Why New Orleans' Geography SUCKS

Select video clips courtesy of Getty Images

Special thanks to MapTiler / OpenStreetMap Contributors and GEOlayers 3

[electriccarpet]

Fun fact: The European settlers were surprised that the natives hadn’t built any settlements in the modern day New Orleans area. It was flat and solid and between 2 important bodies of water. When asked, the natives told them that it floods all the time and advised that the Europeans should not build a settlement there. They did not listen obviously.

[kenmdrt]

POV:The year is 2050. New Orleans tourism is now booming as thousands of divers make their way to Louisiana, hoping for a tour of the underwater ruins.

[heyitsmyTeeTa]

I am a Katrina survivor. I lost everything at 16yrs old. The stress of rebuilding killed my father and my mother was not able to rebuild her life she had pre-Katrina. We still have not recovered 17yrs later!!!; So many crooked politicians ensuring a large amount of the population couldn't afford to rebuild and fraudulent programs just wore us out. I now live in Baton Rouge but my family still resides in the city. Be vigilant and don't count on the government entities to have your best interest at heart.

[Nikioko]

When the French founded La Nouvelle Orléans, it was a perfect spot, both strategically and commercially. The position at the delta of the Mississippi opened a great route to explore inland Louisiana.
When Venice was founded, it was at the perfect spot because the swamps offered natural protection from ravaging Visigoths and Lombards. Today, for both cities the submerging swampy ground is a big problem.

[ShortHax]

Patrick Star: “What if we push the city?”

[than]

The French Quarter of New Orleans is one of the coolest places in America. You can literally walk block after block past the original 1700s buildings still standing.

[gerardomanon]

So Nola is the embodiment of “I’m here for a good time, not a long time”

[sjmcmichael]

I knew the Mississippi was important, but I didn't realize it connected so much of the country together. Really fascinating video, thanks for sharing this information with us.

[ihavetowaitdaystochangem]

We could easy solve the flooding problem by telling to Nestle that there’s water there

[tdlf]

I knew a guy who worked on levees in Nola, he raised some concerns over safety issues with the levees, and was promptly told to shut up. The construction and maintenance of the levees is so unbelievably corrupt.

He said he was literally taken out of the room and told “how things work around here”.

[mynamehappy]

God this is so depressing. I'm moving to New Orleans for graduate school in July. A big part of that decision, other than liking the school, was wanting the opportunity to immerse myself in the city and its culture before its gone, or hollowed out even worse than it already has been. I've visited on multiple occasions and there was never enough time. I absolutely adore that city.

[Southerly]

The city itself is decaying. I visited for the first time in years this year in 2022. I was plainly shocked at the state of the place. It breaks my heart. My dad is from Gentilly, I grew up visiting practically every year as a kid. It's a special city to me, and seeing it as it is, is truly tragic

[nahlolurough]

The storm surge from Ida was so insane that the mississippi actually flowed backwards for a few hours

[scottgates]

When the French were scouting out the land in Louisiana, an engineer very plainly said it was a very bad place to build a port...but was overruled by the nobleman making the decision.
Once again, management ran roughshod over technical expertise.

[gabetalks]

Losing New Orleans is going to be so tragic because New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz. It's history and its culture will all be lost. Sure, they can migrate the city up North along the Atchafalaya River, but the historic location will still be lost, and of its old historic buildings will be lost to the ocean, which is going to be so incredibly sad.

[himbourbanist]

I love New Orleans so much, it's such an incredibly beautiful city and unique with its rich culture and design. It's an absolute tragedy that it might not be around for much longer.

[ezekielmorgan]

I never knew just how much of the Midwest is connected to the Mississippi river. Growing up in Arizona, seeing even the Colorado river was impressive.

[TheGreatLordApples]

To be fair, they knew it was a shitty location when they settled it. The native Americans of the area only used the region as a temporary trading post once a year or so. When Bienville settled the region, he did so without permission of the French government. And, he later convinced them to make it their capital of the new world only by sending them plans for a city that had a perfect grid of streets all named after the noble houses of France surrounded by a prominent wall. The plans never really came to be until much later and the wall was never built. The actual ideal locations that natives recommended to early explorers was further up the Mississippi river in modern Baton Rouge. The main location that the French wanted to use as their base in the west was Biloxi Mississippi.

[katty]

I grew up in New Orleans, and I felt a bit guilty at the relief I felt that my family moved out the city before Katrina hit.
We lived uptown, in a part that would not have been horribly affected, but it still would have had problems.
I did have my share of flooding before we left. I remember one May, in the 1990s, when it flooded for pretty much the whole month and they closed the schools down.

[azleipuentes]

"When the Levees Broke", a great documentary about Katrina and New Orleans. Very sad but worth a watch.


Thank you for creating this documentary. You can learn something new everyday. I had no idea that New Orleans' geography was essentially a bowl.