4 years after katrina, a mix of progress & inertia

from usatoday: Hurricane Katrina, which struck the Gulf Coast four years ago, was an eye-opener for all Americans. The inability of New Orleans to cope was shocking. The levees built to protect the city were failures. The follies of the Federal Emergency Management Agency were maddening. Surely a tragedy of this scale (more than 1,600 deaths in Louisiana and Mississippi), a humiliation of this magnitude, would prompt officials to prepare better for the next major hurricane. With Tropical Storm Danny threatening the Northeast this weekend, and other storms potentially to come this hurricane season, it would be nice to believe that Katrina's lessons have been learned.

flashback: 1st anniversary's painful lessons of hurricane katrina