Funny you should mention it. I'm not unfamiliar with Failure Analysis. I'm not appalled that failures happen, I'm merely amused when people find them somehow unusual.
These levees failed under blue skies and this will be right up there with the Titanic.
Well... that would be because it wasn't the color of the sky that caused the problem. It was the amount of water behind the levee that caused the problem. I'm sure you think that a few guys with shop-vacs could have solved this, but sometimes in what some of call "the real world" there are problems that just develop too quickly and too big to deal with effectively in time to prevent horrific loss.
I know that you think there is some magically simple plan that would have prevented all this. Good for you. Keep thinking that. You just happen to be wrong. Sometimes nature can overwhelm any plan. That this will continue to be true will be a consistent annoyance in your life. I would suggest finding some way of dealing with it.
"I'm not appalled that failures happen, I'm merely amused when people find them somehow unusual."
Is that your reaction to the fact that NO is literally drowning in the next 2 hours with 9' of water coming in?
You're AMUSED that I find it unusual that there is no lock on a canal that runs thru NO and has miles of suspect levee?
Say Good Night, Gracie