Orleans are a result of the devastation from storm surges that toppled the city’s many levees, floodwalls, and canals, sending untold amounts of water into vulnerable communities built below sea level. These were massive infrastructure projects, designed, built over decades, and funded by federal dollars to facilitate petrochemical, shipping and tourism industries.
I’ve arranged a site visit with an individual responsible for the MRGOMustGo campaign, a movement created post-Katrina to close a largely defunct shipping canal leading from the Gulf of Mexico to the heart of the city. The presence of this shortcut canal is responsible for the city’s exposure to significant amounts of storm surge damage. Please click on the link on the right hand column to get more information about surge damage New Orleans sustained from failure of these and other infrastructure projects. Many of the sites pinpointed in the graphic are places I plan to visit.
Planning a visit to New Orleans over Mardi Gras presents some challenges to my busy itinerary – many of the city’s main roads are periodically closed for street parades and other events, there will be crowds, etc. On the other hand, there will be street parades and crowds of fantastically outrageous people everywhere – so I’ll get over it, no prob. Lastly, I owe a great deal of gratitude to the Horne-Wholey family for allowing me to stay with them during this busy and frantic week.