The historic event of Hurricane Katrina, a category three hurricane with winds ranging from 111 to 130 mph, in August 2005 revealed major structural failures in the levee systems of New Orleans. Although not all structural failures were this catastrophic, broken levees resulted in loss of lives, homes, businesses, highways, and left a trail of destruction that is still being repaired today . The result of this failure has led to lawsuits, conspiracy theories and trials. Hurricane Katrina had a major effect on our country and its consequences are still felt today. Although it is a once devastated city, major improvements have been made to the broken system and the city feels safe again. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans with its violent intensity, the lives of its residents were changed forever. The winds picked up and the waves crashed against the only safety system this city had, located below sea level, from the many water systems that surrounded it. Most people think the waves simply rose on the city's shores and seawalls; however, the evidence proves this thinking to be false. The real reason New Orleans flooded was due to poor engineering. According to experts, two thirds of the tragic floods could have been avoided. Thousands of homes could have been saved if the engineers responsible for building New Orleans' levees had followed regulatory guidelines. After the shock of Hurricane Katrina subsided slightly, Congress ordered a congressional inspection of the federally constructed levee system. As they dug deeper into the cause of the levee failure, they began to uncover flaws in the levee engineering itself. Three of the levees that have had the most negative effect on the city, and ...... middle of paper ...... cane to protect the rich and middle class, and some blame President Bush. In conclusion, Hurricane Katrina had devastating effects on the city of New Orleans. I believe that the blame was correctly placed on the chief engineers responsible for the construction of the dikes. The construction of the levees was not done with sufficient care or attention to detail, leading to death and devastation. When it comes to people's safety, every measure must be taken and no cost spared. Lessons learned from this historic event and great improvements were made to New Orleans' protection system. Works cited by Hurricane Katrina. [online] October 14, 2010. http://en.www.wikipedia.org/wiki/effects_of_HurricaneKatrina_in_New_OrleansParker Waichman Alonso LLP. Failure of the dike. [online] October 17, 2010. http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/levee_failure