CNN reports today on a LSU study that has found deficiencies in the design and construction of the levees in New Orleans that failed during Katrina.
The US Army Corps of Engineers recently posted a press release about the release of data concerning the floodwalls and levees. The website has a lot of historical engineering data such as "Geotechnical Investigation, Orleans Levee District, Pontchartrain Beach Floodwalls and Levees, New Orleans Lousiana" from 1985. I have not read the report in detail but it discusses the issues raised in the LSU report.The documents indicated that the steel reinforcements in the levee, known as sheet piling, went to a depth of 17.5 feet below sea level. Sonar tests indicated the pilings went only to 10 feet below sea level, meaning the flood wall would have been much weaker than intended.
The LSU team is working on a report for the state that will say there were serious, fundamental design and construction flaws at both the 17th Street and London Avenue canals. Both broke during Hurricane Katrina, flooding much of the city.
The team's leader, Ivor van Heerden, said Wednesday that the levee design ensured failure under the type of water pressure exerted by Katrina's storm surge.
