The Federal Government really failed the people of LSU. And their failure is a long time coming. The people and Congressional delegtion of Louisiana have been trying to get better levees and coastal restoration money for 20+ years. We have assessed taxes on ourselves numerous times and saved hindreds of millions of dollars. But the work we need would take several billion. The Federal Government did not do its part. Congressional delegations from land locked states turned a deaf ear on us and said we were crying wolf. Now they see how right we were unfortunately. This is not a Republican/ Democrat thing. This is not an administration thing. This is a case of neglect. The Federal Government is largely to blame for this. It was not 100% preventable, but the destruction could have been lessened. I am bitter and I am sick.
Maybe some emphasized development on the West Bank instead of the lower lying areas closer to the lake. There seemed to be little flooding problems on that side of the river.
I am not very optimistic on the idea of New Orleans thriving again someday in the future. You have to remember, the eye of Katrina never came within 50 miles of downtown New Orleans, and the hurricane sped up over the last 24 hours before it made landfall. Both of these factors helped spare New Orleans from even greater damage and flooding in the city. New Orleans still has not taken a direct hit from a major hurricane; Katrina, luckily for New Orleans, made landfall in Plaquemines parish and then again on the Louisiana/Mississippi Gulf Coast border. If a cat-4 or cat-5 directly hit New Orleans, and was a slow mover, you would need levees that are simply not possible for us to build. It would be nearly impossible to keep the water out of a place that is below the level of the lake and river when a 30-ft wall of water gets pushed toward the city. Hastert's timing was bad, but the content of his comments was right on the money. We have to be smart about where we pour billions of dollars into. That kind of money can be used on something that will improve the situation in south Louisiana in some other fashion. I'm not so sure that rebuilding New Orleans, and setting up the pins for the bowling ball to come knock down once again, is the answer to improving this situation.
No place in the world could handle a slow moving cat-4 or 5 ... thats why cat-4's and 5's arent slow movers... anything slow moving will be bad... a slow moving TS will kick anyones ass
