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The levee-floodwall designs for the 17th Street and London Avenue Outfall Canals and the northeast breach of the IHNC were inadequate due to steel sheet-pilings driven to depths that were too shallow. In four cases the structures failed catastrophically prior to water reaching design elevations.
The breach at the 17th Street Canal Levee, a levee-floodwall combination, was found to be about 300 feet (100 m) long. The Corps began operating on an initial hypothesis that the force of the water overtopped the floodwall and scoured the structure from behind and then moved the levee wall horizontally about 20 feet (6.1 m).
Others (like the Industrial Canal) collapsed after a brief period of overtopping caused “scouring” or erosion of the earthen levee walls. In eastern New Orleans, levees along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway failed in several places because they were built with sand and erodible materials instead of clay, an obvious construction flaw.
The levee failure contributed to extensive flooding in the New Orleans area and surrounding parishes. About 80% of all structures in Orleans Parish sustained water damage . Over 204,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, and more than 800,000 citizens displaced —the greatest displacement in the United States since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. [ 1 ]
A $14.5 billion system of levees, flood gates and pumps has largely worked as designed during Hurricane Ida, sparing New Orleans from the catastrophic flooding that devastated the area 16 years ...
In the federal portfolio of levees, the most common inspection rating is Minimally Acceptable (57.1%). It means at least one part of the levee doesn't meet standards, but should survive a flood ...
“It’s like, ‘We’ll pay you to put the thumb in the dike. We won’t pay you to fix the dike.’”
An upgrade of the canal levees, flood walls, and bridges began in 1999. The canal was considered in good shape at the start of the 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season . Before Katrina arrived, the 17th Street Canal was the largest and most important drainage canal in the city of New Orleans.