After Hurricane Katrina slammed into the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005
-- killing 1,800 people and inflicting $100 billion in damage --
Congress said never again. Federal lawmakers spent $14.5
billion, mostly federal funds, to build a fortress around New
Orleans. Today the city is protected by 350 miles of stronger
levees and higher flood walls that form a circle around New
Orleans to keep any deadly storm surges at bay. Among its most
powerful new weapons: the largest storm-surge barrier in the
world. The massive barrier wall extends nearly 200 feet into the
earth, and towers 26 feet above the water. It's reinforced by
350,000 tons of steel -- 50 times the amount in the Eiffel
Tower. The fortress has turned New Orleans into a giant bathtub.
To prevent that bathtub from filling up during a major storm,
the city built the world's largest water pumping system. "(One
station) can pump about 30,000 cubic feet of water per second,
which is just extraordinary," said Garrett Graves, who is
overseeing the state's new hurri