New Orleans Devestation

While Katrina was a category 5 and dropped a significant amount of rain, the majority of the devestation came from the flooding. There were two primary forces which contributed to the flooding:

1. Storm surge
2. Broken Levees (see Picture #1, Picture #2, Picture #3)
   

The levees prevented floods in the past from devestating New Orleans. However, once the levees broke, getting the water out of New Orleans became the larger problem. The water continued to rise days after the huricane had passed due to water feeding into the New Orleans "bowl" (see submerged neighborhood) from the compromised levees.

It is very challenging to prevent large amounts of water and gravity working together from causing utter desolation.