Judge: Corps' negligence caused Katrina flooding

[Lochloosa]

Source: AP

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A federal judge has ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers' failure to properly maintain a navigation channel led to massive flooding in Hurricane Katrina.

U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval late Wednesday ruled in favor of residents who alleged the Army Corps' shoddy oversight of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet led to the flooding of New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward and neighboring St. Bernard Parish.

Many in Katrina have argued that 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.


Read more: http://ap.tbo.com/breaking/national/

[slackmaster]

1. I had a history teacher in high school who had been a civil engineer. He said the same thing.

In 1975.

[MountainLaurel]

2. I was just coming to post this

Can't wait to see how this one plays out. So many of these areas are still 3/4 empty, more than 4 years later.

[PDJane]

3. That was the conclusion

That I came to a long time ago. It's also the conclusion of Greg Palast. You do realize that decision will make the government responsible for getting all those displaced by Katrina and those whose homes have been bulldozed or taken over rehoused, right?

[Piewhacket]

19. I think we are going to raise taxes on corporations, and double tax AIG bonuses.

[cal04]

4. Ruling says navigation channel wasn't properly maintained

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34028940/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

A federal judge has ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers' failure to properly maintain a navigation channel led to massive flooding by Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast in 2005.

U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval late Wednesday ruled in favor of residents who alleged the Army Corps' shoddy oversight of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet led to the flooding of New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward and neighboring St. Bernard Parish.

Many in Katrina have argued that 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.


Judge: Corps' Negligence Caused Katrina Flooding
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=9121651

[truthisfreedom]

5. I just watched a special on how NOLA is sinking into the ocean and nothing can be done about it.

They claimed that's the primary reason the levee system failed. Perhaps it was the Corps' responsibility to know this was happening and do something about it...

[Psephos]

6. Psephos: Hurricane caused Katrina flooding.

Additional factors: New Orleans is below water level, and utterly dependent on a Rube Goldberg contraption to keep it dry.

Practical outcome: government was on the hook for rebuilding NOLA prior to the ruling. Government will be on the hook for rebuilding NOLA after the ruling.

Meanwhile, the sea is coming for NOLA, and will claim the entire area regardless what silly judges decree, or where people in denial choose to live.

[Louisiana1976]

7. Hurricane Katrina didn't cause New Orleans' flooding--it passed about

30 miles east of the city. Faulty levees and other negligence by the Corps caused the Federal Flood, as NOLA bloggers call it.

So this was a MANMADE disaster.

Also, not all of New Orleans is below sea level--the French Quarter and other desirable areas of the city are above sea level.

[LuvNewcastle]

8. That's right.

We got most of the storm damage in Mississippi, but most of the people who died were in Louisiana. And they died due to negligence.

[garthranzz]

11. I assume you mean government - BUSHIT - negligence and not their own

Most of those left behind did not have the means to get out.

[Louisiana1976]

13. That's true--BUSHIT negligence.

[LuvNewcastle]

14. Of course.

I'm certainly not blaming the victims here.

[jwirr]

18. Clear back in the Clinton administration they knew that the levee needed

to be fixed and they set aside the money to do it. booshit decided that it should not be done and let all those people die.

[Selatius]

23. There was a large body count in coastal Mississippi as well, sadly. I was there.

I was part of the search and recovery effort in the hours after Katrina's storm surge finally left. We pulled so many dead bodies from homes that were completely underwater. It was, and probably will be for the rest of my life, the most traumatic 48 hours I've ever had to endure.

[Psephos]

10. you forgot the sarcasm thingie n/t

[garthranzz]

12. GO SAINTS!!!!

IF the levees hadn't broken - especially 17th street canal - we would have been without power for a week, had "normal" flooding, and survived. It was manmade before, during and after. Bush let New Orleans drown - after the levees broke nothing was done to get the water out. They just waited four weeks for it to recede.

Never forgive. Never.

[WriteDown]

25. You're right...

That's why we see these kind of floods every year.

[Suich]

9. This is terrific news!!!

Here's a link to the article from the Times-Picayune:

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf/2009/11/post_16.html

[KingBob]

15. No kidding?

*ucking DUH!!! As a resident of Hancock Co., MS, I know Hurricane Katrina was a natural disaster here, but a man-made disaster (read engineering failure) in NOLA.

[annm4peace]

16. AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING

I can't believe it. I can and do believe the Corp is guilty.

There were many people trying to warn others about the levee.

America failed the people of New Orleans.

bombs dropped in Iraq, explode in New orleans.

[jwirr]

17. Good, now what can the residents do about the damages caused

by the government and bushie?

