"Those are essential items, along with health care," he said. "They have none of those in New Orleans."
The flooding will penetrate the city's sewer system and release untreated sewage into the streets, Eichold said.
"There are numerous diseases that can spread when people are exposed to human waste," Eichold said. "The most common will be gastro-intestinal illnesses."
The first priority is getting to the people who need help and moving them to safety, Eichold said. Engineers, public health workers, and city officials then face a staggering challenge to make New Orleans habitable again.
"The real issue is when can they get the breach in the levee sealed, how long will it take to pump the water out, when can the infrastructure be restored, and when can they get the sewer system back working," Eichold said.
"Then they have to get the electricity back on. It's a tremendous challenge. How long will it take? God, I don't know."
Eichold said the canals and levees are a familiar part of the colorful and unique experience of living in New Orleans.
"You're always aware of the water," he said. "There's no way to get in or out of the city without crossing water."
Eichold, who graduated from Tulane University in New Orleans and lived for nine years in the city, says he used to take walks on the levees in the springtime. Sometimes he noticed that the water level of the Mississippi River was higher than the road on the other side of the levee.
"The only thing keeping the water out was a big pile of dirt," he said.
The hurricane catastrophe in New Orleans will likely go down as one of the nation's most spectacular natural disasters. There have been only a few comparable events in U.S. history.
In 1900 a powerful hurricane sent a massive storm surge through Galveston, Texas, and killed at least 6,000 people. In 1928, the most powerful hurricane on record at that time roared across Florida's Lake Okeechobee, pushing a wall of water through several small lakeside towns and killing at least 2,000.
The death toll in New Orleans may not be as high as these earlier disasters, but a hurricane that makes one of the nation's largest cities uninhabitable is a stunning event.
"It's horrible," Eichold said. "A tremendous disaster. How do you describe it?"
Willie Drye is the author of Storm of the Century: The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, published by National Geographic.
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