Chris Barnes wrote:

Derek Broughton wrote:
The US Corps of Engineers got wise to this probably 20 years ago when
there
was wide-spread flooding on the Mississippi. In the end, it's a whole
lot simpler (and safer for everybody) _not_ to try to prevent flooding,
and to just not let anybody build on the flood plain.

You mean like "New Orleans"?

(actually, closer to my home, Houston is also a flood plain).


Sorry - it's a pet peeve of mine. I visited NO one time several years
ago. I thought then how dumb it was to build below the water line with
the M.River on one side, and Lake Ponchartrain on the other.

Exactly like that - the Corps of Engineers has been carefully confining the
Mississippi and it's tributaries within concrete walls for decades. It
just means that all that water has nowhere to go but over the tops of the
levees - and it's way too late to stop people building on the flood plains.

Of course, on much of the Great Plains, building on a flood plain isn't
really an option. In the last big flood of the Red River in Manitoba, the
flood water was spreading 20 miles! But in that case the best option is
to build on stilts, or mounds, and let the water surround you every few
years.
--
derek
- Unless otherwise noted, I speak for myself, not rec.ponds.moderated
moderators.