Thumb in the Dike, or in their A**?

On top of the levee wall stuffed with newspaper comes word of another leak near the 17th Street Canal. The Corps representative says: "I personally do not at all believe that this little wet spot is anything that is going to cause a breach or a failure of any kind."

He seems to forget that there was a sand eruption near this spot in the weeks before Katrina that indicated an underground flow of water. This may have weakened the wall which was sitting on top on inadequate sheet piles causing the breach.

Remember - The Corps is NOT your friend.

I offer the following song sung to the tune of "The House of the Rising Sun"

There was a house in New Orleans
It was gone with the Rising Sun
And it's now a ruin like many, many more
Stick a fork in me, I'm done

My mother said don’t go there
Don’t live south of I-10
The levees low and a storm’s gonna blow
And drown New Orleans again

It was built below the flood plane
On a slab of cold cement
And every time it rained too hard
We had to pitch a tent

------ organ solo ------

Oh mother tell your children
Not to do what I have done
Trust your lives to the Corps of Engineers
And levees built of mud.

Well, I got one foot on a ladder
The other foot in muck
I'm working down in New Orleans
Tearing out sheetrock

I had a house in New Orleans
It was gone with the Rising Sun
And it's now a ruin like many, many more
Stick a fork in me, I'm done

Shoddy Levee Construction

The local CBS affiliate has uncovered a bit of shoddy workmanship on levee walls protecting St. Bernard Parish. The contractor used newspaper as a filler in the gap between the water stop in the levee wall and the caulk used to seal the seam between the concrete sections. The Corps of Engineers maintains that this is acceptable even though it violates the their own specification. The filler is supposed to be sponge rubber.

This is just another example of the axiom, "You get what you inspect, not what you expect."

As an engineer with 30 years in the offshore industry, I've had to make temporary repairs. But you are always aware that what you did is temporary and at the same time you make plans to make it permanent at the first opportunity. And you make it known to management that the fix is not permanent. The Corps did none of that. This defect was going to sit there for the next 50 years, unseen and unknown, until the levee fails again in the next major storm to hit the area.

I hope there is a special place being saved in Hell for employees and contractors of the Corps of Engineers.

For the story, with video, go here.