New Orleans Repeating Deadly Levee Mistakes
By
Associated Press
Published: Wed, May 21, 2008 - 10:19 pm
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 - 10:28 pm
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 - 10:28 pm
repairs, a levee along the 17th Street Canal in New Orleans still
leaks.
The repairs included driving interlocking sheets of steel 60
feet into the ground, more than three times the depth that they
were before Hurricane Katrina. The metal sheets are supposed to
keep canal water from seeping under the levee. However, the Army
Corps of Engineers has found that the water has been making it
through the joints in the sheets to form puddles and wet spots on
the other side.
Outside engineering experts have told The Associated Press that
seepage is an indication that other levees might also have leaks.
University of California civil engineer Bob Bea says the
government is using "a 30-year-old defunct model of thinking" to
plan and carry out the repairs on the levee system. He estimates
that there is a 40 percent chance that the 17th Street Canal levee
could fail should the water rise higher than 6 feet above sea
level.
The corps has spent 4 billion dollars out of the 14 billion set
aside to repair and upgrade the hundreds of miles of levees that
surround New Orleans.
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