The drive south from New Orleans toward the Gulf of Mexico is a study in coastal vulnerability.
As the road winds through marshes and skirts bayous, dry land grows sparser by the mile.
Soon, water dominates the landscape, and the danger that a storm surge from a hurricane coming ashore would pose becomes clear.
At the far edge of this web of wetlands, roughly 60 miles south of New Orleans, lies one of the most strategically important ports in the United States.