Reply #15: Only just... [View All]

[Dead_Parrot]

NOLA is on the Mississippi delta's alluvial fan, which is not the most solid piece of real estate. The ground is only stable so long as it can regularly flood and top up the silt: When this is prevented the whole damn thing settles, which is why NOLA is largely below sea level. And the sea will continue to erode the edges of the fan, because it's nothing more than compacted mud: with increased storms and a rising sea-level, that's going to accelerate.

If you grab a map, and draw a line from Gulfport to Franklin, that'll give you an idea of the where the sea thinks the coast should be. How long that will take is an interesting question, but we'll find out sooner or later.

Eventually, New Orleans is going to go the same way as Herakleion, built on similar land in the Nile Delta.