Hurricanes // Current

US city of Houston to be shielded from extreme weather by giant dome?

With extreme weather conditions affecting the city of Houston, TX, scientists are... more

Skyscraper08
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Hurricane Rick: 2nd strongest in the eastern North Pacific

The 7th hurricane (Hurricane Rick) of the eastern Pacific Hurricane Season... more

stormchaser4850
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Tropical Storm Grace: 7th named storm forms

The 7th named storm of the 2009 Atlantic Hurricane Season has formed in the far... more

stormchaser4850
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Sumatra quake 'levelled villages'

Thousands of people may have died in remote village areas when a powerful earthquake... more

Mobius2012
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1 month ago
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September-calmest month in 13 years for tropical storms or hurricanes

September has turned out to be the calmest month for tropical storms or hurricanes in... more

stormchaser4850
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1 month ago
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Obama deputizes Girl Scouts???

The United States wants to enlist its 3.4 million Girl Scouts in the effort to combat... more

GorgonzolaRanger
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2 months ago
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NOAA Supercomputers to improve weather forecast accuracy

The primary system called Stratus and its backup system called Cirrus, will allow NOAA... more

stormchaser4850
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3 months ago
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TS Danny: Coast Guard marine warning

Elizabeth City, NC - Before approaching storms, the Coast Guard issues warnings to... more

stanman48
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3 months ago
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Hurricane season trends after August 30th

The peak of hurricane season (September 10th) is quickly approaching and only 4 named... more

stormchaser4850
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3 months ago
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Tropical Storm Danny forms; 4th named storm of the Atlantic Hurricane Season

The fourth named storm of the 2009 Atlantic Hurricane Season forms east of the Bahamas.

stormchaser4850
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3 months ago
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Florida Gov Crist talks to God, prevents hurricanes

Floridians can thank the prayers of their Governor, Charlie Crist, for preventing... more

locutus
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3 months ago
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Coast Guard, storm watchers await Bill

NECN: Jennifer Eagan, Chatham, Mass.) - The Coast Guard said that the waters were... more

stanman48
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Advocates renew calls for large-scale restoration of Louisiana's wetlands

Four years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ravaged the Louisiana coast, federal and state officials are making little progress in restoring the state's storm-buffering coastal wetlands. Now, restoration advocates and scientists are increasing calls for a solution that takes advantage of the Mississippi River's natural land-building power by reconnecting the sediment-laden river to its sediment-starved delta.

A massive system of levees and canals, constructed since the 1930s to aid flood control and navigation, has made the mouth of the Mississippi River one of the nation's busiest ports. But the extensive plumbing works have also severed the river from its delta, disrupting natural processes that created the delta over thousands of years.

Historically, about 27,000 acres of wetlands and cypress forests served as a natural hurricane barrier, absorbing energy from tropical systems as they came ashore. But without the influx of mud and freshwater from the river, the state's once-extensive wetlands have slowly eroded, threatening wildlife habitat, fishing villages, ports and cities that now find themselves at the gulf's edge. Over the past century, scientists estimate Louisiana has shrunk by about 1.2 million acres -- and the losses continue at the rate of 32 football fields every 24 hours.

Even before the hurricanes hit in 2005, federal and state officials, scientists and environmental groups had begun trying to rebuild the state's wetlands, which provide crucial habitat for one of North America's most important migratory bird flyways, support commercial fisheries and help protect 2 million coastal residents from storm surges. Congress has also authorized several new projects, and the Army Corps of Engineers recently released a report on how to protect the coast from future storms.

But those efforts have, by many accounts, failed to address the problem in any meaningful way. Scientists and restoration proponents say it is time for a far more ambitious, delta-wide approach that would reverse some of the hydrological monkey-wrenching that has starved the delta of sediment and freshwater for so many decades.

"You have those old infrastructure systems that are wreaking havoc in these natural systems," said Robert Twilley, a coastal restoration expert in the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences at Louisiana State University. "And things will get worse because of climate change."

But such a massive restoration effort would be unlike any the United States has ever seen, with a price tag to match. And while supporters see it as an insurance policy against even more costly future storms, questions remain as to whether federal coffers will open wide enough to pay for such a program in the midst of the worst economic recession in decades.

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Where's the stimulus money?Four years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ravaged the Louisiana coast, federal and... more