The S&WB flooding of August 5 is similar to the Army Corps of Engineers’ flooding of August 29. In both cases, we had agencies with centuries of experience that we trusted. After the levees failed, Levees.org made sure the levee investigation was unbiased, thorough and transparent. Twelve years later, we’re doing the same thing regarding the ‘root cause analysis’ of the S&WB. And we congratulate WWL TV for initiating its own investigation.
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The signs of problems were already evident in 1992 when Orleans Parish dredged its east side of the 17th Street Canal, but Jefferson Parish did not dredge its west side. Folks who live in Lakeview would sometimes speak out loud about their concerns that they wondered how many years since then it would take for some major catastrophe to prove that the dredging had been done in a “cavalier” manner. We also wondered what other slip-shod work on the canal would lead to a major disaster that would inundate us altogether. Thanks to Levees.org and the reports by WWL-TV, now we know the full extent of the callousness that led to the post-Katrina flooding in our part of the city.