Founder Rosenthal’s debut book goes on sale August 11

Monday, August 10th, 2020

Jacket cover designed by M Styborski of New Orleans

On Tuesday, August 11, Levees.org founder Sandy Rosenthal will do an outdoor Sidewalk Book Signing for her debut book at Octavia Books (513 Octavia Street) in New Orleans from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Words Whispered in Water: Why the Levees Broke in Hurricane Katrina (Mango Publishing) documents how the Army Corps of Engineers spent millions––in cooperation with the engineering establishment––to fool the American public on why New Orleans flooded in 2005.

A video of Rosenthal unboxing her books for the first time is trending and has been viewed over 50,000 times on Facebook and Twitter.

The book is selected by Publishers Weekly in Politics and Current Events for Fall of 2020. It has been a #1 New Release on Amazon.com for 36 weeks.

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Levees.org Founder’s Unboxing Video Making Splash on Social

Saturday, August 8th, 2020

UPDATE: The unboxing video has passed the 110K mark on social media

https://www.facebook.com/WordsWhisperedinWater/videos/213960209969821/

It’s standard for authors to create a short film of themselves seeing their new book for the first time.

Levees.org founder Sandy Rosenthal created such a video for her debut book Words Whispered in Water: Why the Levees Broke in Hurricane Katrina (Mango Publishing, August 2020).

She enlisted help from her cousin Max Cusimano of Nola Vid who refused to accept compensation for his work. And Mr. Cusimano wanted to try a departure from the standard “first look.”

The result is a surprising video packed into 75 seconds of action. The video is now trending and has been viewed over 38,000 times on Facebook and Twitter.

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The day the Hurricane Katrina forecast model surprised everyone

Thursday, July 23rd, 2020

With Tropical Depression Eight swirling in the Gulf and getting better organized, I cannot stop thinking about the day the Hurricane Katrina model surprised everyone.

By mid day Friday August 26th, many New Orleanians, including me believed that Hurricane Katrina was heading toward the middle of the Florida Panhandle. Then came the big shock.

Below is an excerpt from my upcoming book, Words Whispered in Water; Why the Levees Broke in Hurricane Katrina. It’s from Chapter 1 “Goodbye New Orleans.’

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During the day on Friday August 26th, some of the computer models shifted the storm’s track, now a hurricane, west. Then, late in the afternoon, all models shifted in unison, and New Orleans was moved to the center of the cone of certainty. Governor Blanco declared a state of emergency at 4:00 p.m.

By 7:00 a.m. on Saturday (August 27), the hurricane was over the center of the Gulf of Mexico. At first, the eye started to disintegrate, normally a sign of weakening, but, in this case, it was redistributing. Wind speed picked up around the central vortex, and pressure fell again. Later, the eye contracted, and masses of thunderstorms sprang to life. Within a few hours, the storm doubled in size, eclipsing most of the gulf.

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