Experts Say Soft Soil May Have Caused New Orleans Levee Breaches ( Water Did Not Flow Over Top)

Voice of America ^ | 9 Oct 2005 | Staff

[Our_Man_In_Gough_Island]

Experts studying the flooding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina say the breach of key floodwalls might have been caused by soft soil under the walls, a problem the Army Corps of Engineers had been warned about.

Engineers from the American Society of Civil Engineers and the University of California at Berkeley said Friday there was no evidence that the floodwaters surged over the tops of the floodwalls at 17th Street or London Avenue Canals, as previously thought.

Instead, they said, soft soil may have given way underneath the walls - a danger a contracting company pointed out to the Army Corps of Engineers in the early 1990s. In one section of the 17th Street canal, a levee embankment had moved more than 10 meters from its original spot.

The experts also said they found at least 10 breaches and possibly more in the walls.

[dirtboy]

Instead, they said, soft soil may have given way underneath the walls - a danger a contracting company pointed out to the Army Corps of Engineers in the early 1990s.

Yeah, but the breaches were still OBVIOUSLY the fault of Bush budget cuts last year...

[Bahbah]

but the breaches were still OBVIOUSLY the fault of Bush budget cuts last year...

And he doesn't care about mass transit either.

[dirtboy]

And obviously Nagin and Blanco were so worried about this soft soil that they never got around to determining the legalities of a mandatory evacuation until 48 hours before forecast landfall.

And maybe those buses were parked on soft soil as well and couldn't be moved.

Yeah, that's it. It's gotta be Bush's fault somehow.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Instead, they said, soft soil may have given way underneath the walls - a danger a contracting company pointed out to the Army Corps of Engineers in the early 1990s. In one section of the 17th Street canal, a levee embankment had moved more than 10 meters from its original spot.

I would suppose there were records of the elevation of the tops of the walls. If they have sunk, the conclusion is a no brainer.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Yep, they would have bought hard soil but Bush wouldn't let them.

More seriouser, I read an article earlier that the contractor told them about the problem and said what he was going to do would not work unless they replaced the present soil levee first and that it would cost X amount of money more. They denied the extra money and it was built as it was.

[Paige]

If this is so, then where is all the money sent to the area since before 1998 to New Orleans to handle such problems? The handling of these funds has been under investigation for quite some time. Furthermore, the Army Corp of Engineers had developed a plan to build a type of wall to keep the waters from coming into Lake Pontchartrain for over 30 years if such a situation were to take place and the environmentalist stopped them in court in 1976.

Once again, these very socialist type law suits and legislations along with corrupt local and state governments on the side of the Democrats have proven to be totally disastrous for this nation. When are people going to learn? I pray they learn long before something much more horrific takes place and tens of thousands die because of the neglect.

[maica]

One reason that the dems are so happy to be accusing the party in power in DC of a "culture of corruption" is because they (the dems) have been living proof of such a condition for years. And there is no better example than NOLA.

Douglas Brinkley, known as a historian [he wrote Kerry's 2000 biography] is writing a book about hurricane Katrina. I wonder how much of the background of the corruption - from levee boards all the way to the governor - he will put in his book.

[Jet Jaguar]

What happened to the Police Force having several hundred members that were on the payroll, but did not exist?

[kipita]

Instead, they said, soft soil may have given way underneath the walls - a danger a contracting company pointed out to the Army Corps of Engineers in the early 1990s.

Soil chemistry 101--hard water makes soft soil and soft water makes hard soil. Hard water primarily has calcium and magnesium.

[putupjob]

The Bush tax cuts required Bush to create a disaster so he dispensed Rove to set explosives in the levees to kill black people. George Bush doesn't care about black people.

[js1138]

Political chemistry 101. Decisions made by Clinton are Bush's fault.

[Jimmy Valentine]

Over at DU, they are convinced that the Levees were dynamited deliberately to flood the ninth ward.

[gulfcoast6]

You mean the 400 buses that flooded out?

[Popman]

Experts Say Soft Soil May Have Caused New Orleans Levee Breaches

That impossible.

Everyone knows white devils in hoods blow up the levee.

[toddlintown]

This news is as old as dirt.

[Popman]

I wonder how much of the background of the corruption - from levee boards all the way to the governor - he will put in his book.

Hopefully all of it, but I suspect it maybe will be enough to cover the inside of a match book with "Bush's fault" written on the strike plate

[Rudder]

The main problem with this area is related to hydraulics. The entire area was created by water flowing slowly from the Mississippi river...it still is (flowing slowly) beneath the delta.

I have a delta on my property at the mouth of a huge ravine created by a creek. We had the idea to dam up the creek and fill the ravine with water. So we got a bulldozer and dug down to find hard land or bedrock, whichever came first. At 7 feet down the soft soil ended and the bulldozer disappeared into 35 feet of water.

[pageonetoo]

At 7 feet down the soft soil ended and the bulldozer disappeared into 35 feet of water...

I hope the dozer was rented, and you bought the damage waiver insurance...

(BTW, what was the first clue that you may be on soft fill?)

[Use It Or Lose It]

From a Lisa Meyers Report:

The unveiling of the Mardi Gras Fountain was celebrated this year in typical New Orleans style. The cost of $2.4 million was paid by the Orleans Levee Board, the state agency whose main job is to protect the levees surrounding New Orleans — the same levees that failed after Katrina hit.

Beyond the fountain, there's the $15 million spent on two overpasses that helped gamblers get to Bally's riverboat casino. Critics tried and failed to put some of that money into flood protection.

Critics charge, for years, the board has paid more attention to marinas, gambling and business than to maintaining the levees. As an example: of 11 construction projects now on the board's Web site, only two are related to flood control.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9342186/