Posted on 09/21/2005 10:46:56 AM PDT by Pikamax
Experts Say Faulty Levees Caused Much of Flooding
By Michael Grunwald and Susan B. Glasser Washington Post Staff Writers Wednesday, September 21, 2005; A01
NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 20 -- Louisiana's top hurricane experts have rejected the official explanations for the floodwall collapses that inundated much of New Orleans, concluding that Hurricane Katrina's storm surges were much smaller than authorities have suggested and that the city's flood- protection system should have kept most of the city dry.
The Army Corps of Engineers has said that Katrina was just too massive for a system that was not intended to protect the city from a storm greater than a Category 3 hurricane, and that the floodwall failures near Lake Pontchartrain were caused by extraordinary surges that overtopped the walls.
But with the help of complex computer models and stark visual evidence, scientists and engineers at Louisiana State University's Hurricane Center have concluded that Katrina's surges did not come close to overtopping those barriers. That would make faulty design, inadequate construction or some combination of the two the likely cause of the breaching of the floodwalls along the 17th Street and London Avenue canals -- and the flooding of most of New Orleans.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Anything that will bring insurance companies into the issue for payments will be declared...bet on it!
I'm sure the levees were built using overpriced and kicked back, superior union labor pushed by the corrupt dems that ran the show. Just a hunch.
I'm sure the levees were built using overpriced and kicked back, superior union labor pushed by the corrupt dems that ran the show. Just a hunch.
So Water has been absolved of any blame?
"You know Dad, you see these things on the river in Minnesota and they don't look this big, but Damn this thing is huge."
Says the worst parts of patrols is the stench and the dogs which are running in packs and will actually attack the squad cars.
The real key to understanding this is looking at the lawsuit the greenies brought against fixing the levees; and the money that was allocated to partially fix the problem was squandered on other things.
It took an expert to come up with this?
I know what they mean
every year around here its the same thing
all those damn leaves fall and all our drains glog
why in the hell can't any... huh?
faulty levees?
nevermind
This is true. Now lets hire some Dutch engineers and do it right this time.
We'll see how this plays out. Until I see more meat my default position I would accept US Army Corp of Engrs before I would believe academia.
Few levees fail from the levee being "overtopped". A levee being inundated is not a levee failure at all.
That would make faulty design, inadequate construction or some combination of the two the likely cause of the breaching of the floodwalls
It could also be aging, a lack of maintenance or building a levee where a levee should not be built, such as on sand or on a sinking delta.
That's what I was thinking. Isn't it water that causes flooding? The levees are just traffic control.
I agree .. I was watching the program on National Geographic - it was amazing what they did.
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