Rachel Maddow Introduces Us To New Orleans’ Deadly ‘Mr. Go’ Canal

Five years after Hurricane Katrina, the media is descending on New Orleans once again to follow the progress of the city’s rebuilding. Last night, Rachel Maddow reported from Louisiana on the closing of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (Mr. Go), a canal that was directly responsible for channeling water into New Orleans when Katrina hit. It was yet another sign that her point of the night was true: when man fights nature, nature always wins.

“Mr. Go” has been eating away at both the Louisiana ecosystem and its coastline since it’s construction, destroying wetlands that naturally buffer New Orleans from Hurricane damage. It connects the Mississippi River with the Gulf of Mexico, shooting water straight into the heart of the city. As Maddow put it, Mr. Go “is trying to kill New Orleans.” Maddow explains that Mr. Go was designed for shipping, and it “even sucked at that,” carrying about five ships up to the Mississippi per week. “It’s too late,” she announced, “but at least Mr. Go is closed.”

Maddow hoped that this was a step in the right direction of letting nature be, especially in this part of the world where the wetlands had been majorly tampered with. Perhaps, she wondered, “we are getting slightly less stupid about picking fights with God down here.”

The segment from last night’s Rachel Maddow Show via MSNBC below:

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