> You are right. I have heard for years how NO would one day float in the sea from a big cane. Mostly people joking about it. But I can't believe there really was no plan down there-- pumps that can only handly 2 inches of rain? On the coast? No back ups?
You should read "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds," by Charles MacKay (1841). There is a groupthink that allows bad decisions to be made by large groups of people, only because every one else is doing it or not worrying about it. In retrospect, would you build a house in a coastal city that was below sea level and surrounded by a huge lake and the continent's largest river?
I'd be nervous right now if I lived near the San Andreas fault. At least NO had advanced notice.