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Nothing to sneeze at, but nothing we haven't handled before. Anyway, the older and more famous parts of NOLA aren't below sea level. You don't know as much as you think you know.

I know quite a bit more than you are pretending I don't know. I am well aware that the French Quarter is largely above sea level. However, last I checked, a large number of rescues were carried out from the rooftops of homes submerged to the eaves.

Excuse me; that was in Mississippi, not here. A cat. 5 surge would have overtopped our levees. That never happened. You seem to be in denial about this.

Read the dynamics of the surge and get back to me. The approach of the storm pushed a large wall of water both up the Mississippi and into Lake Ponchatrain. It was a worst-case hit for surge into NOLA.

Are you saying the government of the United States is less competent or just less trustworthy than the governemnt of Holland? Because they have flood control well in hand.

No, what is stupid is for ANYONE to stay in place with a Cat 5 bearing down on them. In case the obvious is hard to grasp, by the time Katrina weakened, it was too late to evacuate anyway - so your claim that those who stayed behind were believing themselves to be safe from a Cat 3 is pure nonsense - they didn't know that during the evacuation window. And the forecasters didn't realize just how much surge was coming - which is why you don't count on ANYTHING other than evacuation in the face of a major hurricane. And that also is EXACTLY WHY you don't count on the government to protect you.

Oh, and BTW, Holland doesn't have hurricanes, either. The worst North Sea storm is NOTHING like Katrina.

So quit being an apologist for those too stupid to get in their cars and get out of harm's way. Blaming the fedgov is wrongheaded and stupid.

However, last I checked, a large number of rescues were carried out from the rooftops of homes submerged to the eaves.

I had hundreds of helicopters flying over my house (I returned a week after the storm). My house never flooded, and I never needed to be rescued. Maybe that's why my house was never on TV. TV news is very selective about what runs. Imagine that.

It was a worst-case hit for surge into NOLA.

Um, no. A cat. 5 surge would have overtopped our levees. That never happened. You REALLY REALLY seem to be in denial about this.

The worst North Sea storm is NOTHING like Katrina.

And yet the Dutch structures on the North Sea are higher and more masive than anything we have here. Maybe the Dutch just like piling up dirt.