America’s Geographic Nightmare 🇺🇸 New Orleans Flooding 🌊

This American city was once so valuable that the United States wanted to buy it from Napoleon. But today, that same location has become a geographic nightmare 🇺🇸 That city is New Orleans. In the early 19th century, the Mississippi River and its tributaries connected central North America to the sea. Whoever controlled the city controlled this vital trade route, which is why the U.S. bought it from France in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 💵 Today, the challenge is keeping New Orleans from drowning. The city and its metropolitan area are almost completely surrounded by water: Lake Pontchartrain to the north, the Mississippi River in the middle and the Gulf of Mexico to the south and east 🌀 Hurricane Katrina left 80% of the city underwater in 2005. Much of New Orleans lies below sea level, sitting in a bowl that can fill during major floods 🌊 Authorities have spent billions on levees, floodwalls and pumps to protect it from flooding. The water that once made the city so valuable now threatens its survival. #neworleans #louisiana #americanhistory #usa #mississippiriver #hurricane #louisianapurchase #lakepontchartrain #gulfofmexico #learn #maps #learning #history #geography