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Warning: this is not meant to alarm or be graphic but....I don't know why I just now thought of this but, we all know that in NO their deceased are not buried underground but above in mausoleums or something like that. Is this true of anywhere else being affected? I would think that the flooding coupled with this could create a whole different type of "catastrophe", possibly contamination issues. Has anyone heard of or have any news stations mentioned this? I would think that it may be of concern to the citizens/volunteers/workers who will ultimately be in the remnants of the storm waters helping to rescue/restore/rebuild. ?

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The stories date back to the early 18th Century, when the French first settled the city, according to Robert Florence, an author who has spent years studying New Orleans' cemeteries. Being below sea level, the city has a high water table, so families cannot bury their loved ones underground following funerals.

New Orleans residents first began above-ground burials in the late 18th Century, Florence said. "The first burial ground in the city was along the banks of the river on the top of the levee, which is the highest most well drained land," he said.

The first levees built in the city in 1718 were only three feet tall, according to the Orleans Levee District.

Florence added, "So, what you can only imagine happening is that they're burying on the levee, you've got flood levels coming over the banks of the river. You've got floating caskets that are pushed up above the ground. And you can only imagine. These levees sloped down into the city. If there was enough water, you could have caskets floating through the streets of the city."

After experiencing this enough times, residents decided to do something about it, according to Florence. The solution was to begin burying loved ones in tombs above ground.

Florence said, "The settlers here were familiar with the French, Spanish, etceteras - this Mediterranean custom of above ground burial, and they started to introduce those forms."

Today, the city owns seven cemeteries that house such tombs, but there are many others in which caskets have been buried underground.

Engineering now allows underground burial in the sub-sea level city, and floating caskets are a thing of the past. "That no longer really never happens in New Orleans because the land has been drained since the turn of the century. A system of water pumps... drains water out from under the city 24 hours a day."

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