The vast physical and human disruption caused by the storm and the failure of the levees only heightened the city's sense of precariousness.

暴风雨和堤坝的决口引起巨大的自然灾害和人的恐慌情绪仅仅强化了人们对城市不安全的担忧。

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Earlier on CNN, Brown was asked why authorities had not prepared for just such a catastrophe -- given that the levees were designed to withstand only a Category 3 hurricane and Katrina was stronger than that.

CNN: FEMA chief: Victims bear some responsibility

When President Bush told "Good Morning America" on Thursday morning that nobody could have "anticipated" the breach of the New Orleans levees, it pointed to not only a remote leader in denial, but a whole political class.

BBC: Downtown New Orleans, near the Superdome

But engineers say the levees preventing this below-sea-level city from being turned into a swamp were built to withstand only Category 3 hurricanes.

CNN: Chertoff: Katrina scenario did not exist