South east coast of the us very swampy.

I'm flying down the east coast of the us, and the land seems to be very swampy, with hundreds of rivers, streams,lakes and ponds, so people can hardly live there. I wonder if anyone who lives there can verify this.

Born and raised in "the Big Easy", as a youngster I always wondered why they put emergency brakes on cars. Everything is flat. Except for a small man-made hill in Audubon Park, all else is level ground...and mostly below sea level. More seriously. Think about all the high locales in this...or any...country. When it rains or snows up in the mountains, as liquid it goes downhill through valleys, waterfalls, etc. With it comes topsoil which settles in nearer the oceans, and, in many cases, forms the coastal plains. Except for storms and tidal movements, it's mostly a tranquil area of water shared with flatland.

 

I remember an article in a National Geographic magazine 50 or more years ago. It showed depictions of how the U.S. gulf coast probably appeared back a few million years. There was no land generally south of a Houston-Mobile line. Lake Pontchartrain was most likely part of the northern Golfo de Mexico. Alluvial soil flowing down the length of the Mississippi River year after year, created what is now the swamps of South Louisiana, including the city of New Orleans. Man-made efforts in the last hundred or so years has reversed this natural occurrence by diverting spring snowmelt through two spillways and creating canals through swampland for industrial purposes. Look up Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, a.k.a. as Mr. Go.

 

Don't mess with Mother Nature!

What is "the big easy" ?

What is "the big easy" ?

 

New York city.

New York city.

 

Thought it was New Orleans??

I'm flying down the east coast of the us, and the land seems to be very swampy, with hundreds of rivers, streams,lakes and ponds, so people can hardly live there. I wonder if anyone who lives there can verify this.

 

If your flying over SE portion of Georgia, there is a LOT of lakes, rivers, and it sits next to a HUGE Swamp! (can't spell it, begins with "O")

New Orleans is often referred to as "The Big Easy". New York is sometimes referred to as "The Big Apple"

The East Coast of the USA, is part of the coastal plain. Some areas are actually subsiding (sinking slowly). This results in low grade rivers that meander broadly, and swamps and lakes. The second part about people can't live there, isn't necessarily true, in that many large cities sit along the coastal plain, from Philadelphia, to Baltimore, to DC, to Norfolk, to Wilmington, to Charleston, to Savannah, to Jacksonville to Miami.

You got the best answers from people with geography know-how, so I can't top those.

 

I will just add that I spent a couple of weeks as a volunteer on the Gulf Coast, about 3 years after Hurricane Katrina, helping displaced Americans who had still not found homes to live in after the hurricane wiped them out. The town I was in, Waveland, Mississippi, had entire blocks of houses in which every single person in those houses had died. While taking a walk one morning I met a resident who told me he was the sole survivor of the entire block. Every single neighbor he had, who had not evacuated, was dead. Many elderly did not have an easy way to evacuate so they were the ones who disproportionately lost their lives. He only lived because a tree managed to prop itself up against his house structure while the waves came in. He said there were so many dead bodies in his neighborhood that they brought out semitrucks and large trailers to serve as morgues.

 

I walked through many ruins of what looked like beautiful homes that had been wiped out. Only the skeletons or foundations were left. The owners still owned the land but how could they possibly rebuild and take the chance again? Many houses in that area are to this day propped up on stilts.

 

That, of course, is just the Gulf Coast along Mississippi and Louisiana. Other coastal areas have different geography and are thus not threatened by the same risks--for the moment anyway.

Thought it was New Orleans??

 

Sorry:o, what was I thinking.

New York city.

 

I too, thought nyc was the big apple. Never heard it called the big easy. I'm from upstate ny, but I moved to California. On the west coast land goes right into the ocean, and their are very few swamps.

That would be the Okefenokee Swamp, mostly in southeast Georgia but spills over into north Florida. I'm not a big movie buff, but think it is basically where the movie "Deliverance" with Burt Reynolds was filmed.

 

Hope Nels doesn't mind us drifting from the theme of aviation.

That would be the Okefenokee Swamp, mostly in southeast Georgia but spills over into north Florida. I'm not a big movie buff, but think it is basically where the movie "Deliverance" with Burt Reynolds was filmed.

 

Hope Nels doesn't mind us drifting from the theme of aviation.

 

Yep, that's the one I was trying to describe :)

fyi... "Deliverence" the movie, takes place and was filmed in remote north eastern Georgia, and South Carolina - no where near Okefenokee.

The Big Easy is and always has been New Orleans (Nor-leens). Louisiana.

fyi... "Deliverence" the movie, takes place and was filmed in remote north eastern Georgia, and South Carolina - no where near Okefenokee.

The Big Easy is and always has been New Orleans (Nor-leens). Louisiana.

 

Indeed. And the infamous young hillbilly who played the banjo in the movie, had no idea how to play a banjo in real life (and nor does he to this day... the actor is still around).

(Nor-leens) NOT! We Crescent City cousins pronounce it more like "N'awlins. By da way, howzha mom en em?

Another thing I noticed on this flight, is that palm beach to Miami is one big city.