"The Dutch live below sea level. Their levies are way better than N.O."
Yeah, but they don't have hurricanes.
They did have a huge flood in the 1950's -- the North Sea flood (combination of severe windstorm and high spring tide). 10 per cent of Holland's agricultural land was flooded, thousands killed, many more evacuated. They learned from that and built a massive system of dikes & seawalls, you are right, much better than ours. They were willing to invest the money -- we have not been. But the Dutch are really scared it could happen again even so, given the current rise of sea levels.
Remember Pompeii?
Life is like a bowl of choclates. You never know what you'll get. Mother nature is in charge. You will not stop the world from it's groaning and heaving, lifting, sinking or changing. We live with it or die by it. As it was in the begging and will be.......... :)