See here: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=new+orleans&t=e And toggle between satellte and Katrina to see the devastation.
Can't clearly see the specific damage done on homes aireal view but you can see some noticeable damage on roads.
I'm born in Holland/The Netherlands and as the name of our country implies, our country is literally quite low. Actually, about 80% I believe is below sea level. We had some bad floodings in '53 (-ish?!) where thousands died. We know living there is dangerous and yes, flooding is inevitable. It gets even worse bacause the actual country is still 'sinking' deeper whilst the sea level is rising. Our flood protection is second to none in the world, we pioneered lots of it, but it's an uphill battle we'll never win. We're going down, sea is going up. Tough shit. And we know it.
You look at the photos and it's hard to work out what is wrong and then you realise there are no road markings on the roads!
Damn Noppid, I said nearly the same thing You build a city on a river delta, you are gonna have a mess eventually.
We learned about deltas in like sixth grade. Most should know this as common knowledge. The sad part, once again, is the feds knew. But they assessed the risk on property damage, not human loss and went on with development. Now we have this.