the humble metropolitan outpost just departed

[blwings]

From the world’s side of the tunnel the skyline is a row of broken teeth, an angry serration gnawing at the atmosphere, but there’s a lot of other stuff going on, dirty water and more land beyond that dirty water, the humble metropolitan outpost just departed, a crop of weedy smokestacks, lots of stuff, 360 degrees to choose from and the generous illusion of choice.

This is from The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead. This sentence is quite long and I'm having trouble with the bolded part. Does it mean humble metropolitan started just after dirty water?

 

[Tarheel]

The part in bold means "the town or city you just left". However, that doesn't really make sense there.

 

[probus]

The humble metropolitan outpost from which you (or some people) have just departed.

Cross-posted with @Tarheel.

 

[teechar]

Indeed, it doesn't make much sense!
Also, I see that the same question has been asked on at least one other forum!

difference between the world-side and the world’s side.

The weird thing about the tunnel is that on the world-side, the city’s skyline is merely one incident among many on the horizon. From the world’s side of the tunnel the skyline is a row of broken teeth, an angry serration gnawing at the atmosphere, but there’s a lot of other stuff going on...

forum.wordreference.com

blwings: please do not post the same question simultaneously to more than one forum. Doing so wastes our valuable time. Instead, post your question to one forum and wait for replies. If you're not satisfied with those replies, you can try another forum, but please indicate in your thread that you've already asked the same question elsewhere (provide a link), and outline why you were not satisfied with the answers you received already.

 

[Tdol]

It sounds like the retreat of a powerful force- the Roman Empire abandoned its outposts first.