Hurricane Katrina Levee Essay

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The catastrophic damage left by Hurricane Katrina resulted in the majority of New Orleans being engulfed in water with countless other complications. Katrina, despite being a level five hurricane, did not cause the flood but rather the levees breaching due to the water overtopping from the meteorological event. The reason for the levee breach was the fact that they were not built for a case like Hurricane Katrina even though they should have been. The levees were built to withstand level 3s and below but Katrina scored a 5 making the structure insufficient to face the storm (11 Facts About Hurricane Katrina). The Army Corp of Engineers were the people responsible for the construction of the site, maintenance and inspection so it goes without saying that they deserve the majority of the responsibility even though it was a matter of chance. The unsatisfactory endeavors by the Army Corp of Engineers prior to this event made the floods possible thus each one gave its own weight on …show more content…

In the Army Corps of Engineers own text on their site “Ongoing vigilance is needed to ensure that levee infrastructure will perform properly during a flood event,” and yet after all the years of the structures presence there had never been a mention of the levees inability to withstand a level 3 or greater hurricane (Levee Inspection) (11 Facts About Hurricane Katrina). USGS Scientists Investigate New Orleans Levees Broken by Hurricane Katrina gives a diagram of how the levees failed because of the water levels; the caption explains that when the water goes over the wall it erodes the soil (in multiple areas) forcing it to give way to the pressure (Kayen Collins

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