Hurricane Katrina Levee Failure - 2081 Words

Jeff Whitson Professor Kathy Freeman Eng 1A M,W 9 April 2012 Blame for Katrina Damage: The Corps Alone? In august 2005, the State of Louisiana was hit with one of the most devastating natural disasters the United States has ever seen. New Orleans specifically was among the cities who felt the full force of Hurricane Katrina. While the storm itself was very powerful the damage wasn’t caused necessarily by the hurricane but by the failure in the levee system. According to Jennifer Trevedi, In the book, Encyclopedia of Disaster, Jennifer Trevedi describes the extent of the damage through breaches of the levee. Trevedi says, the levees were breached in over fifty different spots flooding the St. Bernard and Plaquemine parish.†¦show more content†¦This is also seen in In Andrew Revkin’s â€Å"Lost Chances to Avert a Disaster; Competing Interests Stalled New Jersey Flood Project,† written in the New York Times on September 26 1999, Revkins talks about how over a dozen communities in New Jersey were susceptible to floo ds. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers came up with multiple plans over a 30 year period. but, because Federal, State, and Local agencies had different ideas of what was the best plan the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were left in a stalemate (3,4). Whether it’s the State of Louisiana or others the Corps have been under constant push back because everyone involved in the planning of the levee system has different ideas of the safiest and most beneficial design for the area. Unfortunately not every design is going to benefit all parties involved. While a dozen communities are involved in the decision making of how to build the levees so every town will have maximum protection the Corps is put in a situation where with so many people involved they cant get much accomplished. And, when a disaster happens everyone points the finger at the Corps which isn’t right considering the constant push back from other sources. History has shown that the Corps has to deal with outside so urces when they make a decision to build the levee system up. In Karen O’Neill’sShow MoreRelatedThe Mitigation Measures Necessary For Emergency Relief Measures1698 Words   |  7 Pagesmeasures had been utilized. The mitigation measures necessary to prevent this disaster would have been a fraction of the cost spent on emergency relief measures. For many people in New Orleans this scenario was a reality when Hurricane Katrina happened. 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