Get Out of NOLA Before the Coastline Passes You By

On 60 Minutes this weekend, a natural disaster expert will offer his recommendations for the rebuilding of New Orleans. Mayor Nagin will not be pleased (h/t Drudge):

A natural disaster expert says it’s time New Orleans residents faced the fact that their city will be below sea level in 90 years. Prof. Tim Kusky advocates a gradual pull-out from the city, whose slow, steady slide into the sea was sped up enormously by Hurricane Katrina. Kusky speaks to Scott Pelley for a 60 MINUTES report to be broadcast Sunday, Nov. 20 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

“New Orleans is going to be 15 to 18 feet below sea level, sitting off the coast of North America surrounded by a 50 to 100-foot-tall levee system to protect the city,” says Kusky, a professor in the Earth Sciences Department at St. Louis University. He estimates this will happen in 90 years. “That’s the projection, because we are losing land on the Mississippi Delta at a rate of 25 to 30 square miles per year. That’s two acres per hour that are sinking below sea level,” he tells Pelley.

As the city assesses damage and plans to rebuild, Kusky believes there’s a better plan. “We should be thinking about a gradual pullout of New Orleans and starting to rebuild people’s homes, businesses and industry in places that can last more than 80 years,” he says. Instead, the law will allow residents to rebuild if their homes lie at the 100-year flood level, much of which was inundated by Katrina’s waters and would be put underwater again should levees fail.

Way back in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane, House Speaker Dennis Haster suggested that rebuilding New Orleans was a mistake. There may now be more scientific evidence to support that position.