Years of studies, newspaper series, and near misses hearalded Katrina as one of the most likely disasters America could expect. We did not prepare for it very well. The logic behind these predictions still holds. The threat is not gone. We are still not very well prepared.

After the storm in 2005, federal officials didn’t seem able to recall that they had planned for a similar contingency just a year before.

• "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees." said President Bush on ABC's "Good Morning America" Thursday September 1, 2005. 
  
  
• On Saturday September 3, 2005, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff called the disaster "breathtaking in its surprise. ... That 'perfect storm' of a combination of catastrophes exceeded the foresight of the planners, and maybe anybody's foresight... "