Levee investigators consider malfeasance claims

BizNewOrleans.com ^ | November 2, 2005

[caryatid]

NEW ORLEANS — At least one of the experts testifying before a Senate panel investigating the levee failures said that the problems with the city’s flood control system could go beyond design flaws.

Raymond Seed, an investigator for the National Science Foundation, told members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs today that engineers are looking into claims that workers didn’t follow design specifications when they built certain sections of levee that were breached.

“We are receiving some very disturbing reports from the people involved in some of these projects that suggest that perhaps not just human error was involved. It may have been some malfeasance,” Seed said. “Some of the sections were not constructed as they were designed. That needs further investigating.”

Seed said that forensic teams are looking into the claims.

“We’re seeing evidence from what we saw on the field versus some of the design drawings that we have been able to obtain so far that would suggest that some of those stories might bear some truths,” he said.

[caryatid]

* levees / malfeasance ping *

[gusopol3]

do you have a reference for a short, comprehensive history of the construction, extent of the levees, etc. ? Thanks.

[ApplegateRanch]

And in other news, hints of corruption were found in the Chicago Building Dept...

[caryatid]

The following links may serve to give you an overview of the information you seek. I did not find any concise pamphlet or anything in easy to digest form. There are also countless post-Katrina news articles that you can find with a Google search for "new orleans levees". Hope this is helpful.

Congressional Research Service [CRS] New Orleans Levees and Floodwalls: Hurricane Damage Protection

Diagram of Levees and Floodwalls

Map of New Orleans Area Levee System

[caryatid]

Further your request for information, it is my understanding that the floodwalls were built piecemeal over a long period of time. I suspect that the only way to get a clear idea of how/when they were built would be to examine the contracts themselves.

Any of y'all in FReepland who may have more specific information are invited to chime in on this topic.

[unionblue83]

I can see it now, "Government (Corps of Engineers) Sued For Deaths Related to Levee Failures: Negligence Claimed During Construction."

[CajunConservative]

Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America by John M. Barry is an excellent read about the history of the levee systems of the Mississippi.

[gusopol3]

thank you; wish it were brief, but i understand it has become quite popular, so I'll take a look at it at the book store. We're still trying to catch up with the lie the Democrats put out post-Katrina day 1 that Bush cut funding for levee repair.

[CajunConservative]

It's not brief by any means. The beginning is quite technical with a history of the engineers and their different philosophies. It goes back to the beginning of taming the Mississippi and let's just say that the whole process has been politicized from the very beginning and the Corp of Engineers isn't exactly squeaky clean.

[jeffers]

"We’re seeing evidence from what we saw on the field versus some of the design drawings that we have been able to obtain so far that would suggest that some of those stories might bear some truths,” he
said."



What evidence?

Where?

What components are missing?

What design specifications or procedures were not followed?

Why even mention them without any kind of support or documentation?

No offense to caryatid, I'm interested in anything levee related, and even allegations which are politically based and not supported by engineering data are useful in determining what the investigations are revealing after the fact.

Still, this report attempts to create a perception in the absence of any technical support or empirical data. I can claim that Blanco and Nagin took two shovels and a bottle of whiskey out to the isolated eastern reaches the night before the storm and dug a tunnel clear through the levee, at which point, this report, my story, and Farrakhan's claims of dynamited levees would all have exactly the same basis for credibility.

None.

Why are supposed engineers repeatedly subjecting us to this type of unsupported claim?

Who is paying for their valuable time in these efforts?

[caryatid]

No offense taken, jeffers. You present some very good questions about motivation of and compensation for these claims.

I do not have a Catahoula Hound* in this hunt.

I merely posted the article to generate a discussion. I would sincerely hope that anyone with information on either side of the matter would join in. Only then will we have a chance to sort out what may have gone wrong.
-------
* For those who do not understand this reference, the Catahoula Hound is the Louisiana state dog.

[caryatid]

For further discussion see also:

'Malfeasance' cited in Katrina flooding [Washington Times 11/03/2005