This summer, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began construction on a barrier and pumping station designed to protect New Orleans from flooding. The pump will be capable of moving 150,000 gallons per second:

The $500-million station—the newest installment of a $14-billion federal project to fortify the Big Easy against the type of fierce storm the city sees once in 100 years—will protect the 240,000 residents living in New Orleans, a high-risk flood area because of its nearby shipping canals. The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is one of the city’s most trafficked industrial waterways, but it provides a perfect path from the Gulf for a 16-foot storm surge to flood homes and businesses. When a major storm threatens, the waterway’s new West Closure Complex will mount a two-point defense. First, operators will shut the 32-foot-tall, 225-foot-wide metal gates to block the surge. Then they’ll fire up the world’s largest pumping station, which pulls 150,000 gallons of floodwater per second. And unlike the city’s notorious levees, the WCC won’t break when residents need it most. “This station is designed to withstand almost everything,” including 140mph winds and runaway barges, says Tim Connell, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s project manager for the complex.

Link

Self proclaimed mainstream-subversive art collective Superflex, decided they’d answer a question nobody had ever bothered to ask: "What does a McDonald’s restaurant look like as it slowly fills with water?"

Although we should thank them as they took the time to painstakingly recreate a McDonald’s and slowly flood it, filming it all for an exhibition at the South London Gallery.

It’s actually quite a satisfying thing to watch a generic boring fast food joint wash away, be sure to check out the video on the page.

Their latest work is a short film, “Flooded McDonald’s”, where they’ve (shockingly accurately) created a full-size replica of the inside of the ubiquitous fast food joint and then slowly filled it with water. Playing now in an exhibition at South London Gallery, the film is exactly what the title suggests and yet so much more.

Link – via reddit

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Jake.

Old: When life gives you lemons, make a lemonade. New: When Venice floods, go wakeboarding.

That’s exactly what Duncan Zuur did at St. Mark’s Square:

Duncan Zuur’s team pulled a compact, 20 horsepower motor winch from its hiding place and placed it under the square’s arches. One team member, clad in rubber boots, pulled the winchs cable about 120 metres across the square and pressed one end firmly into the hand of Duncan Zuur, who had taken the opportunity to get into his wakeboarding gear. Four elegant turns later, the event was over prompting by a standing ovation from an astounding crowd of tourists.

And luckily for Duncan, the police didn’t even notice.

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] – via Newslite

No, New York is not underwater (yet, anyhow) – that’s a clever ad for HSBC by Ogilvy & Mather Mumbai ad agency in India. The bank wanted to raise awareness of the dangers of global warming, so the clever ad guys glued an aerial photo of a city’s skyscrapers to the base of a swimming pool … the effect of a submerged cityscape is fantastic!