Revised La. Lawsuit Cites ‘Incompetence’ of Federal Government, U.S. Corps of Engineers

Plaintiffs seeking more than $1 billion in damages in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are calling the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet a “Hurricane Highway” that allowed a 20-foot storm surge to inundate much of New Orleans last fall.

More that 750 area residents and relatives of victims of Katrina claim the MRGO became a highway for a storm surge that moved up a narrowing funnel of waterways and navigational channels thereby contributing to levee breaks along the Industrial Canal, which flooded the City with up to 10 feet of water.

In a revised lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in New Orleans, the plaintiffs claim the U.S. Corps of Engineers failed to do its job in designing, constructing and monitoring the MRGO and other New Orleans waterways including the Industrial Canal, the 17th Street Canal and the London Avenue Canal, resulting in flooding, death and massive destruction following Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 29, 2005.

The class action lawsuit targets the Federal Government and the Corps of Engineers, alleging “malfeasance, misfeasance and nonfeasance” in ensuring the competent design, construction, inspection, maintenance and operation of an entire navigable waterway system.

Allegations contained in the filing include charges that the Corps of Engineers and FEMA failed to “properly prepare for and respond to the needs of the people both prior to and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.”

Overtopping, scouring and levee collapse in the MRGO caused extensive damage in St. Bernard Parish. Breaks on both sides of the Industrial Canal caused flooding in the Ninth Ward and Lower Ninth Ward and in the city proper. It took more than one month for the levee breaks to be repaired and the water to be pumped out of the City.

At least two independent investigations into the levee breaks have indicated poor engineering and design flaws as well as faulty construction and a lack of adequate surveillance and maintenance led to the disaster.

As recently as April 16, Lt. General Carl Strock, Commander of the Army Corps of Engineers admitted “We have now concluded we had problems with the design of the structure,” referring to the 17th Street Canal. Strock told a U.S. Senate Committee that “We had hoped that wasn’t the case, but we recognize it is the reality.”

Plaintiffs in the Federal lawsuit claim part of the flood problems created by the MRGO relate to the Corps of Engineers apparent failure to react to the deterioration of its levees. They claim since construction of the MRGO in 1965, its width has grown from 500 feet to 1,500 feet, thereby causing a major erosion of its banks well beyond what Congress authorized when approving its construction nearly 40 years ago.

Topics Lawsuits USA Flood Louisiana Hurricane Construction