"...and they DID top out"
I have been on this from 6:00 pm sunday.
Do you have a link for above? NO did dodge the bullet until the levees failed and where is the outrage.
Outrage over levees failing? Why? That's just physics.
The levees overran because of water dumped uphill from them. Even water coming close to the top of a soil dam will start to force its way under and through. This is not the first nor the last time it will happen.