New Orleans is canary in the coal mine

As Hurricane Nate swept over Louisiana's coast, the flooding that Mother Nature brought to New Orleans with watery, improbable fury earlier this summer was still on the minds of the people who live in the city. Three unnamed rainstorms in as many weeks fell in America's shining city in a bowl. The last one, on August 5 -- a near "100-year storm" -- dropped more than 8 inches of rain in a matter of hours. It overwhelmed a less than functioning drainage system, exposed local government's limits to respond, and flooded neighborhoods to levels not seen since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

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