The Meaning of "Topped"

Those who defend the indefensible - I’m speaking of our President – somehow think Bush is off the hook because he was warned the levees might be “topped,” not that they might be breached. So when he whined that nobody imagined that the levees would break he was not lying. Well, if this isn’t lying it’s pretty darn close. Clearly a topped levee is in imminent danger of being breached because water flowing over the top of a levee has incredible erosive power. The President is guilty of an incredibly bungled and callous response to hurricane Katrina. Yes, this was an unprecedented natural disaster but an even moderately competent administration would have mobilized a full-boar Federal response – especially with military assets – 48 hours sooner. Dozens of lives, at a minimum, would have been saved.