If katrina had hit NO head on you neighbor would probably be dead right now along with 10's of thousands of fellow NO residents. With 165+ sustained winds and a 30+ft storm surge the whole city would have been instantly swamped under 30ft of water. It would have made the Galvaston Tx. hurricane look like a car accident.
I agree with you except for one point. My neighber is in the town that was hit with the direct hit, Slidell. The eye passed right over our town.
My neighbor was and is foolish to think that a storm like this is something to play with. He was very lucky.
Our house is three miles from Lake Pontchartrain, and the flooding extended to less than a mile away from my home. Too close for my comfort, I'll tell you that.
This morning I tried to drive by the home that my parents sold last year, two miles from my house. I couldn't access the area. It gave me a sickening feeling to see that neighborhood so hard hit. You could tell the lake just invaded those homes.