Failed Levee Was recently Upgraded

Captain;s Quarters Blog ^ | 9/02/05 | Hidalgo

[Hidalgo]

Captain's Quarters has this tidbit from NY Times.

Shea Penland, director of the Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of New Orleans, said that was particularly surprising because the break was "along a section that was just upgraded."

"It did not have an earthen levee," Dr. Penland said. "It had a vertical concrete wall several feel thick."

[T. Buzzard Trueblood]

I've heard nothing but crickets chirping since I posted that. You?

Not a word.

Great friggin' pix.

[steve86]

I don't understand why the back side of that concrete levy didn't have concrete sloping down at about a 45 degree angle. In other words, the structure would form a triangle viewed from the side. You don't have to be a civil engineer to see the value in that. I can't see how that extra volume of concrete would be so prohibitively expensive compared to highway overpasses and such.

[FreedomCalls]

I don't understand why the back side of that concrete levy didn't have concrete sloping down at about a 45 degree angle. In other words, the structure would form a triangle viewed from the side. You don't have to be a civil engineer to see the value in that. I can't see how that extra volume of concrete would be so prohibitively expensive compared to highway overpasses and such.

I agree. It doesn't look very stable like that. Most dams are built at a sloping angle both down and in.