"I thought the woest case was for the eye to pass West of the city center, driving the sea surge into the big lake and pushing lake water Northwest, which would then drain Southeast into the city center, and pushing water due South, overcoming the lakeside levees."
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Nope. Since the lake is on the back (northern) side of NO, an eye to the east would push water into the lake with northerly (returning to the gulf) winds and over the lake levee. Usually you want the eye to the east, but NO is between a rock and a hard place. Either side is trouble.
Larry King on..starting with someone from NASA