History repeats...

Much of the same issues arose here way back then too, as far as procrastination of a protection system and perhaps an arrogance that we could prepare and build to withstand, or that the bay would provide protection. They were horribly wrong. All able-bodied men were required to help afterwards, or else they weren't fed. They estimate that 6-7000 people died on the Island alone, with a few thousand more on the mainland. To be quite gruesome, there were so many bodies they had to force men under the point of bayonet and under the influence of whiskey to undertake the task. They loaded them onto barges to bury them at sea, as individual graves were impractical. Yet within a few days, they washed back on the beach. So they had to burn them. The fires lasted over a month. The raising of the city, reconstruction, and the seawall required enormous capital and patient laborious effort, but it was done with nearly all local support. An area of about 500 city blocks (buildings, utilities and all) was raised an average 13 feet. While commercially they tried to recover immediately, much took the next decade to accomplish. They were tested in 1915 with another hurricane, but only 3 died and only minor wind damage. The grade raising and seawall worked. This is all still taught here in school in History class, in part so as not to take lightly the threat of hurricanes, and not to repeat some of the mistakes.

Yet even more gargantuan effort is necessary in New Orlean's case...in both the physical rebuilding and in the ineffectiveness of civil governments. It requires a unified vision and the political will to impose it. Afterwards in 1900, they immediately abandoned the city charter and previous corrupt leaders, and adopted a committee government boarded by local business leaders, who knew how to get things done, and had the connections to do it.