Believe me, I am horrified and feel terrible for what is happening in NO and have all Southerners in my thoughts.
Please don't take offense to this question, and I haven't read anything other than recent posts, so don't bash me too bad if this has been discussed or you think I'm being callous. I don't mean to be.
I'm just wondering WHY, WHY IN THE WORLD would they build the levees to handle "only" a Cat 3 hurricane??? With the way the city is placed between the lake, the Miss., and the Gulf, wouldn't you build them to sustain a Cat 6?? (even if there is no such thing). Sure it may be in hindsight, but why wouldn't you ensure safety of the worst posible scenarios, especially when it's an entire city at stake? The original buidlers/planners/designers/budgeters of the levee system are at fault here, and when they do rebuild the city of NO, can someone please suggest modifying the current system to support a wrost case scenario?
Just venting and ranting. What's happening now could have been prevented, IMO.