It's Official: New Orleans Will Never Be the Same

Even if the government somehow managed to re-create pre-Katrina New Orleans, it couldn't guarantee the safety of the city and its residents, according to a new report. The Army Corps of Engineers is rebuilding levees in anticipation of a “100-year storm,” but for a city of New Orleans’ size nothing is truly sufficient, the Times-Picayune reports. The report recommends relocating people living in at-risk areas.

“Reconstructing all pre-Katrina protective structures, and creating settlement patterns just as they existed before Katrina, simply would position the city and its inhabitants for additional, Katrina-like disasters,” the report warns. For residents who can’t be moved, the committee recommends a tactic used by the city’s early residents: “Add an extra floor in building plans so that floor is expendable in a flood event.” (More New Orleans stories.)