Katrina, Ida, and the Levees

New Orleans is recovering from Hurricane Ida which slammed into the city on Sunday. It also happened to be the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. But unlike that disaster 16 years ago, Ida’s storm surge did not breach the levees that protect New Orleans. What lessons did Katrina offer in preparation for Ida? Sandy Rosenthal is a resident of New Orleans and a citizen activist who founded Levees.org to push for accountability and improvement of the city’s storm defenses. She’s the author of “Words Whispered in Water: Why the Levees Broke in Hurricane Katrina.”