Twenty Years After Katrina: How Levee Failures Changed America

upstart writes:

Twenty Years After Katrina: How Levee Failures Changed America:

When Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, it wasn't just another storm - it was one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history. Entire neighborhoods disappeared, families were scattered, and lives were split into "before" and "after." Nearly 20 years later, the haunting images of submerged rooftops and boat rescues remain vivid.

On Aug. 29, 2005, early reports claimed New Orleans had "dodged the bullet." But offshore winds funneled water into the city's canals, triggering multiple catastrophic levee failures. The Lower Ninth Ward, where most fatalities occurred, was devastated as many residents, misled by comparisons to Hurricane Camille, chose not to evacuate.

"Katrina's storm surge was exceptional," says Hermann Fritz, a civil engineering professor at Georgia Tech. "In some areas, we saw water levels over 27 feet - that's like a three-story building."

While much attention focused on New Orleans' levee failures, Fritz points out that the surge's sheer height and energy would have overwhelmed even more robust defenses in some areas. "Katrina showed us that nature can produce forces beyond our engineering designs," he says.

Read more of this story at SoylentNews.