Scientists report New Orleans levees were underfunded, inadequate By Cain Burdeau NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The city's levee system was routinely underfunded and therefore inadequate to protect against hurricanes, according to an independent report released. The report also called for an overhaul of both the national and local agencies that oversee flood protection. It took aim at Congress for its piecemeal funding over the past 50 years, and at state and local levee authorities for failing to properly oversee maintenance of the levees. ’You tend to get what you pay for," Dave Rogers, a member of the team of academics who extensively studied the system, said during a news conference. The study was performed by the Independent Levee Investigation Team, led by the University of California, Berkeley. The group has been highly critical of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which was in charge of designing and building the complicated system. The study said floods overwhelmed levees and flood walls, both on the fringes and inside the city. Breaches were caused by weak soil in the levees, poor engineering and breakdowns in sections where different types of flood protection meet. The Corps of Engineers has been working to repair and upgrade the levee system before the June 1 start of the hurricane season. However, officials said part of the work will not be finished by then. Raymond Seed, a member of the study team, said that engineers must pay attention to other spots in the system that may fail if another hurricane hits New Orleans. ’The next weakest link is the one you have to be worried about," Seed said. One example: The west side of the 17th street canal - across from where a flood wall breached during Katrina, inundating a large part of New Orleans. Seed said that the pressure from the storm surge caused the west side to buckle. It did not give way only because the east side wall gave way first. In many sections, the flood walls will only be safe if the metal sheet piling supporting them is driven more deeply into the ground, below layers of weaker soil. While the corps is trying to upgrade the levee system, it is installing huge flood gates at key points to prevent the type of Katrina-like storm surge that entered canals and overtopped or breached levees, leading to the flooding of 80 percent of New Orleans and of surrounding areas. When the panel took comment from the public, local residents, lawyers and engineers asked what they should expect the Corps to do and what the findings meant for the future of their homes and the city. Bar tender Christian Havener, 37, asked the panel whether his home in the Bywater neighborhood, along the Mississippi River east of downtown, is now more at risk because of repairs done near large breaches on the Industrial Canal, which flooded the lower Ninth Ward. The work left the flood wall higher on the breached side, or east side, than on the Bywater side of the canal, where the levee was not breached during Katrina. ’Now that this has been strengthened, has my side become the weaker link?" he asked. Panelists could not give him a precise answer, but said the entire system needs to be reviewed and that there could be new problems or weak points on portions of the system that did not fail during Katrina. The report urged Congress and the White House to create new oversight councils to deal with flooding threats nationwide. The report said Louisiana needs to set up similar oversight agencies. And in addition to upgrading levees, there should be an effort to restore steadily eroding coastal wetlands in Louisiana, which are considered natural barriers against large storms and the surges of rising seas they produce, the panel said.

We hope you found this article helpful.

Search for more other news articles related to:
"Scientists report New Orleans levees were underfunded, inadequate"

Bookmark this Page!