Katrina disaster caused by Negligence

[Dredly]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,575664,00.html

Katrina Flooding Caused by Army Corps of Engineers' Negligence, Judge Rules
Thursday, November 19, 2009


Print ShareThisNEW 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.

U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval sided with five 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 Ninth Ward and neighboring St. Bernard Parish. He said, however, the corps couldn't be held liable for the flooding of eastern New Orleans, where one of the plaintiffs lived.

Duval awarded the plaintiffs $720,000, or about $170,000 each, but the decision could eventually make the government vulnerable to a much larger payout. The ruling should give more than 100,000 other individuals, businesses and government entities a better shot at claiming billions of dollars in damages.

Joe Bruno, one of the lead plaintiffs lawyer, said the ruling underscored the Army Corps' long history of failure to properly protect 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.

The corps referred calls seeking comment to the Justice Department. The corps had argued that it is immune from liability because the channel is part of New Orleans' flood control system, but the judge allowed the case to go forward.

Many in New Orleans 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.

The Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet is a shipping channel dug in the 1960s as a short-cut between the Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans.

so can we now sue them back for all the money that we gave them?

[mjfletcher]

So in what way would any kind of maintenance of levees designed to withstand direct hits from Category 2 hurricane and indirect hits from up to a Category 3 hurricane have prevented them from failing when they got blasted with a direct hit from a Category 4/5?

[andrewjs18]

so being 15+ foot below sea level had nothing to do with it? hmn

[LittleRedToyota]

so being 15+ foot below sea level had nothing to do with it? hmn

exactly.

"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.

actually, it's high time we look at telling people to move to higher ground.

[mjfletcher]

so being 15+ foot below sea level had nothing to do with it? hmn

Well there you go, men built below sea level thus it was man made.

[andrewjs18]

Well there you go, men built below sea level thus it was man made.

and also...didn't the mayor of New Orleans fail to warn its folks to GET OUT?

[mjfletcher]

and also...didn't the mayor of New Orleans fail to warn its folks to GET OUT?

I sat and watched the news as the media interviewed people there asking them what they thought of the mandatory evacuation order and if they were going to leave so they knew. Damn near every one of them said "I'm staying in my home, I've never left.... blah blah" Those same people were on the news again crying "Why didn't the government warn us.... why won't they help us... blah blah"

They knew, they just wanted someone else to do it for them.

[NikeBauer21]

and also...didn't the mayor of New Orleans fail to warn its folks to GET OUT?

I thought it was awhile before they warned the people... Wasn't she in Dallas or something?? I can't remember, but I do remember it was awhile until they actually gave the order to evac.

[andrewjs18]

I thought it was awhile before they warned the people... Wasn't she in Dallas or something?? I can't remember, but I do remember it was awhile until they actually gave the order to evac.

New Orleans mayor is a man.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Nagin

they blamed everything on Bush....

[jcabin]

this just completes my theory. everyone knows that new orleans was just a testing ground for federal intervention. (sarcasm)