The minute Cat.4-5 said in relation to NO should have triggered a tripwire

[merbex]

This should be a Dem talking point

Movies have been made about just such a scenario

Basically the B* administration pretty much left everything up to LA and NO with a
"Call me later" attitude

Cat.4-5 should have been a tripwire for the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

[Crunchy Frog]

1. Yes, from what I've read, it was a well known fact

that the NO levees could not withstand greater than a category 3.

[rosesaylavee]

2. Read on another thread that North Comm

was poised and ready prior to Katrina's landfall Monday am and just waiting for * to give the word. Not sure when that word was given but it was after Wednesday, August 31.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. You just can't trust the hurricane inspectors. nt.

[merbex]

4. LOL n/t

[shraby]

5. That hurricane almost filled the whole gulf and

was headed for the New Orleans area. Anyone with half a brain could have figured out the whole area would be a disaster zone no matter where the eye came ashore.

[starroute]

6. And that should have been on Friday the 26th

That's when they started talking in terms of Category 4. Early on Friday, a hit on the Florida Panhandle still seemed most likely, but even then New Orleans wasn't being ruled out -- and through the course of the day, the computer projections moved further and further west.

From the perspective of what was known on Friday, what eventually happened was a low-probability scenario. But the problem with a situation as vulnerable as that of New Orleans is that you can't afford to sit on your hands just because the experts are saying you have only a 10% chance of a catastrophic event.

If there was to have been any chance of getting everyone out in time, the officials would have had to announce evacuations by midday Friday -- not late on Saturday with nothing actually happening until Sunday morning.

See:

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/archive.html?tstamp=200508