As you read, listen and watch Hurricane Katrina anniversary coverage, you will hear several people imply or flat-out say that New Orleans was destroyed by a hurricane.
It was not.
The destruction of New Orleans was a man-made disaster. The city was deluged because the flood-protection system in the city built and maintained by the U.S. Army was poorly-designed, poorly-constructed and under-inspected. The flood walls and levees were not overtopped.
In June, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers admitted that the flood damage was their fault.
Yet, some people still refer to the destruction of NOLA as a natural disaster — some out of ignorance (it’s hard to know better when the TV and radio still refer to it as a natural disaster), some to protect their political allies from scrutiny (translation — if the Army screws up, it’s ultimately the Commander-In-Chief’s responsibility.)