Back Where We Started: Katrina Three Years Later

MSNBC, which has covered the rebuilding of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast better than any of the other national news outlets, reports that the levees under construction will not live up to the expectations of its designers since it's no better than the system in place before Hurricane Katrina made landfall.

The experts say that the new and "improved" levees will not protect against a storm like Katrina any better than the prior levee system. Construction projects are behind schedule and slipping. The Congressional mandate in the 1960s to build flood protection against a category 3 storm still has not been met, despite the billions spent on flood control.

Back in May, I noted that the Army Corps was busy making the same promises they've been making for decades about flood protection, despite the fact that tests were revealing that the levees being built have flaws that expose them to the same kind of failures seen during Katrina - seepage, not overtopping.

We're three years following the landfall of one of the most devastating natural disasters in the history of the US, and there are signs of progress. In Biloxi, there's tremendous signs of recovery, but the further West you go, the more signs of utter devastation remain.

But generally, the farther west one drives along the Coast, the worse conditions tend to be. In Hancock County, Ground Zero for the tragic storm, Waveland officials are still rebuilding a water and sewer system, and city government continues to function from a small fleet of trailers in a gravel parking lot.

In Bay St. Louis, the once-picturesque Old Town area struggles to hold up its battered head. A $90 million infrastructure overhaul has streets muddied and destroyed. Beach Boulevard remains rough and unpaved, with an arduous reconstruction expected to start in October.

Both cities have issued thousands of residential building permits between them since the storm, but officials acknowledge there is still a long, long way to go.

Across the new Bay St. Louis Bridge, Mayor Chipper McDermott points to multiple new construction projects in Pass Christian. The city lost many of its historic beachfront homes, but residential and business construction is now bustling. Work is expected to begin soon on more than 100 new homes.

Biloxi was able to bounce back because of the casino and tourism industry, which was able to pump large amounts of resources into the local community to get them restarted. The same can't be said of other areas, which helps understand the lag.

This is a good guide to see how things have progressed in Mississippi cities and towns most affected by Katrina when it roared ashore.