Critic Says New Orleans Levees Show Signs of Flaws

[cal04]

Source: JOHN SCHWARTZ

Some of the most celebrated levee repairs by the Army Corps of Engineers after Hurricane Katrina are already showing signs of serious flaws, a leading critic of the corps says.

The critic, Robert G. Bea, a professor of engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, said he encountered several areas of concern on a tour in March.

The most troubling, Dr. Bea said, was erosion on a levee by the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, a navigation canal that helped channel water into New Orleans during the storm.

Breaches in that 13-mile levee devastated communities in St. Bernard Parish, just east of New Orleans, and the rapid reconstruction of the barrier was hailed as one of the corps’ most significant rebuilding achievements in the months after the storm.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/07/us/07levees.html?hp

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Another expert who has viewed the photographs, J. David Rogers, called the images “troubling.” Dr. Rogers, who holds the Karl F. Hasselmann chair in geological engineering at the University of Missouri-Rolla, said it would take more work, including an analysis of the levee soils, to determine whether there was a possibility of catastrophic failure.

[PDJane]

1. The levees failed during Katrina.........

And the White House, FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers knew it........and failed to inform New Orleans of the fact for 18 hours.

It doesn't look as though they're planning to fix their planning, does it?

[Kurovski]

2. K&R. (nt)

[intaglio]

3. Here is a second link to the article in National Geographic

http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/levees/

[acmavm]

4. Did anyone ever seriously think these killer clowns were going to spend

the money on the levees? Did they believe they were gonna fix the right?

Sheesh, some people's kids.

No surprise to anyone here though.

[maddezmom]

5. K&R

[jus_the_facts]

6. History repeats...and repeats and repeats....some things just never change...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flood

TIME LINE

1726
Residents of New Orleans, near the mouth of the Mississippi River, build artificial levees ranging in height from 4 to 6 feet to protect their young city from the ravages of floods.

1812
Levee building remains in vogue along the Louisiana shores of the Mississippi. As settlers move into the territory north of New Orleans, levees are constructed. By 1812 levees have been built to safeguard 155 miles of land north of New Orleans on the east bank of the river and 180 miles north of the city on the west bank.

1814
As early as 1814 the debate over levee building begins, and proposals are made advocating alternatives to levees such as the creation of artificial outlets, called spillways, to drain floodwaters from the river


1926
April: The Army Corps of Engineers, having constructed levees stretching from Cairo, Illinois to New Orleans, publicly declares that the levee system along the Mississippi will prevent future floods.

Fall: Violent storms in the northern United States dump tons of water into tributaries throughout the continent that feed into the Mississippi.

1927
April 29: The torrent has moved south. With the river almost at the levee tops, New Orleans dynamites the Poydras levee, creating a 1500-foot break at an estimated cost of $2 million, to direct the flood waters away from the city and its half million inhabitants. Movie cameras are on hand to record the momentous scene. The New York Times reports that many people refuse to quit the area to be flooded by the levee break. One woman living in a lighthouse "says she won't quit her post unless Uncle Sam comes to take her away."

[uppityperson]

7. k&r back to read later

[Mabus]

8. Absolutely incredible!

In some ways I am stunned. In other ways, sadly, I'm not surprised. It's what happened when a boy was selected to do a man's job, and worse, he then gets to appoint his buddies to important jobs that need expertise.

BTW, did you hear? Some socialite might have to do jail time. Now, that's news the American public needs to know. :sarcasm: