August, 31, 2005. Picture courtesy of NOAA.
U.S. Government engineers confirmed the findings of independent studies that stated that the flood wall along the 17 St. Canal in New Orleans, where the major breach occurred, was driven only 10 feet below sea level into the ground. The design was to go 17.5 feet below sea level. 10 ft. below sea level would not even reach the bottom of the canal! The porous layers of peat and sand below the wall allowed water to undermine it, causing the failure. The water never topped the floodwall. The U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers says it does not know why that section was not done to the design it demanded. I have listened to Corps of Engineer brass on WWL radio on the internet, and believe me, they are just as ticked as anyone. They live in New Orleans too, and had their homes flooded, as well.
Most of the system was done according to specs, and held. But this one section mentioned above helped cause one of the greatest natural disasters in our nation’s history.
Another study soon to be released by L.S.U engineers, headed by the now well known Ivor van Heerden, says that the system could have failed even if it had been built according to design. They say the wall has to go even deeper to keep the water from flowing underneath it through the peat and sand layers.
To read the complete article courtesy of the A.P. and the Tennesseean click here
I should also mention The 9th Ward, Chalmette, and St. Bernard Parish. This flooding was done by what’s known as “The Industrial Canal”. The water there actually topped the levees and floodwalls and caused them to fail.
Water that feeds into the Industrial Canal is not just from Lake Pontchartrain. The controversial “Gulf Outlet Canal”, which connects the Industrial Canal to the Gulf allows water to back directly from the Gulf into the Industrial Canal in the strong easterly flow out ahead of a hurricane. This has always been a problem, but this time, it took on new proportions.
