What do Venice and New Orleans have in common?
By Jim
Smith
Watching the devastation (and
destruction?) of New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina on TV, one wonders if it
could happen here. Both Venice and New Orleans are at, or below, sea level.
Venice has been subjected to large amounts of flooding in past years. That
threat may be greater now than ever.
Katrina
was the wayward daughter of global warming. The abnormally heated surface of the
Gulf of Mexico made the hurricane much larger and stronger than it would have
been otherwise. More Category 4 and 5 storms will be on the way.
None of this would have happened without
global warming, which our “leaders” in Washington have ignored,
refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocols to reduce carbon-based discharges into the
atmosphere. Katrina was truly a case of the “chickens coming home to
roost.” But, the dead, wounded and homeless are not the policy makers in
DC, but ordinary people who were never asked what they thought should be done
about global warming.
Can it happen in
Venice? If not a typhoon, how about a Tsunami? Warning signs and evacuation
routes still have not been posted in Venice and Marina del Rey, even though this
is a Tsunami danger zone since we are the main population centers by the Santa
Monica Bay that are at sea level.
Even
a fierce winter storm could breach the breakwater and the slight rise in
elevation of the sandbar that runs along Pacific Avenue in North Beach. As
global warming becomes more severe, so will weather disasters around the world,
and the danger of flooding in Venice. Will land in Venice become less valuable
when it’s under water? It’s time to take a lesson from the Dutch and
start building a dike to hold back the sea water. Or, perhaps it’s time to
start digging out the canals and get a boat.
Posted: Thu - September 1, 2005 at 01:41 PM