I followed Katrina on satellite internet while at sea...but am just now seeing results on TV. I take this to be a massive government failure to save lives at the state and federal level. New Orleans could have been far worse....in that there was a delay or a day or more before the levees broke. I am curious what the storm surge was at the height of Katrina vs when the levees broke. The National hurricane Center was forecasting it to be worse than it was at least 2 days ahead. Nothing was done for poor people without cars. The National Hurricane Center advised that if people were chased into their attics by rising water they should take tools with them in case they had to cut their way out to the roof....this was on their web site....but the people who needed this most probably were not looking there (although hopefully the local news picked this up). How is it that a country with our resources does not have boats out rescuing people on a larger scale....why can't rubber rafts be dropped by planes and soldiers/national guard dropped by helicopter or parachute or whatever to man the boats? Stretched too thin in Iraq? Pres. Bushs' words and actions once again seem too late.

Downtown New Orleans got the western eyewall...or even a little outside of that...where winds would be 30 mph less then the eastern eyewall. Katrina maxed out due to eyewall cycles a day before landfall....it could just as easily been at landfall...this was luck.
Chris