The discourse on New Orleans have centered if the flood of the river Mississippi more severe in more than a quarter of a century causes catastrophic damage in a city still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. And for good reason: the flood carved a destructive path from Cairo, Illinois, at Vicksburg, Mississippi and you are prompted for the Republican Governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, ask the Federal Government for emergency assistance. But just maybe it is a misfortune: the flood could actually help fragile wetlands of Louisiana.
Of course, floodwaters of the river Mississippi is destructive. Many people along Weirs open to mitigate the outbreak is likely to lose their homes. Water can also destroy oyster beds, especially in Lake Borgne, between the Mississippi and the Gulf of the Mexico. Long term effects will be not obvious for several months. But, said Alex Kolker, a geologist at the Louisiana universities Marine Consortium, it may be an opportunity to let nature help resolve an artificial problem. "It will be a fascinating time," said Kolker. (See the photos in the flood zone).
Only a year ago, the worst oil spill in American history slathered million litres of oil through the coast of Louisiana. The muck covered cane tall, resembling bamboo and grass that points together vegetation which includes wetlands, South of New Orleans, preventing them from receiving oxygen. Many experts feared it would take years for the wetlands recover, and that the industry of seafood from Louisiana core - particularly oysters, shrimp and fish cannot execute suspicion of oil - is at risk. These sediments is crucial: the loss of vegetation is accelerating the erosion of soils and the Islands.
Now, however, rich in sediments of flood water is led to contaminated wetlands. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Manager of most of the waterways of the nation, has, over the century last, put in place a framework of containment of the Mississippi River, which has deprived ultimately indispensable silt Delta wetlands. That sediment reduced a, experts say, accelerated the narrowing of the Delta. Today, however, the Agency opened two canals to divert part of the Mississippi from New Orleans and wetlands. A channel is the Bonnet Carre spillway, which is to reduce the water in Lake Pontchartrain and thence to the Gulf of the Mexico. The other is the Morganza spillway, which sends water along the Atchafalaya River basin in the Gulf. Water and sediment forced through this channel, say experts, will likely help to rebuild the wetlands to the West of the Mississippi with sediment fresh, especially fishing and shrimp villages as Dulac. The last major flood in 1973, delivered enough of sediment to create what are now big trees covered with mud banks and lush grass. These banks have provided some of the crucial defenses of New Orleans during large storms. (See following a tornado that ripped through the Mississippi).
Flooding is, to some extent, flush out the remaining oil spill last year. Some of the oil will be mix with new sediment and, according to its weight, this amalgam is pushed by the current of the Mississippi River in the Gulf. "That does not mean it is not a problem", warns Richard Steiner, a protector of the marine environment that has studied the effects of oil spill of the Exxon Valdez and BP spill in the Gulf. His primary concern: the thick, dark, weathered mixture infused oil will remain toxic and continue to jeopardize the Gulf and certainly a large part of the wetlands of Louisiana, but perhaps with lower levels of contamination. There is also the risk that some remaining wildlife species will become slathered with oil of re-emerging and die. Still, says Steiner, the best route to save the wetlands of Louisiana finally may be "just left to natural degradation." Formidable that they, the flood waters are all part of the work of nature.
See how New Orleans responds to flooding of the Mississippi River.
See the top 10 U.S. historical floods.
See this article on Time.com
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