Sunken+SB

Shannon Billings

"The Sunken City." //The New Yorker// 81:27 (12 September 2005), 38-39.

In this article, McPhee is talking about the increasing level of water that surrounds New Orleans. He mildly suggests that New Orleans was going to eventually sink and that Hurricane Katrina accelerated the effects. He states that New Orleans is surrounded by levees.

Class is very important in terms of the location of residency. For instance, "//underprivileged people live in the lower elevations, and always have. The rich–by the river–occupy the highest ground//." Class is important everywhere and the rich people are the ones that dominate and make all of the decisions. They have the best opportunities and the poor people tend to be the only ones that suffer. The water has nowhere to go. "//Torrential rains fall on New Orleans–enough to cause flash floods inside the municipal walls//." If the water is not pumped out or does not evaporate, it forms a lake and floods many areas. McPhee explains that pumping the water out of the levees lowers the water table and thus, the ground will shrink.

Many people have to "get a load of dirt and fill in the low spots" on their lawn each year. The soil will start to chip away and the land will compress due to the water flow. I thought it was interesting that "//a child jumping up and down on such a lawn can cause the earth to move under another child, on the far side of the lawn//." Living in New Brunswick, I could never imagine land moving just by someone jumping.

"//Where the driveway was once flush with the floor of the carport, a bump appears. The front walk sags like a hammock. The sidewalk sags. The bump up to the carport, growing, becomes high enough to know the front wheels out of alignment. Sakrete appears, like putty beside a windowpane, to ease the bump. The property sinks another foot. The house stays where it is, on its slab and pilings. A ramp is built to get the car into the carport. The ramp rises three feet//."

Where land used to exist, water has now replaced it. As the levees fill up with water, more destruction will occur.