Engclef - first of all, over HALF of New Orleans is ABOVE SEA LEVEL. Second, per capital Mississippi received FAR MORE Federal money than did Louisiana. Third, learn the facts:
The levee system of New Orleans was completely Federalized in 1965. It began after the 1926 Mississippi River flooding. While the City of New Orleans was not affected, the U.S. Government was concerned that the Mississippi River needed to be “controlled”; they built river levees that disrupted the natural deposit of silt along the Louisiana coast. This began (1) coastal erosion, and (2) soil compaction that has caused the City of New Orleans to “sink”. The Corps has been aware of this, and that their levees were the cause, for decades. However, rather than use the silt they dredge from the river each year to rebuild the coastline they chose to dump it in the Gulf of Mexico because it was CHEAPER.
The “levees” that collapsed were either floodwalls along Lake Pontchartrain or levees along the Industrial Canal. The floodwalls were shown to be defective, and actually leaking and in the process of collapse for at least a year prior to Katrina. The levees along the Industrial Canal collapsed after being struck by a huge storm surge that was funnelled into it by the Corps-built Mississippi River Gulf Outlet. When the MRGO was built, independent engineers told the Corps that this is exactly what would happen; they denied it and accused the engineers of “faulty studies”.
ALL of the flood damage done to the City of New Orleans was caused by the negligence of the Federal government, in the guise of the Corps of Engineers.
Please - drop your anger and learn the truth.
