++ [ originally posted by Majed ] ++
Thanks.
I just think that they underestimated its imact on New Orleans in particular. A Catagory 4 hurricane will blow cities away, but not as bad as what's on the news. The problem is the resulting flooding that's caused by New Orleans's landscape. Locally, everytime we run from a hurricane (once or twice a year), we always hear about the likely possibility of catastrophic flooding. Every year, we luck out and hurricane shift or get weaker. It's sad to say, and everyone there knows this, but it was bound to happen.
Knowing this, the state should have done better to prepare for this event. However, the fact that Louisiana is the 2nd or 3rd poorest state in the nation didn't help. They have their own problems like crime, bad public school systems, and until recently, wide spread curruption. I would imagine that it's tough to spend millions on preventing this when more apperant problems are on the table. This is were the government should have stepped in I think. I'm no expert, but you would think that a strategic area like the Gulf coast and New Orleans in particular, with its oil and trade importance would be better taken care of.