[Yasotay]

If this event is to be properly evaluated, countless lessons learned need to be applied. No question the local governments failed ... thousands are dead. NO was not destroyed by a natural disaster. It was destroyed through improper management and supervision. AT ALL LEVELS. The District Commander of the Army Corps of Engineers has many questions to answer on why he should not be Relieved for Cause and Courts Martialed. After the emergency was declared by the President on Saturday, what actions did he take? He KNEW the levees would not hold. What assets were sent to the city on Sunday to help save the city? What "Warning Orders" to which engineer units were issued SATURDAY? If none were issued, WHY? The President declared an Emergency. After the levee was breached, REPAIRS STOPPED at night. WHY?

[Raven281]

Save the city? Those levees weren't meant for a Category 4 storm. The part of the levee that broke was an area that had been fixed. When a hurricane of that magnitude is coming, it's too late to start repairing anything. It's time to run for cover. Evacuate. Load up the buses and get the hell out.

[mamelukesabre]

No levee can hold. Any earth levee will only buy you time. When the water table is signivicantly higher on one side than on the other, the water will immediately begin seeping through the ground to the lower side. It is only a matter of time before there is a blowout and the water will start gushing, then eroding a larger hole, then the whole thing collapses. The only way to hold back the water is a perfectly impermeable barrier that goes all the way down to bedrock. Even that may not work for long depending on how porous the bedrock is and how well anchored the barrier is to the bedrock. And you and I as tax payers would never agree to such an expense.

[WHBates]

" After the emergency was declared by the President on Saturday, what actions did he take? He KNEW the levees would not hold. What assets were sent to the city on Sunday to help save the city? "

In general I agree with some of your comments but it was unusual for a President to declare an Emergency before it actually happened, after he did so FEMA was free to move assets and setup formal communications with the locals. However, it is the responsibility of the Governor of the effected state(s) and his/her ER team to request and direct assistance from FEMA. It was the Governor and the Bozo Mayor that has direct C&C. That's the way the Laws are written and how the system is designed

It's been well known for decades that the levee system around NOLA had real issues. That wasn't a Corps issue, that became a political issue long before Bush took office. We (the taxpayers) have given billions of federal tax dollars to State & Local governments to devise plans and purchase equipment to deal with these ER planning issues. The question is what did LA and NO do with all of the money they were given

You may have problems with how the system is design to work but at least make an attempt to understand how it was setup to work. If the news media even made an attempted to understand, they might start asking the right questions.

[supercat]

After the levee was breached, REPAIRS STOPPED at night. WHY?

I don't know what efforts were made to shore up the levee before the breach, but once a levee is breached, the water on both sides WILL equalize. Continued shoring efforts may help a tiny bit, but would be about as effective as trying to battle a blaze in a 1920's film vault.