[eppur_se_muova]

20. To give credit where credit is due ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7044284&mesg_id=7045655

[glinda]

28. Thanks for posting that. Bush still makes me sick to my stomach.

[merh]

21. The destruction that NOLA suffered when Katrina made landfall

was a manmade disaster. The southeastern cities of Louisiana, the MS Gulf Coast and parts of Alabama were devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

At last the court has handed down a ruling that finds what people in the area have always known.

[WriteDown]

26. So is it the men who built the city below sea level who are

at fault, or the men who maintained the levees. I can see it going either way.

[steven johnson]

22. Judge rules Corps of Engineers canal dredging destroyed natural barrier to strom surge

It's not nice to mess with Mother Nature.

Hurricane Katrina victims were awarded $719,698 in damages by a judge in a lawsuit claiming a canal dredged by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from New Orleans to the Gulf of Mexico destroyed a natural barrier to a storm surge.

.S. District Judge Stanwood R. Duval Jr., who heard the trial in New Orleans without a jury, yesterday found in favor of four residents and one business, while rejecting the claims of the owners of another property. The decision will support the claims of about 100,000 residents and business owners in the area, plaintiffs’ lawyers said.

Residents sued the U.S. and the Army engineers, claiming negligence in designing, constructing and maintaining the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, the canal known as Mr. Go.

Duval said the Army engineers are liable for the “negligent operation and maintenance” of the canal and not for faulty design or construction. Duval said in April at the beginning of the trial, the first over the Mr. Go lawsuits, that his finding would be used as a guide for other claims


Hurricane Katrina Victims Win $719,698 From U.S. in First Trial

[WriteDown]

27. So why was the canal built in the first place? nt

[EnlightenedOne]

24. Kick

I am so happy to hear about this ruling. Finally, a "little" justice.

[CatWoman]

29. kick

[bananas]

30. Army Corps liable for Katrina damage, US court finds

Source: Christian Science Monitor

Atlanta - Confirming what many New Orleanians already knew in their hearts, a federal judge ruled late Wednesday that the Army Corps of Engineers – and thus the US government – is liable for a big chunk of the damage caused when hurricane Katrina pushed ashore on Aug. 29, 2005.

The landmark ruling awards $719,000 to four plaintiffs from the city's Lower Ninth Ward and neighboring St. Bernard Parish who filed suit in 2006. The only such liability suit to actually reach a courtroom, the so-called "Mr. Go" ruling (after a shipping channel in the area) opens the floodgates for a raft of new litigation from as many as 100,000 other residents.

More important, the ruling – which called the Army Corps "myopic" in its maintenance of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet canal (aka Mr. Go) – now puts pressure on President Obama to help the region settle claims that could reach into the billions of dollars. (Without a court judgment, the Bush administration had refused calls for a settlement.)

<snip>

"It is the court's opinion that the negligence of the corps, in this instance by failing to maintain the MR-GO properly, was not policy, but insouciance, myopia, and shortsightedness," he wrote.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1119/p02s20-usgn.html

---

Just heard this on the radio (Free Speech Radio News)

[Louisiana1976]

31. This is good news..I hope Obama settles.

[bananas]

32. "it opens the door to lawsuits ... with a potential price tag of $500 billion"

Wow, I missed this news yesterday.
Here's the Free Speech Radio News report from today: (text and audio at the link)

http://www.fsrn.org/audio/headlines-thursday-november-19-2009/5780

Headlines for Thursday, November 19, 2009

* Headlines

Thu, 11/19/2009 - 14:59

*
* Length: 5:41 minutes (5.2 MB)
* Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 128Kbps (CBR)

Army Corps of Engineers blamed for Katrina flooding

A federal judge in New Orleans ruled last night that an infamous shipping channel played a key role in the flooding that devastated the area after Hurricane Katrina. The court says the US Army Corps of Engineers is liable for damages. Melinda Tuhus reports.

U.S. District Court Judge Stanwood Duval ruled that the Corps of Engineers is liable -- not for construction of the 76-mile Mississippi River Gulf Outlet channel, known as Mr. GO -- but for its poor maintenance. The channel was a direct cause of the devastating flooding that hit the Lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish to the east.

The ruling marks the first time the federal government has been held liable for any of the Katrina flooding. It awards six plaintiffs a total of about three-quarters of a million dollars, but it opens the door to lawsuits from 80,000 others who were affected, with a potential price tag of $500 billion.

Steve Gonzales, a lifelong resident of St. Bernard Parish, is already part of a class action lawsuit. He said the ruling is good news, but only a partial victory because Mr. Go has been closed to shipping but not sealed off completely.

“As long as it's open, that storm surge can still come up that canal.”

The Obama administration is expected to appeal the ruling. Melinda Tuhus, FSRN.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[TexasObserver]

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