Engineers but its candor as well, in spite of its less than forthcoming past.

A nine-volume report with some 6,113 pages, costing some $20 million, was prepared by the Army Corps of Engineers at the request of the Congress on the status of the Louisiana coast’s levee system. It became preliminarily available to certain lawmakers on June 1, 2006 and was delivered on

Nearly an entire year since Hurricane Katrina devastated the U.S. Gulf Coast, leaving behind extensive damage to several states and the city of New Orleans, most would think that recovery is well underway. While Mississippi has faired far better than Louisiana, with less residents impacted, New Orleans remains troubled. Suffering flood damage in 80% of the area from the ravages of Hurricane Katrina, compounded weeks later by Hurricane Rita, New Orleans has far greater obstacles to overcome than most had ever expected.

New Orleans is not in a rebuilding mode, but rather in a reconstruction mode. It has not only been victim of hurricanes raging out of control but a government out of control, thus the creation of a perfect storm. With a city history steeped in political corruption, a high crime rate, a high poverty rate, in educational decline, the hurricanes of 2005 allowed Americans a peek behind New Orleans’ proverbial curtain. And it exposed the open wounds of a city now with twice the task of rebuilding, as it was in a downturn well before its levees broke.

So far over $20 billion has been allocated by the federal government to assist in New Orleans and Gulf Coast restorations. Yet, such appropriations do not solve the most desperate problem New Orleans faces which is the restoration and reformation of its levee system. It remains crucial to New Orleans’ future or its chance to even have one. And to that end, it will not only take the brawn of the Army Corps of Engineers but its candor as well, in spite of its less than forthcoming past.

A nine-volume report with some 6,113 pages, costing some $20 million, was prepared by the Army Corps of Engineers at the request of the Congress on the status of the Louisiana coast’s levee system. It became preliminarily available to certain lawmakers on June 1, 2006 and was delivered on

avages of Hurricane Katrina, compounded weeks later by Hurricane Rita, New Orleans has far greater obstacles to overcome than most had ever expected.

New Orleans is not in a rebuilding mode, but rather in a reconstruction mode. It has not only been victim of hurricanes raging out of control but a government out of control, thus the creation of a perfect storm. With a city history steeped in political corruption, a high crime rate, a high poverty rate, in educational decline, the hurricanes of 2005 allowed Americans a peek behind New Orleans’ proverbial curtain. And it exposed the open wounds of a city now with twice the task of rebuilding, as it was in a downturn well before its levees broke.

So far over $20 billion has been allocated by the federal government to assist in New Orleans and Gulf Coast restorations. Yet, such appropriations do not solve the most desperate problem New Orleans faces which is the restoration and reformation of its levee system. It remains crucial to New Orleans’ future or its chance to even have one. And to that end, it will not only take the brawn of the Army Corps of Engineers but its candor as well, in spite of its less than forthcoming past.

A nine-volume report with some 6,113 pages, costing some $20 million, was prepared by the Army Corps of Engineers at the request of the Congress on the status of the Louisiana coast’s levee system. It became preliminarily available to certain lawmakers on June 1, 2006 and was delivered on

city history steeped in political corruption, a high crime rate, a high poverty rate, in educational decline, the hurricanes of 2005 allowed Americans a peek behind New Orleans’ proverbial curtain. And it exposed the open wounds of a city now with twice the task of rebuilding, as it was in a downturn well before its levees broke.

So far over $20 billion has been allocated by the federal government to assist in New Orleans and Gulf Coast restorations. Yet, such appropriations do not solve the most desperate problem New Orleans faces which is the restoration and reformation of its levee system. It remains crucial to New Orleans’ future or its chance to even have one. And to that end, it will not only take the brawn of the Army Corps of Engineers but its candor as well, in spite of its less than forthcoming past.

A nine-volume report with some 6,113 pages, costing some $20 million, was prepared by the Army Corps of Engineers at the request of the Congress on the status of the Louisiana coast’s levee system. It became preliminarily available to certain lawmakers on June 1, 2006 and was delivered on

ocated by the federal government to assist in New Orleans and Gulf Coast restorations. Yet, such appropriations do not solve the most desperate problem New Orleans faces which is the restoration and reformation of its levee system. It remains crucial to New Orleans’ future or its chance to even have one. And to that end, it will not only take the brawn of the Army Corps of Engineers but its candor as well, in spite of its less than forthcoming past.

A nine-volume report with some 6,113 pages, costing some $20 million, was prepared by the Army Corps of Engineers at the request of the Congress on the status of the Louisiana coast’s levee system. It became preliminarily available to certain lawmakers on June 1, 2006 and was delivered on

Engineers but its candor as well, in spite of its less than forthcoming past.

A nine-volume report with some 6,113 pages, costing some $20 million, was prepared by the Army Corps of Engineers at the request of the Congress on the status of the Louisiana coast’s levee system. It became preliminarily available to certain lawmakers on June 1, 2006 and was delivered on July 10, 2006 to the Congress. Surprisingly, its final draft is not due until December 2007. Its purpose was for the Army Corps of Engineers to come up with a plan in order to protect Louisiana’s coast and infrastructure from a category 5 hurricane. Now, even the stated purpose of the report is in contention and has caused conflict.

Objections as to the content of the draft report have been raised by Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco as well as U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu (D) LA, setting the backdrop for heightened frustrations which will remain throughout this process of what appears to be a series of unending dilemmas. The Army Corps of Engineers did acknowledge, however, in its report that the levees it built had flaws in their design, construction and maintenance of the 350-mile levee system.

It was divulged that the levee system was never built to handle a hurricane even close to the strength of Hurricane Katrina’s which was a category 3. According to the report, “The hurricane protection system in New Orleans and southeast Louisiana was a system in name only.” The report’s investigators found that the flood protection, consisting of a network of levees, floodwalls, pumps and gates were to provide the necessary protections and should have been far more resilient. Due to design flaws, breaches were suffered in the New Orleans’ drainage canals which were never foreseen. Even though the waters did not rise above the height of the floodwalls, they still failed.<