Here's an idea

Well, martial law in the New Orleans area,probably going to spread over most of South East Louisiana befroe it is done. The whole city flooded, parts of it deeply flooded. Which leads to a good question, Should we bother to rebuild it? (Not if we will rebuild it because we are stubborn people and will do so.) Let's look at it, what is at all rational about rebuilding a city that is only kept from flooding daily by massive engineering efforts anyway? Myabe we whould let it go, if individuals care to rebuild that is thier money, but maybe the government whould just start looking for a new place to put a port. (Besides, the only thing that has kept the Mississippi River flowing to New Orleans has been the Corp of Engineers, the rivers course has been shifting to the east but the Corps keeps leveeing it back to the old line)
Let the river go, build a new port city.
Just a random thought.


Edit: Later in the day--- the thing to realize of course about rebuilding a port somewhere else, a "safer place" as Miranda says in the comments, is that there really is no safer place along the Gulf Coast. Any where along the coast is subject to Hurricane damage. The only advantage to moving New Orleans would be to get it out of that hole between the Mississippi River and Lake Ponchitrain.