It is not the levees bordering the river or lake that caused the main failures during Katrina, and it is not those that are failing now; it is the canals that failed. There is some inherent structural problem with them and they will likely have to be reengineered.

You should see photos of what they looked like after Katrina.

Those are what are failing now. The main one is the Industrial Canal, which is what flooded lower 9th ward and into St Bernard Parish from the west at Chalmette (although St Bernard received flooding from two other sources; from the south from a levee bordering the MS river, ten miles long, which was gone after Katrina, and direct flooding from the GOM coming from the east).

Saw a quote that they were not expecting the flooding "this soon." Don't know why because NWS sent out the warnings. Flooding was more likely now than later when the storm moves to the east.

In Jackson County yesterday it was failure of the communications net, which is still mostly down anyway, which resulted in lack of general knowledge of last night's flooding from Rita, coupled with a higher-than-normal high tide. I'll find out how everyone fared this weekend when I hear from by brother.