Posted on 10/07/2005 7:47:11 PM PDT by SmithL
New Orleans -- Much of the city flooded not because water rushed over the tops of levees, but because two of the storm barriers that ring New Orleans actually shifted and then collapsed, a team of independent engineers said Friday.
The preliminary analysis contradicts initial reports by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which said water may have pushed over the top of the levees, eroding the earthen embankments that support the flood walls.
The independent engineers said the shifting of the barriers was understandable and did not assign blame or speculate about design flaws that the storm surge from Hurricane Katrina may have exposed.
"Levees tend to be built in very difficult situations on poor site conditions because you're essentially turning marshy land into land you can stabilize and do things on," said civil engineering professor Raymond Seed, who led a team from the University of California at Berkeley.
The California team worked with the American Society of Civil Engineers and Army engineers for several days this week before releasing the findings. More research is planned.
The question of what caused the flooding at the 17th Street Canal and the London Avenue Canal has been debated since the storm. The findings Friday show that soil from one levee was pushed back 35 feet, and that soil from the other apparently heaved upward from its base.
The independent engineers agreed that some of the worst flooding in the city stemmed from water in an industrial canal flowing over the top of a levee. But their report prompted a concession from Army engineers.
Soil giving way beneath the flood walls, causing the walls to collapse, was "certainly a possibility," said Paul Mlakar, a senior research scientist with the Corps.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
article doesn't mention the levee workers told to abandon pumping stations, resulting in neighborhoods being flooded that might not have been otherwise
/sarcasm
Karen, wake up. God is coming.
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is telling his followers that the levees in New Orleans may have been deliberately "blown up" to kill the city's black population.
The influential preacher was in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Monday, where he detailed his Hurricane Katrina conspiracy theory.
"I heard from a very reliable source who saw a 25 foot deep crater under the levee breach," Farrakhan explained. "It may have been blown up to destroy the black part of town and keep the white part dry."
Next they will accuse that little Dutch boy.
I think manning the pumps for a 100+ foot hole in a levee (where the hole was eroding more levee and growing in size) is sort of like trying to stick your thumb in the 100 foot hole.
They desparately tried flying as many 3000 lb sand bags to try to plug the hole.
And you could burn up the pumps in a futile gesture.
Remember that Katrina had already dumped considerable water on New Orleans when this happened, so it was not as though the pumps were able to keep up JUST with the rainwater.
I think the correct thing is save the people from danger at the pumping stations (who could get trapped) and focus resources in areas that might actually make some measurable progress.
I don't think there was electric power available to run those pumps 24 hours a day for 7 days a week.
Much of the infrastructure was in horrible shape -- medical, police, fire, electrical, phone, cell phone, food distribution, gasoline... It was a disaster area.
This may be the SHeeple's Republic of FloriDUH, but even we know how to build pumps with diesel engines or strandby generators. We also house them in buildings designed for worse case hurricanes.
It is sooooooooo nice to know there are people DUH-mer than FloriDUH Liberals, like Lousiana Democrats.
Don't stop research until the final cause is known. OK so the levees gave way, they were not over topped. Now, what caused the levees to give way? Were they stressed beyond the design limit, or was the levee not built to specifications?
Noggin announced he was going to rebuild the casinos in N.O. Isn't he tempting God to revisit with another Katrina?
or not maintained as specified?
LOL! Broussard is a piece of work isn't he! Somehow I doubt he will ever be elected for anything again; but, then he is a Democrat so this may qualify him as a presidential contender.
I had heard, just after the storm, that the winds had blown the coverings off most of the pumps and that the pumps had been disabled as a result.
If you were drowning, wouldn't you want to know whether the water was coming from over or under the levee?
"Next they will accuse that little Dutch boy."
No, he's dead....killed by a VERY upset lesbian.
""Levees tend to be built in very difficult situations on poor site conditions because you're essentially turning marshy land into land you can stabilize and do things on," said civil engineering professor Raymond
Seed, who led a team from the University of California at Berkeley. "
See the Berkeley prof trying to prevent any political fallout from failed levees? By the middle of next week, the MSM will have blown right past exaggerating this opinion and will be stating it as accepted fact.
Such a maneuiver might work if this was going to play out in a court of public opinion. But reporters will be reporters and only a fool would ignore that fact.
No...this will be decided...elsewhere.
;-)
Yeah, when I drown, I'm sure I'll be watching Fox News all the way...
Yeah, somewhere money for the levees went into people's pockets. Follow the money.
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