I will tell you the real reasons New Orleans was devastated so bad from Katrina...
1) some of the pump workers left town.
They are supposed to "man" the pumps to get water out of the city.
Now, some levees broke. that is a separate issue, but the flooding in Metairie
was due to pump workers leaving town.
2) Crying WOLF.
Every year we would get a tropical storm heading toward New Orleans.
The weatherman always says... play it safe, and leave town.
I must have heard that a dozen times in the 5 years before Katrina.
People got sick of it
Every year when a storm was i the gulf, they would say...
this could be the next Betsy. Dont take a chance...
Several times the highways were packed with traffic
people sitting for hours.... then it would turn,
and we would get 2 inches of rain, and 20mph winds.
it would be all over by the time you got checked into a room in Baton Rouge.
We didnt know Katrina would hit until 24hrs before it made landfall.
We all figured it would turn.
ive never left in my life... 53 years
normally, i throw hurricane parties. For Katrina, i was all alone
except my dog.
1 inch of water came in... just enough to make life miserable.
that and the heat, no wind... you couldnt leave the windows open, because the mosquitos were fierce,
you couldnt close them , because it was too hot and humid.
i couldnt leave for a week, the roads had 3ft of water from my house to the interstate.
it was miserable...