Officials raised existing levees in response to the flooding caused by Hurricane Betsy in 1965.
Katrina is not the first massive storm to test the Lake Pontchartrain Basin levees.
New Orleans has already received 10 inches of rain, but so far the levees have held.
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Until Herbert Hoover took over Mississippi flood relief, the river had repeatedly broken through its levees.
Levees around the city crumbled August 29, and floodwater went to the rooftops in some places.
The regional boards overseeing the river levees, once a patronage playpen, have been restructured and professionalised.
During Katrina, generators at some New Orleans hospitals were flooded after levees broke.
The strategy in Morgan City, officials say, is to reinforce the levees around the city.
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The New Orleans levees are built to withstand 20 feet, according to the weather service.
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Big problems, be they market bubbles or flawed levees, go ignored until they blow up.
President GEORGE W. BUSH: I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.
Mr. SPIKE LEE (Producer, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts): I was touched.
Even today, experts will tell you the levees are better than they were before Hurricane Katrina.
Bolstering hurricane defenses through improved levees and wetlands could, however, make a world of difference.
But in some places, along some levees, for instance, it was a lot worse.
Now they've come in and said, yeah, we'll do two billion dollars for levees.
But Hurricane Katrina produced forces that overcame the levees and unleashed gravity's power upon Pontchartrain's water.
Billions of dollars have been spent on disaster planning, levees and federal housing projects.
The storm breached three levees and left more than three quarters of the city under water.
But the storm will test the rebuilt and fortified hurricane levees surrounding the New Orleans area.
The small town in western Illinois was devastated Wednesday when two levees failed about 45 miles south.
Depending on Rita's track, New Orleans could receive several inches of rain, straining the city's fragile levees.
It dumped plenty of rain and did some damage, but few injuries, and the levees have held.
"We're going to see more animals hit the levees, trying to get out of there, " Ribbeck said.
The film produced by Spike Lee is entitled When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts.
One central question is: Who's responsible for the breaks in three levees that led to massive flooding?
Dixon and his scientific team say it's not just the levees that are sinking faster than realized, though.
About 325 miles of levees are around the city and surrounding parish, and work on the levees continues.
Today a government panel that's investigating why levees in New Orleans failed after hurricane Katrina issued some preliminary findings.
It also levees a tax penalty on those who choose to be uninsured.
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