New Orleans appears to have lucked out this time. Had the storm surge been a bit higher the lower 9th ward would have flooded again. Total evacuation will always be the best policy until all the needed flood gates are installed and all the levees are fortified. If Gustav had followed the same path as Katrina more water would have been piled up in Lake Ponchartrain and a breeching of the levees as occurred during Katrina may well have occurred again.

Anyone who thinks he was just crying wolf wasn't paying attention. New Orleans came through Gustav okay because -- and only because -- the storm made landfall well to the west of N.O. If the eye had hit nearer the city, it's almost guaranteed that it would have been another Katrina-level disaster in property terms ... and the only reason the human tragedy would have been less was Nagin's evacuation order.

There should be a serious debate in NOLA and the US about designing to a category 3 storm. The City was a foot away from a devastating flood AFTER billions were spent. The levees held, but that's not significant if they aren't high enough. The entire Netherlands is under sea level, but they keep the oceans out. We should expect the same in the USA. Anything less is mediocrity writ large.

I'm not a big fan of Mayor Nagin, but I agree with Daniel. As I recall -- when Nagin issued his mandatory evacuation order, Gustav was just south of the western tip of Cuba and had grown in intensity (from Cat 1 to Cat 3) and size in a short time. The forecast was for him to reach Category 5 in the Gulf and hit Louisiana, west of N.O., as at least a Category 4.

If anybody was crying wolf, it was the National Hurricane Center and other meteorologists. The last thing we need to do is fault the politicians for listening to the scientists.

With Hanna wandering around like a drunk who lost her keys, and new storms Ike and Josephine heading across the Atlantic (and with my entire family in New Orleans), the last thing I want is for Jindal and Nagin to decide that they should be making their own judgments as to how bad a hurricane will be, or where it will hit.

-- Alice

tells me that we should abandon New Orleans. I want to have a line on everyone's paycheck which says how much of our Federal taxes are going to subsidize a city BELOW SEA-LEVEL.

How many times should you rebuild a tower on a faultline?

How many times should you rebuild a house in a floodplain?

How many times should you rebuild a house on the side of a volcano?

How many times should you let other people rebuild those structures when you are subsidizing it?

I don't mind hurting some feelings as long as we act rationally. Rebuilding New Orleans is not rational.