Нет пророка...
It was a broiling August afternoon in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Big Easy, the City That Care Forgot. Those who ventured outside moved as if they were swimming in tupelo honey. Those inside paid silent homage to the man who invented air-conditioning as they watched TV "storm teams" warn of a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. Nothing surprising there: Hurricanes in August are as much a part of life in this town as hangovers on Ash Wednesday.
But the next day the storm gathered steam and drew a bead on the city. As the whirling maelstrom approached the coast, more than a million people evacuated to higher ground. Some 200,000 remained, however-the car-less, the homeless, the aged and infirm, and those die-hard New Orleanians who look for any excuse to throw a party.
The storm hit Breton Sound with the fury of a nuclear warhead, pushing a deadly storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain. The water crept to the top of the massive berm that holds back the lake and then spilled over. Nearly 80 percent of New Orleans lies below sea level-more than eight feet below in places-so the water poured in.
Это не репортаж из Нового Орлеана. Это прошлогодняя статья в National Geographic!
http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0410/feature5/
Точность прогноза поражает. Угадано даже количество оставшегося в городе населения и процент территории оказавшейся под водой.
Читал где-то, что в 2001-м году вышел некий доклад, в котором наиболее вероятными угрозами безопасности США были названы крупный теракт в Нью-Йорке, наводнение в Новом Орлеане и землетрясение в Сан-Франциско. Ждем землетрясения?