The Economist, an influential British weekly, in its current Science and technology section, focuses on the research by Václav Fanta, Miroslav Šálek and Petr Sklenička published in Nature Communications. Analysing domestic data from the 11th to the 19th centuries, the scientists found that it only takes two generations for people to forget about the dangers posed by extreme floods. The paper, Memories of disaster fade fast, puts the findings in the context of underestimating prevention during the devastating Hurricane Katrina, which was preceded 40 years earlier in New Orleans by the Hurricane Betsy disaster. Then, in 1965, Louisiana Governor John McKeithen vowed that nothing like it would happen in his state in the future. Scientists' current findings offer an explanation for why Katrina's aftermath was so devastating. In late August 2005, Katrina killed 1,800 people and caused $125 billion in damage.
Based on the results of the study, a report by Czech Television was created.