FEMA Rebuilding Guidelines For New Orleans

And notice that someone is down there whitewashing the inconvenient evidence of this reactive rather than proactive solution.

That is arguably as reasonable a solution as anything we have done down there for the last 3 centuries. The history of engineering that river is a Sisyphusian source of tragi-comedy. John McPhee provides a good example in The Control of Nature, where someone had the bright idea to secure a bridge on Big Muddy during a severe flood by parking a train on top of it. The train cars were filled with coal, and the vibration from the flood caused enough friction to ignite the coal, thus burning down the train cars and the bridge.

I doubt those would float with a doorway at the bottom of the hull. Plenty of room for water to seep in there.

I doubt those would float with a doorway at the bottom of the hull.

But those doors are sealed with the tears of Baby Jesus and the blood of firstborn sons. They are intelligently designed.

That's awesome.