A Disaster Timeline

Sunday the Times-Picayaune released a marvelous animated map of the flood sequence during Katrina. Going through the display, it's obvious our city and region could not have emerged from Katrina unscathed. Even without the MRGO "Hurricane Highway", the water would have been high enough to overtop the Plaquemines Parish levees, and probably those in New Orleans East. But the levee failures and poor design (Why was the embankment at the foot of the Orleans Avenue Canal 6 feet lower than the floodwalls on either side?) added immeasurably to the extent of the disaster.

This story would have been so much different if we had the protection we thought we did.