Free Republic

Last year - on Sept. 16, to be precise - the state Reclamation Board, a relatively obscure state agency that oversees flood protection levees, approved a potentially far-reaching policy to intercede when local governments and developers propose residential subdivisions behind levees designed to protect farmland. Spurred by the devastation of New Orleans when levees failed during Hurricane Katrina and an appellate court decision declaring the state liable for damages from levee failures in California, the board activated powers that it had long held under state law, but rarely exercised, to review developments behind levees for flood safety. "I believe if...

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Proponents of turning patronage-laden southeast Louisiana levee boards into one state-controlled agency packed a Senate committee room Wednesday and were flatly told by two lawmakers that there is no hope for the proposal. "The bill is not going to pass in its current fashion," said Sen. Robert Adley, a Democrat from the north Louisiana town of Benton. "There's just no way." Sen. Heulette "Clo" Fontenot went farther, turning from the room's witness table and telling the crowd they were being used by Gov. Kathleen Blanco's administration as political pawns. Fontenot said Blanco, who testified in support...

When the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board developed a plan in 1981 to improve street drainage by dredging the 17th Street canal to increase capacity for Pump Station No.¤6, residents across the city applauded. Increasingly heavy rains were not only flooding streets, but pushing water into homes. Action was needed. It seemed like a no-brainer. Today forensic engineers investigating the levee breach that flooded much of city during Hurricane Katrina aren’t so sure. The search for the cause of the failure keeps returning to that dredging project as the probable starting point for a series of mistakes they believe...

An engineering firm involved in the design of the 17th Street Canal levee and floodwalls said Friday that the Army Corps of Engineers overruled its recommendation to drive sheet piling to a depth of 35 feet below sea level along a stretch of the floodwall that failed during Hurricane Katrina, causing massive flooding in Lakeview and other parts of the city. William B. Conway, chairman of the Metairie engineering firm Modjeski and Masters, in a letter to The Times-Picayune, said the corps plan eventually led to pilings that were driven just 10 feet below sea level. Modjeski and Masters was...

BATON ROUGE — The House of Representatives derailed an ambitious proposal to consolidate several New Orleans area levee boards with a vote Sunday evening to deny the bill a committee hearing today, effectively killing the measure for the current special session. . . .

New Orleans Levee Failure Analysis - Part V Contents Introduction and Basic Levee Construction, Section and Elevation Details Section 1. Pre-Landfall Flooding in Kenner and Western Metairie of East Jefferson Parish Section 2. Analysis of the 17th Street and London Canal Breaches and Post Katrina Flood Sequence in Downtown New Orleans Section 3. Surge Sequence for the Industrial Canal Basin, Analysis of the Five Major Breaches and east Orleans Parish Flooding Section 4. Flood Sequence for St. Bernard Parish and the Lower Ninth Ward, MRGO Reach Failure Analysis Section 5. Contributory Causality, Political and Funding Issues Leading to Levee Failures...

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...

Efforts by Orleans Levee Board President Jim Huey to steer two no-bid, post-Hurricane Katrina contracts to relatives and to collect nearly $100,000 in back pay for himself a few weeks before the storm has drawn the scrutiny of state officials and Huey's board colleagues, none of whom were consulted on the actions. "I'm bewildered and deeply disturbed by what's happened," said Levee Board Commissioner Dan Foley, who said he learned about Huey's moves through newspaper accounts.

This is part four of a five part series examining the Hurricane Katrina levee failures. Part 1 is a timeline sequence of who reported what flood events, to whom, and when it was reported. It can be found here: Part I: Hurricane Katrina Flood Report Sequence Part 2 is a discussion of the levee system's viability, or lack thereof, prior to Hurricane Katrina. It can be found here: Part II: Pre-Katrina Levee Assessment Part 3 is a discussion of the overall storm surge sequence, levee failure modes, and causal limitations relating to the 17th Street Canal and London Canal seawall...

Levee Board to borrow to pay settlement$11.2 million for spillway heirs Sunday, August 21, 2005By Frank Donze Staff writer Taking its biggest step yet to resolve a fiscal dilemma that has lingered for decades, the Orleans Levee Board is moving forward with plans to borrow $11.2 million to pay a court-ordered settlement with owners of land inside the mineral-rich Bohemia Spillway. Details of the financial transaction -- including the nature of the loan, the interest rate and how long it will take to retire the debt -- will be worked out in the next several months by a board consultant....