[CobaltBlue]

Ut oh. Looks like the lawsuits are actually going to have something real to fight about.

[Howlin]

Oh for joy!

We're are going to get to the bottom of this sooner or later!

[Lancer_N3502A]

BUT...But...but...I thought Bush ordered them blown up. sarcasm off.

[TypeZoNegative]

You figure out the rebus.

[Echo Talon]

They weren't faulty the hurricane exceeded what they were designed for. Design a levee for a Cat3 and thats what you get.

[Shery]

So, we're back to "It's all Bush's fault, huh?"

[konaice]

Yeah, no doubt the levee was faulty, After all it is under the control of the local Levee Board.

However this image:

showing the deck lifted completely off I10 where it crosses Lake would seem to suggest a massive surge hit this part of the lake - That's not wind damage.

Anything large enough to take that deck off would easily top the levee.

[dennisw]

Wuz thinking the same thing.

[DB]

It is pretty clear that the levees held during the storm.

The city was essentially dry the next day.

The questions are, did the heavy run off as the storm went north cause the failure? Did a barge or some other heavy floating object hit the levee wall and damage it? Considering the time it took for it to fail it would seem more likely water got under the foundations of the levee wall weakening it causing it to fail. The pressures against the wall were far lower when it did fail many hours after the hurricane passed through.

[The Duke]

Not enough "big" and too much "easy".

[johnmecainrino]

The Post of course leaves out many facts.

Enviornmentalists blocked the corp of engineers in the 70's from building walls that could go up and block off the Lake from the gulf when a storm was approaching.

The earthen levees by the lake stood up well but the residents didn't want them protecting the canals, it would take up too much land.

Residents sued to stop construction that the corp was doing last year to fortify the floodwalls.


Also a barge crashed through the 9th ward, the poor people at the convention center were from that project mostly and no levee system in the world could withstand a barge crashing through it.

Coastal erosion of over 1 million acres of wetlands also has weakened the barrier protection to New Orleans.

[Nov3]

The center's researchers said it is too early to say whether the breaches were caused by poor design, faulty construction or some combination. But van Heerden said the floodwalls at issue -- massive concrete slabs mounted on steel sheet pilings -- looked more like the sound barriers found on major highways. He also suggested that the slabs should have been interlocked, and that the canals they were supposed to protect should have had floodgates to keep out water from the lake.

The floodgates were obvious and unforgivable but the concrete wall sections WERE NOT INTERLOCKED???? Somepeople's heads need to roll.

[YourAdHere]

Somebody send this headline to Jay Leno.

[mewzilla]

Louisiana's top hurricane experts ...

FWIW, I'd get a second opinion...