I'm sure others can provide specifics, but my memory is New Orleans did go through at least one, and maybe two, practice scenarios, including one with flooding from a levee breech. They KNEW they were not prepared and they knew areas that would fail. Between the corruption in both New Orleans and Louisiana governments, there was no incentive to change anything. Too many key players were making too much money off the federal and state programs. Add in political pandering to environmental groups that were suing to stop better levee construction, and the whole thing really was a recipe for disaster.
This is true, the corruption and greed of the Politicians most of which if not all were democrats was the paramount deciding factor in this tragedy. They knew for years that the day would come, and like most greedy pigs they rolled the dice even when the odds and the law of averages was not on their side. They figured they could get by one more time, and they lost the roll if the dice, they crapped out and people are dead, and most of the Population is scattered in a dozen or more States now. They will spend the next 8 months trying to figure a way outside of kidnapping to bring those Dem voters back to a freaking below sea level swamp. I would not be surprised if Mr. Jefferson (Democrat Louisiana)is right now as we freep trying to find a way to stay out of Prison and get re-elected without constituents in that District.
Hurricane Pam.
http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=13051
http://www.fema.gov/emanagers/2004/nat072504.shtm
http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/ops/hurricane-pam.htm
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/defenseandsecurity/a/femapam.htm