17th Street Canal Breach (East Side) (New Orleans, Louisiana)

USA / Louisiana / Metairie / New Orleans, Louisiana
 place with historical importance, hurricane, disaster site, historical layer / disappeared object
This is the approximate portion of the 17th Street that breached after Hurricane Katrina, flooding a large portion of the city of New Orleans, including Lakeview, the neighborhood to the immediate east of the breach.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   30°1'2"N   90°7'16"W

Comments

  • This breach was the result of probable malfeasence by the COE for not applying 33 CFR 208.10 from theecretary of the Army with the force of law for these type projects. Read the 4-5 page document & understand all that was to be done & was not. Safe house for pump operators, positive cut-offs in discharge pipelines, repair, replacement, renovation, etc of old outdated & non-compliant structures. Then go to the section on channels & required monitoring of a maximum of 90 days to check for errosion. Then there is a letter in 1988 from the COE telling the local sponsor to monitor the 17th St. Canal with an annual survey & giving that data to the COE for review of any problem with erosion into the stability control line that could cause failure. The surveys were never taken & the data never furnished to the COE, but no follow-up asking for this data & surveys. Over 15 years of possible erosion uncheck or repaired as required and the domino affect took place. It was not a design problem or the entire levee would have failed. It was an unchecked & repaired erosion problem that flooded the city.
This article was last modified 9 years ago