Construction crews were barged to the hurricane protection levee along the Mississippi River gulf outlet. It’s the levee that was supposed to shield St. Bernard Parish from a hurricane as strong as a category-3 storm like Betsy. The levee could not handle a category-4 Katrina.
“It looks to me that we had a fairly substantial storm surge,” said Bob Turner, who manages the Lake Borgne levee district. “(It was) probably in the area of 20 to 25 feet which is nearly twice what the levee is designed for."
Turner said 80 percent of his main hurricane protection levee is gone. A six-mile stretch of earthen levee, topped with sheet piling, provided a barrier that was 17-and-a-half feet high.
Now, the levee is shredded. Katrina's storm surge tore around flood gates and Bayou Bienvenue, and at Bayou Dupre, barges are shoved over the top of the levee. [Read more - WWLTV]
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