This news report from 2004 on Hurricane Ivan lays out, one year ago, a pretty accurate picture of Katrina's damage. Some snips:

More than 1.2 million people in metropolitan New Orleans were warned to get out Tuesday as 140-mph Hurricane Ivan churned toward the Gulf Coast, threatening to submerge this below-sea-level city in what could be the most disastrous storm to hit in nearly 40 years.

Residents streamed inland in bumper-to-bumper traffic in an agonizingly slow exodus amid dire warnings that Ivan could overwhelm New Orleans with up to 20 feet of filthy, chemical-polluted water.

New Orleans, the nation's largest city below sea level, is particularly vulnerable to flooding, and Mayor Ray Nagin urged residents to get out while they can.

Nagin said he would "aggressively recommend" people evacuate, but that it would be difficult to order them to, because at least 100,000 in the city rely on public transportation and have no way to leave.

The mayor also said many people were in town for conventions, and there was nowhere for many of them to go except their hotels.

Nagin said the city was working on setting up a shelter of "last resort" and added that the Superdome might be used, but a spokesman for the stadium said earlier Tuesday that it was not equipped as a shelter.

By midday Tuesday, traffic on Interstate 10, the major hurricane route out of New Orleans, was at a near standstill, and state police turned the interstate west of the city into a one-way route out. U.S. Highway 61 to Baton Rouge also was jammed.

Again, these comments were about the expected arrival of Hurricane Ivan, from the 2004 hurricane season, and even in 2004, the 2005 hurricane season was expected to be worse. It is disingenuous for the fool we call president to act surprised at the damage to New Orleans. And if it's not disingenuous, it's worse.