No one knew the levees would break?

The biggest lie about the devastating tragedy of Hurricane Katrina and the horrific aftermath in New Orleans, is that no one knew the levees might break. The President himself has said as much, but there is evidence to the contrary.

Pre-Hurricane Katrina:

7/2000: USA Today: ‘Big Easy’ a bowl of trouble in hurricanes

7/2000: Time Magazine: The Big Easy On the Brink

9/11/2001: Popular Mechanics: New Orleans is Sinking

10/2001: Scientific American: Drowning New Orleans

9/20/2002: NOW (PBS): The City in a Bowl

10/2004: National Geographic: Gone with the Water

5/23/2005: American Prospect: Thinking Big About Hurricanes

Postscript:

Sidney Blumenthal (Spiegel Online) – No One Can Say they Didn’t See it Coming

Paul Krugman (NY Times) – A Can’t-Do Government

“I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees. They did appreciate a serious storm but these levees got breached and as a result much of New Orleans is flooded and now we’re having to deal with it and will.” – President George W. Bush

Decide for yourself. If you’ve got other pre-Hurricane news that the levees needed work, that New Orleans might be underater from a category 4 or 5 storm, send them on or leave a comment.

Thanks to Wikipedia for some of the links.

UPDATE: Even SNL’s Mr. Bill saw it coming.

UPDATE II: Wired: They Knew What to Expect [Via Ken Leebow]

3 thoughts on “No one knew the levees would break?

  1. August 13, 2005: Louisiana State Secretary of Natural Resources giving testimony before the US House of Representatives, Committee on Resources – Hearings on the benefits of offshore oil and natural gas development. See page 5-6, “At war with the elements…”

Leave a Reply