Reply #24: Thanks, but wrong levee. I think the poster is wrong.

[jobycom]

The 17th Street Canal levee, mentioned in your link, crumbled at the end and after the storm, and it slowly flooded New Orleans around downtown. This one was north of the city, near the lake, and flooded a middle class neighborhood, before slowly flooding downtown.

The one that broke and flooded the Ninth Ward was on the Industrial Canal, and it broke at the beginning of the hurricane, and caused most of the deaths. That's the one that flooded again during Rita's rainfall.

The levee on the Industrial Canal was topped by the storm surge, which, rather than coming up the lake or the river, was channeled directly from the Gulf by a smaller canal. Once a levee is topped it has a much greater chance of failure. The crucial factor in it was the storm surge, not rainfall or wind, but the whole surge might not have been as devestating without the smaller channel fromthe Gulf. That channel was partially filled in, and they are refusing to dredge it back out until they decide what to do. Some want a lock or floodgate to protect the Industrial Canal, others want it filled in permanently.