SIGN OUR PETITION: Demand to know locations of faulty levees

Sunday, December 9th, 2012

How I-walls failed in New Orleans during Katrina

After I-walls failed in New Orleans during Katrina, the Army Corps of Engineers DC office re-wrote the standards for building I-walls nationwide.

In an official Engineering Letter, the Corps states it has identified 50 locations in the nation with “potential performance concerns.”

But the Corps doesn’t say where they are!

Furthermore, sources to Levees.org say the actual number is more than 80 locations.

Sign our petition to Jo Ellen Darcy, Asst Secretary of the Army. Demand to know where there are I-walls with performance concerns.

Click here: http://go.levees.org/PetitionLocations

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Levees.org rolls out Myth Number One

Friday, November 30th, 2012

Members of the Gentilly community install a historic Plaque at the London Avenue Canal breach site. Photo/Hubie Vigreux

After Katrina and the levees failures, the Army Corps of Engineers quickly set a campaign in motion. Falsehoods were put into the minds of Corps officials who made themselves available to the media.

There were over a dozen harmful falsehoods, but perhaps the most damaging one was what Corps Commander Lt. Gen Carl Strock told the New York Times.

Strock said New Orleans officials deserve a share of the blame for the failure of the 17th Street and London Avenue Canals that flooded the portion of the city with the most people and infrastructure.

That statement effectively let the Corps off the hook. That statement gave the American people a reason to blame New Orleans flood survivors for their misfortune.

Now, in 2012, the Commander admits he had no data to back up his statement.

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Associated Press admits error in story about New Orleans Flood

Wednesday, November 28th, 2012

Yesterday, Levees.org found an error in an Associated Press story. Written by Cain Burdeau, the article repeated a harmful myth that protects the Army Corps of Engineers’ reputation for its role in the New Orleans Flood of 2005.

So we wrote to Cain’s boss and requested the AP issue a correction. And within minutes, they did.

The story wrongly fingered the pre-Katrina Levee Boards for the now infamous ‘drive by levee inspections.’ This is a myth that Levees.org had already put to death. Those ceremonial ‘inspections’ were the responsibility of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Levees.org refused to allow Cain Burdeau, of the Associated Press to re-tell the myth to a national audience. Fortunately, one email from Levees.org prompted an immediate retraction and correction in over 230 news outlets.

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