Rebuilding New Orleans in situ would be madness. The nation needs an industrial seaport at the mouth of the Mississippi, but it doesn't need a giant below-sea-level slum. Re-establish a smaller seaport upriver.
Everything economically/politically important about New Orleans (the seat of the Fifth Circuit, the Federal Reserve Bank, etc.) should simply be moved to Baton Rouge, which now appears likely to become the region's new metropolis anyway.
I heard a bit on one of the news stations that there's been a large run on corporations/investors buying real estate in Baton Rouge on Thursday and Friday last week.
They are buying up everything they can find.
Speculators share your opinion that Baton Rouge is going to be the new economic metropolis for the region.
Disagree about the Fifth Circuit. That should be moved to Houston together with the Reserve Bank.