AHC: Worst Case Hurricane Katrina

I'm sure it can be worse, but I distinctly remember what essentially happened with Katrina being described as the worst case scenario in a Discovery Channel documentary YEARS before 2005.

Both National Geographic and Scientific American had articles predicting a storm worse than Katrina, in 2004 and 2001.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0410/feature5/

The NG scenario had a much closer hit up Breton Sound with a 25 foot storm surge (3 feet less than the actual surge in Biloxi) through Lake Pontchartrain and a death toll of 50,000.

What I'd add to make a worse case would be a more erratic track. Have it heading more westerly, with a much smaller chance of hitting NOLA. Then a last minute course change north west putting on a heading to make landfall just east of the city. Add a few of the suggestions from above - landfall on August 19th (full moon), having it at cat. 5 when it hits, and then it stalls. Fortunately, but less "sexy", a breach a the Waterford Nuclear Generating Plant is very unlikely.
 
Katrina hits on a full moon right in the heart of New Orleans as a Cat. 5. Floods the majority of the city and destroys many of the cities buildings and historic cultural centers. Due to lack of effective evacuation and destruction of shelters nearly 70,000 people die. The storm stalls bringing even more destruction to the city. To make maters worse, it happens only a few months before the 2004 General Election.

By the end of the storm New Orleans is completely devastated, historic parts of the city are gone while most of it is now a part of Lake Pontchartrain.
 
Worst case scenario?

Sudden power outages across S.E. America are interpreted as a nuclear strike. S.A.C. advises full retaliation.

Game Over
 
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