When Hurricane Katrina crashed into New Orleans on August 29, 2005 – first with heavy rain, then winds so strong they shattered glass in window frames and a flood that washed away everything in its path — the city was ill-prepared.

The waters breached the city’s levees, the concrete canals that were New Orleans’ main defenses. Floodwalls snapped under the pressure, spilling Lake Pontchartrain into the streets.

Buildings washed off their foundations; the flood turned toxic with streaks of fuel; lifeless bodies floated by in the water as those who managed to break through the roofs of their homes waited desperately for help.

But that was slow in coming. A bungled local, state and federal emergency response to the hurricane contributed to the nearly 1,400 deaths, more than 1 million peop

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