[Mike Darancette]

Only thing that surprises me is that a barge could get enough sideways (relative to the length of the canal) momentum , even pushed by the storm surge and winds, to do that kind of damage to the concrete levee.

The barge does not need to punch through the levee, just crack the cement and the water working on the earthen fill will do the rest.

Doesn't it look like the water is flowing into the levee in the bottom two pictures?

The barge slipping it mooring is an act of God only if He is the one who tied it up.

[El Gato]

Doesn't it look like the water is flowing into the levee in the bottom two pictures?

Do you mean into the canal? If so, yes it does. And it it did. The Lake level, and thus that in the canal went down after the storm surge had passed, leaving the water in the city higher than the water in the Lake/Canal. So the water in the city naturally flowed back through the breeches in the levees and into the canals and the Lake, until they were at the same level.

The barge slipping it mooring is an act of God only if He is the one who tied it up.

Something for the lawyers to argue about.