The Corps has admitted only to poor design of floodwalls on the 17th Street and London Avenue canals. They have not admitted to a litany of errors that they control. For example, levee walls in many areas were 2 feet too low, levees were not armored, levees mainly in eastern New Orleans and St. Bernard parish were filled with erodable sand instead of good clay, and numerous connective points were improperly constructed. The Corps chose the wrong standard project hurricane, therefore designing for too weak a storm and the Corps used a margin of safety appropriate for cattle, not people and their property. The Corps has not admitted that the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet played a role in the flooding by contributing to the death of buffering cypress forests and contributing to “funneling” of the storm surge into the heart of the city via the Industrial Canal.
The majority of the United States population lives in counties protected by levees.
Source: FEMA
Half of New Orleans is at or well above sea level.
Source: Tulane and Xavier Universities
John McQuaid: To label the 2005 New Orleans Flood a natural disaster is a distortion. And it is quite convenient for those who screwed up
Source: Forbes Magazine
- The federal government’s study of the failed levee system during Katrina was convened and managed by the agency responsible for its performance – the Army Corps of Engineers.
Source: US Army Corps of Engineers
- The United States District Court in Louisiana placed responsibility of the collapse of the 17th Street and London Avenue Canals squarely on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Source: US District Court
The reported drive-by levee inspections pre-Katrina were irrelevant in the catastrophic flooding in New Orleans.
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