This is actually a two-part promise.

The first part deals with ensuring that New Orleans has a levee and pumping system to protect against a 100-year storm by 2011.

And that part is moving along. The Army Corps of Engineers is more than one-third of the way through construction of an improved levee system to provide 100-year flood protection for New Orleans, and White House officials say the administration is committed to keeping these projects on track to be completed by 2011.

To date, over 220 miles of levees and floodwalls have been repaired and restored to pre-Katrina levels of protection. According to White House officials, the levees and flood walls that were breached during Katrina have been rebuilt to stricter standards and are fortified so that they will withstand a 100-year storm surge.

In addition, storm-surge protection has been installed at Lake Pontchartrain and multiple pump stations have been installed or updated around the perimeter of the city. In addition, some levee armoring has been installed to make the levees more resilient.

Additionally, Congress appropriated $439 million to restore islands along the Mississippi Gulf Coast that serve as the first line of defense against hurricanes.

So we think it's fair to say that Obama has made progress on this front.

But the jury is out on the second part of this promise, "the ultimate goal of protecting the city from a Category 5 storm."

Allison Plyer, deputy director, Greater New Orleans Community Data Center, notes that Katrina was more like a 400-year storm. Even with 100-year storm protection, she said, New Orleans would suffer significant flooding if hit with another storm the size of Katrina.

And, she said, "we have seen no progress toward that (protecting the city from a Category 5 storm); we have not seen any federal attention to that issue."

In an interview with the New Orleans Times-Picayune , published on Aug. 23, 2009, Obama said Category 5 storm protection "is still an aspiration." He said there is an "interagency working group" on the issue.

Since Obama's promise to protect New Orleans from a Category 5 storm was described as an "ultimate goal," we think it's fair to say that was a longer-term goal. Still, we'll keep an eye on this and assess if lack of progress on the longer-term pledge means the promise has become Stalled. But for now, we think there has been enough progress toward rebuilding and repairing the levee and pumping system to protect against a 100-year storm to rate this one In the Works.