New Orleans: Half Below Sea Level, 350 Miles of Walls

New Orleans should be underwater. Nearly half of the city's protected land lies below sea level, the Mississippi River can run higher than the streets, and Lake Pontchartrain presses in from the north. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina left about 80% of the city underwater. So how does New Orleans survive — and why do people stay? In this New Orleans documentary we go down into the bowl: the French Quarter on the city's highest ground, the river pilots who guide giant ships up the Mississippi, shotgun houses and the St. Charles streetcar, the cities of the dead, jazz funerals and second lines, the pumps that lift every drop of rain, gumbo and beignets, the Mardi Gras float makers and the Black Masking Indians, the Great Wall of Louisiana — and the vanishing coast, the one danger this city can't build a wall against. Would you live below sea level? Tell us in the comments. CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 0:31 The Bowl 1:29 It Sank 2:28 August 2005 3:29 Why They Stay 4:03 The High Ground — French Quarter 6:10 The River Above 9:55 Inside the Bowl 11:52 Cities of the Dead 14:07 Living with Water 16:09 The Taste 17:21 The Carnival Makers 19:42 The Lake 21:13 Wild Louisiana 22:52 The Vanishing Land 25:46 The Night 26:29 Why People Stay More of America's most unusual places — and the people who live there anyway: subscribe to SEE THE REAL WORLD. CREDITS Stock footage: Storyblocks, Envato Elements. Music: Storyblocks. Photos (Creative Commons, via Wikimedia Commons): "WWOZ 30th Birthday Parade