Army Corps' Negligence Led to Katrina Flooding: Judge

Feds could be on the hook for billions in damages
By Will McCahill,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 18, 2009 8:30 PM CST
Army Corps' Negligence Led to Katrina Flooding: Judge
Water is pumped out of the Orleans Avenue Canal during a test by the Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans, May 24, 2007.   (AP Photo)

In an opinion that could open the federal government to billions in damage claims, a judge ruled today that the failure of the Army Corps of Engineers to maintain an outlet channel led directly to disastrous flooding in and around New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. “The people of this city have been vindicated,” one attorney tells the Times-Picayune. “They didn’t do anything wrong and it's time they be compensated.”

The suit was brought by four plaintiffs, and some 100,000 others could benefit from the ruling. However, Judge Stanwood Duval says the Corps’ management of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet did not affect the levees protecting other parts of New Orleans—and many areas were inundated when those levees failed.
(More Army Corps of Engineers stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X