[Paleo Conservative]

If the levies had failed catastrophically instead of at a few certain point as they did, the death toll would have reached Hiroshima proportions.

If the storm had been Cat 5 and hit NO directly, the storm surge would have overtopped the levees.

[Polybius]

If the levies had failed catastrophically instead of at a few certain point as they did, the death toll would have reached Hiroshima proportions. Polybius

If the storm had been Cat 5 and hit NO directly, the storm surge would have overtopped the levees..........Paleo Conservative

It would not even have taken that much.

Check out the "2004 Hurricane Pam Exercise" link. That scenario was modeled on the levies being overtopped only by a slow-moving (greater rainfall than a fast-moving) Category 3.

On another FR thread, a Freeper reported hearing the Mayor on a TV interviw prior to Katrina asking weathermen "What would happen if the levies overflowed?"

The man must be either as dumb or as uneducated as a Pet Rock.

With that degree of ignorance, it is no wonder he delayed the evacuation order because he feared getting sued by nightclubs that would lose business as a result of an evacuation order.