Question about NO

[KayLaw]

I haven't been watching the news that much but I wonder. . .has anyone talked about getting the people out of the via ship? I just turned on CNN and they were talking about more flooding, toxic substances, and fire and said they're just putting people in the Superdome because there's nowhere else to take them.

Couldn't they bring Naval ships, cruise boats, etcetera that could get the people out and give them temporary shelter? No?

[moc]

1. Probably not deep enough to accomodate that size vessel nt

[BlueEyedSon]

2. Not reliably deep enough, small boats & 'copters only

[Gunit_Sangh]

3. There are piers that accomodate cruise ships

About 10 years ago, I was at a conference in New Orleans during the Jazz Festival. Because there was so many people there for the festival, there wasn't enough housing for all the company employees (the company was Computer Associates). They brought in 4 cruise ships and had them tie up to a pier within walking distance of the convention center.

The problem of bringing in cruise ships is that there is no way to provide them with electricity, water or sewer connections.

[DinahMoeHum]

4. Unfortunately, NO is now a slew of navigational hazards.

For that matter, so are the whole eastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi coasts now.

:hurts:

[SlackJawedYokel]

5. Cheaper solution

Assign every household a pirrot and they can get around the way Cajuns do after a hurricane.
:D

Cletus

[Gruenemann]

6. the word is 'pirogue'

[SlackJawedYokel]

11. Doh!

I actually knew that.
Damn brain farts. :D

Cletus

[markus]

7. That is an excellent idea, actually

If they can get people to the river levee, they can move them out of town.

New Orleans is a deep water port, y'all. It can take just about anything except a SuperTanker.

[KayLaw]

8. I'm wondering

If dangerous navigation is the problem, they'd need something like a huge pontoon boat to ferry people out to any ships. I wonder if such a thing exists. Ahhh...why are we trying to figure this out? FEMA should have had a plan ready for this last week! Someone on CNN just asked, "Where is Bush anyhow?"

[expatriate]

9. The river is deep enough.

Oil tankers go as far north along the Mississippi as Baton Rouge and even further north than that.

I don't know how navigable the river is at this point.

Cruise liners aren't registered as American ships though, so cannot be commandeered.

It would be some kind of a solution - or barges. Anything that floats.

I think that's what's in the minds of the officials who are starting evacuations of the people remaining in New Orleans - get them on anything that floats and get them out of there.

[demodonkey]

10. Mississippi at NO is 200ft deep. However probably no way navigate it now.

200 feet deep can handle any ship pretty much but probably there is so much current and debris nothing is navigable.

About the 200 ft depth... I was in NO in March and being from Pittsburgh (where our rivers are 15-20 ft, 25 ft is flood stage at "The Point") I was amazed at this statistic when I heard it.