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To: Thomas A Watson who wrote (151170)	12/15/2005 12:14:19 PM
From: carranza2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793843

It's a bit more complicated than that, but I think you're on the right track. Some levees were in fact overtopped, specifically the ones on the MR GO canal. Some were not properly designed and/or constructed or maintained, and failed despite not being overtopped. The MR GO failure was a failure of engineering because its design criteria did not properly anticipate that the storm surge would overtop its levees. That specfic structure is a canal that leads directly to the Gulf, so it is a conduit. It should not have been overtopped. Should have been over-engineered since it carried the storm surge directly into the city. It should not have ever been built for this very reason, but that is another story. The argument about what category storm should be protected against is in reality a red herring. The design criteria should be geared to protecting against a certain level of storm surge regardless of windspeeds. This follows from the fact that a large slow but weak storm can create a very large surge whereas a very strong but small and swift storm can create a relatively minor storm surge. Windspeed doesn't do much to levees, the storm surge does. I hope the windspeed distinction gets dashed in favor of the real consideration which is the size of the surge, which is independent of windspeed. This may require a paradigm shift in thinking.