Add an unevenly distributed mix of ocean water, lake water, river water, and rain water.
Add a healthy assortment of both treated and untreated sewage, along with assorted garbage and dashes here and there of medical waste.
Add to taste, anywhere from one thousand to several thousands of dead and dying (and in some cases decaying and decayed)humans and animals.
Add a lively variety of alligators, river rats, mosquitos and assorted other insects.
Allow to stew in a giant bowl until suitably aromatic.
And you have old New Orleans Gumbo. Just one taste, in fact just one whiff, and you will doubtless ask, "how the fucking shit can we keep this from ever happenning again?"
But I have an even better question than that. Why the fuck did it ever have to happen to begin with. The answer, of course, is it didn't. The levees should have been continually upgraded and strengthened on a regular basis. Of course, this would not in itself be enoguh to prevent the current disaster, nor would it be enough in and of itself to keep it from occurring yet again. So what to do?
It seems like a simple enough solution to me. You simply have pumps at the ready to drain lake Ponchartraine at a moments notice. After all, the lake, and the Mississippi River, is probably where the majority of the flooding has originated. So why didn't the numbnuts in New orleans and the State of Louisiana and for that mattr the Federal Government have just such a plan ready to be implemented, seeing as how this has been well known to be a very likely, not merely a possible, eventuality.
No place to divert the lake water to? Find a way. Do I have to think of everything? After all, they had plenty of warning ahead of time that this was likely to be a category Five storm, and all they did was order people to evacuate, at about 24 hours notice. They should have started draining that damned lake a week ahead of time. But no, that would be too much trouble and way too expensive. Naturally, the city might have been partly flooded anyway. But not like it is now. Again, the solution:
Have pumps at the ready to drain the Lake Ponchartraine at a moments notice.
Upgrade and strengthen the levee system.
Have a plan at the ready to evacuate those citizens who might not have a way out or a place to go-including the prisoners in the New Orleans jail. Implement this plan at the earliest possible time- not at the last minute.
In the meantime, people all over the country should ask just exactly why this was allowed to happen. And they should demand answers and, yes, accountability.
