For those of you who think that the US government could not possibly blow up the levees...
Another Flood That Stunned America
To save New Orleans, the leaders proposed a radical plan. South of the city, the population was mostly rural and poor. The leaders appealed to the
federal government to essentially sacrifice those parishes by blowing up an earthen levee and diverting the water to marshland. They promised
restitution to people who would lose their homes. Government officials, including Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover, signed off.
On April 29, the levee at Caernarvon, 13 miles south of New Orleans, succumbed to 39 tons of dynamite. The river rushed through at 250,000 cubic
feet per second. New Orleans was saved, but the misery of the flooded parishes had only started. The city fathers took years to make good on their
promises, and very few residents ever saw any compensation at all.
I'm not saying they did in 2005, there's no evidence other than some testimony by residents who heard something go 'boom', but on the other hand I
don't know that I'd just blow them off either.
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