re: #115 Cannadian Club Akbar

Actually Katrina. And NOLA is 20 feet below sea level. Good luck keeping out water.

Yeah, which was the subject of science, engineering and media reports prior to hurricane Katrina. Even the mayor (cough) couldn’t believe that a catastrophic hurricane was heading his way. But, the Army COE lost today:

“It is the court’s opinion that the negligence of the Corps, in this instance by failing to maintain the MRGO properly, was not policy, but insouciance, myopia and short-sightedness,” U.S. District Court Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. wrote in his lengthy ruling, referring to the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet canal.

“For over 40 years, the Corps was aware that the Reach II levee protecting Chalmette and the Lower Ninth Ward was going to be compromised by the continued deterioration of the MRGO … The Corps had an opportunity to take a myriad of actions to alleviate this deterioration or rehabilitate this deterioration and failed to do so. Clearly, the expression ‘talk is cheap’ applies here.”