and as a result 80% of new orleans flooded as much as 15 feet. it shouldn t have by the dade. and everything that happened after was a result of that. that in turn led to all the human misery and suffering that we saw. and it s a large part of why the aftermath of the storm were so devastating. and after that the state and local government decided to do something about it. every level of government, and ngos and citizens understood, that a failure like that could never be able to happen again. the federal government spent billions of dollars to fortify the levees and barriers. they reinforced barriers and overhauled pumping systems. they built a surge wallet a key inflection point that extends more than two miles wide. before the scenario unfolded 16 years of the day when storm