Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2005-2006 - (Page 38)

water was receding. Residents then shoveled out the mud as health officials recommended the spreading of lime to combat impurities. 1849 was the last time that the east bank of New Orleans flooded from the Mississippi River, but there were close calls later on. In 1858 the river was so high that it crept over the levee into parts of the city. On April 11 a crevasse occurred at the Bell Plantation on the river’s west bank, opposite Louisiana Avenue. The huge break, which became a sightseeing attraction, could not be plugged and put much of the Westbank’s settlements under water. In 1893, the Westbank went under again after a breach at the Ames Plantation in Marrero. flooded. One critic said that the levees were poorly maintained through “patchwork and piddling” — a problem that had existed for more than 25 years. He argued that “the miserable policy heretofore pursued of piddling and patching had brought us to our present lamentable condition.” Moving rainwater has been a constant problem in the Crescent City and in the 19th century this was done by paddle wheel pumps that often did little more than splash water about. Street flooding was a regular occur- avenues lay below shallow water from January to March. The flood, which stretched all the way to St. Charles Avenue, and to Baronne Street in the business district, covered about one third of the settled area of the city. In winter 1881, rain-induced flooding reached Liberty Street and Congo Square. A reporter for the Times boarded a flatboat and journeyed the back streets where water was 3 feet or deeper. He saw “carts, drays, milk carts and wagons up to their hubs in mud and water,” and floated “over gardens, past I Business as usual, despite floods n 1871, the Mississippi broke through a levee at Bonne Carré sending water into the lake, raising its level. A strong north wind subsequently pushed lake water up to the Metairie and Gentilly ridges and filled canals. A levee broke at the Hagan Avenue (Jefferson Davis Parkway) Canal causing extensive flooding in the back portion of town. Charity Hospital was flooded, while water approached the business district and French Quarter. As families fled — although some stayed put in their flooded homes — much business continued as usual. Even grocery shopping and mail collection continued along flooded streets. The great bulk of the city’s population still lived on the natural levee which remained dry just as it had done during previous floods. The Daily Picayune took umbrage when the Eastern press reported that the Crowds traverse floodwaters on Canal Street entire city was flooded. The newsnear the intersection of Claiborne Avenue, as paper asserted that “ the water depicted by Alfred R. Waud from Every which is swept by the wind into Saturday, July 8, 1871. the city from the Lake cannot go beyond certain limits, and that rence, and people were accustomed to only those districts lying in the rear of sitting on the counters of Canal Street the city are inconvenienced by the stores waiting for water to subside flood.” after summer thunderstorms. There At a city council meeting — the city was then responsible for its own levees were also extensive rain floods not unlike more recent inundations in 1978 — there were complaints that the lake and 1995 when large areas of the metwas insufficiently high to reach over the ridges or the tops of canal levees. It ropolitan area were left awash. In 1859 the rear portion of the city was argued that had the Hagan levee between Carrollton and Esplanade not broken the city would not have dead animals of all kinds, past live, ferocious-looking dogs gaunt and hungry, and too starved to utter even a howl.” Adhering to higher ground or about 200 years New Orleans adhered to its ridges to avoid flooding. Settlement was primarily upriver where the natural levee is wide and to a lesser extent downriver where the natural levee narrows. F 38 LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES\Winter 2005-06

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2005-2006

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2005 Contents Letters Editor’s Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Louisiana State Museum After Katrina: “It’s time somebody woke us us up.” Missing New Orleans On Perilous Ground The Buildings of Louisiana (Architectural History by Karen Kingsley) Historic New Orleans Collection Louisiana Association of Museums Back to New Orleans Diary of a Displaced Person Jazz Notes (Music History by Bruce Raeburn) Cradle of the Stars The Terrible and the Brave Bookstand (Book Review by Thomas Uskali) Sound Advice (Music Review by Ben Sandmel) Forum (Commentary by James Lee Burke)

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2005-2006

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