US Army Corps blamed for Katrina floods

US Army Corps blamed for Katrina floods

news.bbc.co.uk

A US judge has ruled that negligence by the US Army Corps of Engineers led to massive floods in parts of New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.
The court upheld complaints by six residents and a business against the Corps over its maintenance of a navigational channel.
They were awarded damages totalling $720,000 (£431,000), and the ruling could lead to thousands more claims.
About 80% of New Orleans was flooded by Hurricane Katrina.
More than 1,800 people died on the US Gulf coast in the devastating storms.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
news.google.com
news.google.com

This is good news for the victims of Katrina.

Of course this will be appealed but should the appeal fail, this would open the floodgates to more negligence suits brought against the gov't for their lack of action when the signs, concerns and warnings were well known by the Corps of Engineers.

Bailing out banks & big business at the same time risking the lives of the regular citizens.

Hopefully this will not be overturned by a higher court, but I am not holding my breath.



news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

I live about 200 miles from where Katrina hit and we still had 110 mile an hour winds from it where I live. The weird thing was my house was the only one on the block to actually have damages . Lots more homes in my town did also. No electricity for days and water supply was gone and gas lines backed-up for days! Two trees in the front lawn fell on my roof and two trees knocked down the power line in the back yard. Glad to have insurance and glad the trees that fell on the roof did not fall on my head and kill me. Still the pocket book was hit for 1000 dollar deductible. Can not believe the darn government caused the trouble ! And yet that they would not send help to New Orleans that they needed. They were hurt worst of all. Lots of them came as far as my home town for motel accommodations because every town was full from New Orleans to Hattiesburg clean to Jackson, MS

Thanks for sharing your information I will pass it on to some in my town who did not receive help from FEMA or insurance.

I wonder how many millions of dollars this is going to wind up costing the government with all the inevitable lawsuits about to hit. In retrospect, those years were absolute madness and it seems like every day scandals and people admitting everything we suspected back then comes out every day. Incredible how fast a country can down the crapper.

I read this other night..interesting* i saw a documentary on hbo lat year, 2 guys going around posing as lobbyisits, trying ot seel peaceful tings and solutions, see what CEO, mayor ect would jump at the opprtunity. They did a small aprt about Katrina, and blamed the flood on governemnt, corporations coming in and developing, destroying the marshland thier. They ddint say much of anything about the army corps being directly at fault* although could be

Originally posted by SaveTheDrama


This is good news for the victims of Katrina.

Of course this will be appealed but should the appeal fail, this would open the floodgates to more negligence suits brought against the gov't for their lack of action when the signs, concerns and warnings were well known by the Corps of Engineers.

Bailing out banks & big business at the same time risking the lives of the regular citizens.

Hopefully this will not be overturned by a higher court, but I am not holding my breath.



news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

I disagree. I was here ( New Orleans) during Katrina. I am sure the errors of the Corps helped some but not as much as is being put forth. We had huge tidal surges up the mouth of the Mississippi River. The land holds a lot of water because that's what happens when you build an entire city on top of a swamp. There is very little bedrock under this city. It's very easy to hit water digging here without going very far down. The city sits in a bowl that is 8 feet below sea level. Put all that together and it doesn't take much to flood our streets. This often happens with heavy rainfall, much less a Hurricane that's a Cat 3 - and a direct hit. Coastal erosion has played a part too. We all knew it was going to happen sometime.

Even if it is not overturned by another court, no one is going to see another dime of money from the government.


[edit on 21-11-2009 by JohnPhoenix]

reply to post by JohnPhoenix


I agree with you on the aspect of the area being prone to damage from storms like Katrina and even those with less severity, but according to this decision, the judge was placing some of the blame on the Corps of Engineers' failure to address long known concerns with the MRGO that they built and maintain. The judge denied other claims that he deemed not associated with the MRGO so I guess there is something that the judge could wrap his fingers around in order to come to that decision.

I don't have all the background or info on the why's or why nots.. just saw the news and posted it up for discussion.

Thanks for sharing, I appreciate your point of view on this judge's decision.






[edit on 11/21/09 by SaveTheDrama]

I know people who told me they heard explosions
more investigations are needed

Am I the only one scratching my head here. Let's look at some facts:

1. You live in an arguably hurricane prone region

2. You live below sea level

I think people need to remove their collective heads from their asses and look at the situation big picture. Really what the hell would you expect. Too boot a lot of people didn't even heed the warnings. The only people at fault are the idiots who chose to stand in the path of mother nature and expect her to be kind. Not gonna happen. The gov't shouldn't have to pay anything.

brill

[edit on 21-11-2009 by brill]