Why Did New Orleans' 17th Street Levee Fail?

The section of New Orleans' 17th Street levee that was breached was recently upgraded. Why did it fail?

1 minute read

September 6, 2005, 6:00 AM PDT

By Abhijeet Chavan @http://twitter.com/legalaidtech

"The 17th Street levee that gave way and led to the flooding of New Orleans was part of an intricate, aging system of barriers and pumps that was so chronically underfinanced that senior regional officials of the Army Corps of Engineers complained about it publicly for years...Some experts studying flood prevention with the corps and other agencies speculated that any dip in the retaining levee or walls there might have allowed water to slop over and start the collapse."

FULL STORY: Intricate Flood Protection Long a Focus of Dispute

Monday, September 5, 2005 in New York Times

Infrastructure Louisiana

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