New Orleans 'Katrina flood' manmade

[Cees Binkhorst]

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Eind goed, al goed (4 jaar later)?

Groet / Cees

Judge: Corps Failed To Stop Katrina Flood
http://www.wjactv.com/nationalnews/21658345/detail.html
Judge Decides In Favor Of Residents
CAIN BURDEAU, Associated Press Writer
Posted: 8:50 pm EST November 18, 2009Updated: 12:21 am EST November 19,
2009

NEW ORLEANS -- A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Army Corps of
Engineers' failure to properly maintain a navigation channel led to
massive flooding in Hurricane Katrina, a decision that could make the
federal government vulnerable to billions of dollars in claims.

U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval sided with six residents and one
business who argued the Army Corps' shoddy oversight of the Mississippi
River-Gulf Outlet led to the flooding of New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward and
neighboring St. Bernard Parish. He said, however, the corps couldn't be
held liable for the flooding of eastern New Orleans, where two of the
plaintiffs lived.

Duval awarded the plaintiffs $720,000, but the government could
eventually be forced to pay much more in damages. The ruling should give
more than 100,000 other individuals, businesses and government entities
a better shot at claiming billions of dollars in damages.

The ruling is also emotionally resonant for south Louisiana. Many in New
Orleans have argued that the flooding in the aftermath of Katrina, which
struck the region Aug. 29, 2005, was a manmade disaster caused by the
Army Corps' failure to maintain the levee system protecting the city.

"Total devastation could possibly have been avoided if something had
been done," said Tanya Smith, one of the plaintiffs. "A lot of this
stuff was preventable and they turned a deaf ear to it."

The 36-year-old registered nurse anesthetist lived in Chalmette close to
the channel when Katrina hit. She was awarded $317,000 in property
damages, the most of any of the plaintiffs.

Duval referred to the corps' approach to maintaining the channel as
"monumental negligence."

Joe Bruno, one of the lead lawyers for the plaintiffs, said the ruling
underscored the Army Corps' long history of not properly protecting the
New Orleans region.

"It's high time we look at the way these guys do business and do a full
re-evaluation of the way it does business," Bruno said.

He said he expected the government to appeal.

The corps referred calls seeking comment to the Justice Department.
Spokesman Charles Miller said the government would review the judge's
ruling before making any decision on how to proceed.

During trial testimony, government lawyers and experts argued the levee
system was overwhelmed by the massive storm, and levee breaches couldn't
solely be blamed on the shipping channel dug in the 1960s as a short-cut
between the Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans.

The corps had also unsuccessfully argued that it is immune from
liability because the channel is part of New Orleans' flood control
system.

In his 156-page ruling, Duval said he was "utterly convinced" that the
corps' failure to shore up the channel "doomed the channel to grow to
two to three times its design width" and that "created a more forceful
frontal wave attack on the levee" that protected St. Bernard and the
Lower 9th Ward.

"The Corps had an opportunity to take a myriad of actions to alleviate
this deterioration or rehabilitate this deterioration and failed to do
so," Duval said. "Clearly the expression 'talk is cheap' applies here."

The corps has been sued before over levee failures and flooding, but it
had always walked away untouched. That included after Hurricane Betsy in
1965 over alleged flooding by the outlet. Ahead of Duval's ruling,
experts had said it would likely have consequences for the way the Army
Corps does business nationwide.

Pierce O'Donnell, another lead plaintiffs lawyer, said the ruling was
the "first time ever the Army Corps has been held liable for damages for
a major catastrophe that it caused."

The plaintiffs lawyers would like Congress to set up a compensation fund
to speed up payments to the thousands of other claimants, whose claims
must still be heard in court.

At a one-month trial in May, experts clashed over the causes of flooding
and the channel's contribution to it.

Government experts argued the levees and floodwalls would have failed
regardless of whether the MRGO had been dug.

By contrast, the plaintiffs' team of experts said the outlet became a
"hurricane highway" that funneled storm surge into New Orleans. They
said that without the channel, the flooding would have been minimal.

The lawsuit was the first major case against the federal government over
Katrina flooding to go to trial. A decision rested with Duval because a
jury cannot try a case against the federal government.

Despite its statements in court, the corps has acknowledged the area's
flood risk and closed the channel with rocks. It is also building a $1.3
billion floodgate to stop surge entering the city from the direction of
the channel and Lake Borgne.

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