> ... Hurricane Katrina may have annihilated New Orleans.
Yep. The long-predicted (when-not-if) has now happened.
Either the city needs to become Cat5-proof, or they need
to abandon the site. If the status-quo is merely preserved,
even with minor enhancements, this WILL happen again.
This isn't Holland. People can go elsewhere.
Was this a "disaster"? Yes.
Was it a "tragedy"? No (except for those who had no
choice about being there, like children).
If the federal government writes flood insurance for this
area, that needs to stop (indeed, that whole program can
be deep-sixed - if private insurers won't write it, there's
an important message there).
Had New Orleans been hit by an unsuspected asteroid, I
might have had some sympathy. But what is unfolding there
now is simply what had been expected for decades, and has
now been fully realized.
"Either the city needs to become Cat5-proof..."
How would you make it Cat5-proof? Cat5 is an open-ended category, both as to size, strength and forward speed.
Well, then, point out where on Earth there is a place that is immune to any concievable natural disaster, and everyone can move there and call it Safe-T-topia.
Geez. Some folks have no sense of how history and the love of the land can bind people to a place.