I studied meterology as an undergrad and even though it has been a zillion years, there were certain hallmarks that made it obvious going back to about a week ago and I did everything via the Internet, so I was not privy to the best data. Here's my humble opinions: 1) It was very slow moving and therefore fed heavily on the overly warm waters once it left Florida, plus it lost nothing crossing Florida which is a huge indicator; 2) the Gulf waters, thanks to global warming, are so warm - warmer than our pool was in CA - like 31.6 C.- that's warm that they knew that these were not surface temps but at considerable depths which feed a hurricane; 3) there were no systems anywhere nearby to potentially mitigate the system or weaken the eyewall until just after midnight before it hit; 4) it was setting records for lowest barometric pressure coming off Florida which is agina textbook for just how powerful the storm is and how much it can take without weakening; and 5)the models were dead-on since there was nothing to weaken it until the last minute (see #3 above)so they knew all about it.
Watch CNN and tell me what you see demographically in those left behind - those who could not get out due to age infirmity, lack of transportation, or lack of money to buy gas. In fact, today at 3 PM I pulled into a station and the electronic sign said 2.75/g by the time the hose was in my tank it said 2.92/ g. and when I pulled away after filling it, it was up to 2.95/g!
I checked FEMA's guidelines BTW and they won't cover it if the cost of rebuilding is more than 50% of the value (historical districts are under different guidelines. Those who had insurance and probably not the 9th ward, may have to start over with nothing somewhere else. But rest assured, those oil companies won't lose a penny. Beth