Why New Orleans Is Below Sea Level (and Why It's Still There)

New Orleans sits in a bowl: the lowest spots are about 6.6 feet below sea level, with the Mississippi River running higher than parts of the city. After Katrina, the Army Corps rebuilt its defenses for about $14.6 billion. This September, the board that runs them approved the paperwork for a study on whether a 100-year-storm wall is enough. And satellite data shows parts of that wall are sinking. We trace the chain from Bienville's 1718 portage, to the swamp drainage and Wood's giant screw pumps, to the 1927 flood and the dynamited levee, to Katrina's floodwall failures, the 1.8-mile surge barrier, and the quiet question underneath it all: who keeps paying to hold the water back? This is a Sinking Cities episode. Next: Jakarta, the sinking capital Indonesia decided to leave. Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:25 The Best Bad Spot on the Map 1:19 Draining the Swamp 2:32 The Bowl With a River Above It 3:43 August 29, 2005 4:36 The $14.6 Billion Wall 6:01 The Wall Is Sinking 7:15 So Why Is Anyone Still There? 8:14 Next: The Capital That Moved Sources https://www.floodauthority.org/wp-con... https://www.floodauthority.org/wp-con... https://www.floodauthority.org/wp-con... https://hoodline.com/2026/09/new-orle... https://biotech.law.lsu.edu/katrina/I... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orl... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_... https://eos.org/articles/parts-of-new... Credits "Lower 9th Ward in 2022" by Sean Anderson (CC BY) —    • Lower 9th Ward in 2022   Lake Borgne surge barrier - USACE-p15141coll5-536.jpeg — United States. Army. Corps of Engineers. New Orleans District — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...] "New Orleans from the sky" by Jasper Colt (CC BY) —    • New Orleans from the sky   Bienville Portrait Historic New Orleans Collection.jpg — UnknownUnknown — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...] Plan de la Nouvelle Orleans. LOC 2003623130.jpg — Unknown authorUnknown author — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...] Bayou1720VeueNouvelleOrleans.jpg — Not credited — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...] "Drone In A Swamp, Showing A Spillway and A Beautiful LA View | Mini 4 Pro Drone - 1080p 60 fps" by BayouDrones (CC BY) —    • Drone In A Swamp, Showing A Spillway and A...   New Orleans and surroundings 1749 map.jpg — F. Sacier — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...] "New Orleans during Covid-19 (Drone Video Tour)" by AirWorthy Tours (CC BY) —    • New Orleans during Covid-19 (Drone Video T...   1915HurricaneNOLAWagonGawkers.jpg — Not credited — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...] AllisonOldBasinFlood1Barrels.jpg — Alexander Allison — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...] A Baldwin Wood Station Dedication 1915.jpg — Photographer not credited — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...] Albert Baldwin Wood01.jpg — A. Baldwin Wood — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...] "Outflow canal test pumping in preparation of 2015 hurricane season" by NOLA.com (YouTube) —    • Outflow canal test pumping in preparation ...   "NEW ORLEANS CEMETERY TOUR!!" by Jax Austin (CC BY) —    • NEW ORLEANS CEMETERY TOUR!!   "Flying into NOLA || BURN Radio" by Burn: An Energy Project (CC BY) —    • Flying into NOLA || BURN Radio   #maps #geography #neworleans Satellite imagery contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data; map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Narration is AI-generated (Azure Neural TTS); maps and edits are original.