LAT: Much Wider Damage to Levees Is Disclosed (little or no protection)

[DeepModem Mom]

Much Wider Damage to Levees Is Disclosed
Miles of barriers designed to protect the city from storm surges have been washed away.
By Ralph Vartabedian, Times Staff Writer


NEW ORLEANS — The massive levee system protecting New Orleans has sustained heavy damage well beyond the five breaches that are widely known to have caused flooding after Hurricane Katrina, the Army Corps of Engineers said Monday.

Miles of levees that protected the eastern flank of the region, which borders Lake Borgne, washed away in the storm surge from Katrina, which swept inland and caused deep flooding in St. Bernard Parish and the 9th Ward of New Orleans.

Army officials disclosed the destruction of the city's eastern levee system in a detailed helicopter tour of the region Monday. Unlike some of the levees in New Orleans that continuously hold water back from areas below sea level, these levees exist mainly to repel storm surges.

The loss of the levees has left portions of New Orleans with little or no protection midway through the hurricane season, senior Army officials said. And rebuilding the levees will be a massive undertaking that could take years, meaning the city could be vulnerable for a long time....


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-corps13sep13,0,5962987.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[RedEarth]

1. No surpirse...I would also think all the levees through-out New Orleans

would be weaken not only due to the storm surge, but also due to the water that has been covering the earthen berms of the levees.