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August 31, 2005, Taken from Wikepedia

Hurricane Katrina will likely become the worst natural disaster ever to hit the United States with major global economic consequences caused by the severe disruption of oil supplies, exports, and imports.

Some experts predict one million people could become homeless as a result of the storm [1]. Currently five million people are without power in the Gulf Coast, and it may be two months before all power is restored [2].

September 2002, Taken from American Radioworks

When emergency management officials think about the worst natural disasters that might befall America, San Francisco is always on the list. They say there's a 70 percent chance that a major earthquake will hit that city in the next 30 years and potentially cause thousands of deaths. But they say there's another disaster that could be far worse—and many people don't know about it. The chances that this tragedy will happen are much lower, but the death toll would be staggering. Government officials are trying to figure out if there's any way to prevent it.

Think about the great cities in this country, and one of them will be New Orleans. On a recent evening, a scientist pulls up in the French Quarter. Joe Suhayda takes a plastic rod out of his trunk and he proceeds to show us what could happen the next time a hurricane hits New Orleans.

"OK, this is tool that I have a range rod," explains Suyhayda. "It will show us how high the water would be if we were hit with a Category Five Hurricane."

Which would mean what?

"Twenty feet of water above where we are standing now," says Suyhayda.

Twenty?

A Category Five Hurricane is the most powerful storm on a scientific scale. Suhayda plants the rod on the sidewalk next to a 200-year-old building that's all wrought iron balconies and faded brick and wooden shutters. Every click marks another foot that the flood would rise up this building.

I can't believe you're still going.

"Yeah, still going," says Suyhayda.

Read the whole story at American Radioworks

Gotta wonder, if they knew that then, why didn't they do more to help evacuate the projects when they knew a Category 5 was headed for New Orleans?