Perhaps the only surprise sprung by Hurricane Katrina on flood control and emergency planning officials was its tremendously wide path of destruction, stretching from New Orleans eastward to Mobile, Ala., and even into the Florida Panhandle. But the storms destructionparticularly in New Orleans and Louisianahad been predicted many times over, especially within the past few years.
Experts warned that New Orleans flood defenses, designed in the 1960s but funded to handle only a Category 3 hurricane, would be seriously breached in a stronger event. The strongest call came in 2000, when Louisiana, with the Army Corps of Engineers and other federal agencies, published Coast 2050, a $14-billion plan that would restore Louisianas first line of storm defense, its millions of acres of coastal wetlands. Its cost gave federal lawmakers pause, and sparked debate over whether protection was a federal responsibility, or Louisianas. Initial damage estimates already are surpassing its $14-billion estimate, giving flood-control advocates hope that Katrina can work as a catalyst to rethink policy and funding. Click here to view map