In other news -

[kyburg]

I'm doing my bit for the economy by doing my Christmas shopping now.

I R DORK.

Well, yeah.

My local Louisiana connection, Ragin' Cajun Cafe, should have some news on local efforts - that's where lunch is today, methinks.

Talking to Jim this morning, I posed the following scenario - say, what would happen here if the water rose as high as it did in New Orleans?

Roughly, we said the hurricane brought 25 ft. Then the broken levees added another 25ft - or so.

Torrance - 84 ft above sea level.
Manhattan Beach - 100 ft. (I don't buy that entirely - some of it is distinctly AT sea level or only a few feet above. Like most coastal cities.)
Bellflower (where Jim works) - 71 ft.

I was saying you'd have to go significantly inland to get much higher. The elevation at Mom's house in Hemet is above 1,200 ft - Ontario? 988 ft.

If something like this showed up in our backyard, we'd be just as screwed. And I can count the number of freeways on one hand you could use to beat feet out of here. Ask betnoir about traveling the one out of her neighborhood at most times of the day. It resembles a parking lot due to the harbor traffic.

I didn't have to tell the boss anything. He's got a cousin down there who has lost everything except a week's worth of clothes and the car she drove out.

If that doesn't sicken you, throwingstardna has the posts of the day on what a fekking waste of carbon Bush has been through the whole mess.

Opportunist. Asshole.

And there, for the grace of God, go I.

Comments

[tomlemos.livejournal.com]

They calcuate elevation by taking an average of all locations in a city so yes, the ocean is on one side, but there could be various locations in the city that are at least 100ft over sea level.

You wouldn't be as screwed as the folks down there because they've got a huge lake on one side and a REAL river running through the place as well as the Gulf of Mexico. So to begin with, they had a lot of water in place already, just waiting for a place to go. Remember, most of that area is already under sea level, so the water has nowhere else to go but to the lower level. I think anything that would happen in LA would probably subside in time just by the natural downslope of the land.

In L.A., the water could possibly find pockets where it would flood, but for widespread devastation, I think there would be a lot less water than the folks down there are dealing with.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

We could get more dumped on us. Just raise the levels a bit more -

Or just drop a bunch due to an earthquake or two.

I remember hearing about Louisiana and it's proximity issues - and how precarious they were - but nobody ever thought this one was going to be it. Not up until a week or so, anyway.

Sad. Incredibly sad.

[tomlemos.livejournal.com]

very true.

basically a major city has been wiped out.

whoa.

[tomlemos.livejournal.com]

very true.

basically a major city has been wiped out.

whoa.